Field test: Howa 1500 6.5x55. (Part 1.)

[TStone]

Introduction.

Almost 4 months ago I received my Howa 1500 in 6.5x55 Swedish. Why, you might ask, this caliber and this rifle?
Well, the rifle part was easy, I've been using a Howa in .300 win mag for the past 15 years and it is reliable, accurate and virtually indestructible, all the characteristics I look for in a working rifle.

As for the caliber, I wanted it to replace my 7x57 (actually my wife's hunting rifle) which I use for hunting springbok, blesbuck and warthog and the occasional larger antelope. I wanted a caliber that is easy on barrels and economical to run and have enough power to take on any antelope if the need arise. I did not want another 7x57 as I know, from experience, that two different rifles in the same caliber will almost certainly like different loads.

As I wanted a Howa, I looked at two calibers, the Swede and the .308 win, I chose the Swede.

The Rifle.

The rifle is built on the long Howa action, has a 22" sporter weight barrel and a Hogue overmolded stock. The stock fits me well but I'm not really sure why they made the fore-end that bulky, I prefer the Bell & Carlson stock on my .300. I've heard complaints about shifting point of impact when using a bi-pod with this stock, however, as I don't use a bi-pod I can't tell if that is true.

The trigger is not as good as that on the old Howa's, I don't really care for a two stage trigger, but it is certainly good enough for a hunting rifle, it is quite crisp.

The safety catch is a three position catch, the old Howa's had a two position, and took some getting used to.

​Scoping and accessorizing.

I fitted a Meopta Meostar 4-16x44 in, low, Lynx rings on Lynx bases and a Butler Creek sling. That was it, I'm not much into pimping rifles.

Breaking in the barrel.

This is the first time I've broken in a barrel, I did it according to Howa's instructions and can tell you that it is an exceedingly boring and tedious process. However, this rifle is a lot easier to clean than any of my other rifles. So, when I get my next rifle I'll certainly do a proper barrel break in again.

​Load development (Thank you Dale SH and DriepootX).

S365 powder, PRVI cases and Remington 9 1/2 primers were used for all loads. Initial load development centered around the 95 gr Hornady V-max and the 90 gr Impala bullets. If I had to choose the two bullets least suited to what I wanted to achieve it would be exactly these two bullets. However, that was all I could find in the closest gun shops which, incidentally, is two and a half hours drive away. Initially the V-max's disappointed but after the barrel settled in they produced sub moa groups, the Impala's shot sub moa from the start.

Eventually I got some 130 gr Nosler Accubonds, 140 gr Nosler Custom Competition bullets and 40 125 gr Peregrine VRG-4 (what a name) bullets. Both the Noslers gave sub moa accuracy, the best I was able to achieve with the Peregrines were 30mm groups at 100 meters, still good enough for hunting.

[TStone]

Field Test Howa 1500 6.5x55. (Part 2, a hunting rifle is meant for hunting).

Days spent hunting.

To date, the little Oriental rifle and I have spent 49 days out hunting. Tomorrow that will be fifty.

Game Hunted.

The intended purpose of the rifle/cartridge combination was the hunting of springbok, blesbuck and warthog with the ability to hunt larger antelope if needed.

To date the rifle has accounted for 47 blesbuck, 3 blue wildebeest, 2 eland, 2 red hartebeest, 73 springbok and 55 warthog.

[Dale SH]

TStone.

Can you give us a brief summary of the different bullets terminal performance. ( Performance on the dead antelope) please ?

[Messor]

And................is it super magical with ninja like killing properties as most claims?

Or does it act like other calibers and shoot where you aim?

[Dale SH]

Sorry missed the two Eland. Would love to hear about the performance on the Eland.

[TStone]

Field test: Howa 1500 6.5x55. (Part 3.)

Rifle Reliability and Field Performance.

To date, I have fired 532 rounds, of handloaded ammunition through the Howa. I have not experienced a single failure to feed, fire, extract or eject. We have been in the field in extreme cold and heat, at least one rain storm and, seeing as we work in the Southern Free State, a lot of dust. There is already some loss of bluing around the muzzle and a few scratches on the barrel but this is normal for a working rifle.

The closest shot have been at 16 m (warthog) and the longest at 347 m (blesbuck).

Performance on Game.

Caliber, within reasonable limits, have less of an influence than bullet construction.

I expected the 6.5x55 to perform identically to the 7x57 given similar bullets and this is exactly what happened.

I started hunting with the 90 gr Impala bullets but after shooting 6 animals switched to the V-max bullets with which I shot 4 springbok and a large warthog boar. The springbok were all shot through the lungs just behind the shoulder, the warthog fell to a brain shot. Hornady makes no pretense of the V-max being a hunting bullet but I knew it's limitations and within that (it's a very fragile varmint bullet) it performed well.

Nosler doesn't advertise the Custom Competition bullet as a hunting bullet either, in fact they warn against using it for hunting. However, as I wanted an affordable cup and core bullet for hunting and couldn't find any, I decided to give it a try. I shot 122 animals, with the exception of 1 red hartebeest, all springbok, blesbuck and warthog and it performed very well. It does occasionally give core jacket separation but it kills well.

The 130 gr Accubond is a proper hunting bullet and while none of the recovered bullets resembled the pictures in Noslers adds it performed very well on everything I shot, including three blue wildebeest, even if retained weight was less than expected.

I did not recover a single Peregrine bullet but wound channels indicated proper bullet expansion. I shot two eland and a few springbok and blesbuck with this bullet. Both eland (bulls) were shot through the lungs behind the shoulder and both went down within a hundred meters.

Conclusion.

I had no reservations about the rifle and it has not disappointed. The caliber has done everything I've expected of it. You often hear that the 6.5x55 punches above it's weight class (the same is said of the 7x57), actually it doesn't. It punches exactly like you would expect of a 125 - 140 gr bullet at 2600 - 2750 fps and that is quite adequate for just about anything your average hunter needs to do.

[Dale SH]

It punches exactly like you would expect of a 125 - 140 gr bullet at 2600 - 2750 fps and that is quite adequate for just about anything your average hunter needs to do.

Thanks for the feedback TStone.

I completely agree with this statement.

[Antlion]

Good write up, reviews where equipment is thoroughly used are always valued.

[Maroelas]

Thanks for the write up. Very interesting. What were all those animals hunted for? Certainly not all for rations?

[GVC86]

Thanks for the effort in review.

Seems there will be a couple of jealous hunters here, your hunting resume makes me jealous.. ;)