So my go to bullet for my 6.5x55mm rifle for last several years was apparently discontinued a couple years ago. I had been using the 140gr Barnes XLC, which even before the hoarding started I had been unable to find. I had a goodly stash of that, but target practice/sight in had eaten through a bunch of that, and I now find myself with an insufficient quantity remaining (8 loaded rounds) to get through sight in and practice, nevermind the hunt. I had used those as they worked well enough on a cow elk that I figured they'd be a good primary deer round and backup elk round (primary on elk is my 9.3x62mm).
So, I went through all my stuff tonight and found that I have (43) of the 129gr Hornady Interbonds, and 39 of the 140gr Hornady's. I also have close to 80 or 90 of the 120gr Speer HotCor's. Of these I'd think that only the 140gr Hornady's would be at all suitable for backup duty when elk hunting. But the elk hunt this year is not likely to be conducive to bringing an extra rifle along anyway, so that is less of a concern.
Rifle is a CZ-550 American, if that matters to anyone.
Deer hunting is most likely going to occur in the area near Mazama, Washington. High elevation, potential for 300 yard shots, but mostly <150 yards. Mule deer there that are known to see live weights in the 200-300 pound range, though 250 would be a pretty reasonable upper end estimate.
For powder I have about a half pound of Varget, and probably close to the same each of RL-15, H380, and AA4350, a little RL-19 (though probably not enough to consider that powder), and over 3# of IMR4831.
I have several hundred CCI 200 primers, and more brass than I can really justify.
In the past for cheap target practice purposes only I had found great accuracy with a very light load (40gr) of the IMR4831 over a 120gr Rem Corelokt. The Speer 120's were comperable for accuracy with that load. I never chrono'd that load, but I'd hazard a guess at 2300fps.
What I'd like would be some recommendations on which way to go given what I have on hand. Going out and buying more stuff is not really going to be a great suggestion as I'm unemployed right now. Also a good reason to try to get it close eoungh on the first ttry so I don't run out of bullets or powder. My first instinct would be to use the Varget and the 129gr bullets, but then I found the stash of 120's. Given that I have more of them, and a lot of IMR4831, trying that out, but with a stouter powder charge than that taget load, is tempting too. And the 140's have been calling out for me to find a good use for them for a while now.
