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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2016 14:11:31 GMT -7
The Finest All-'Round Deer Gun
an article by Kenneth Fuller Lee, February 1930
Ever notice how firmly you can stand on a couple of inches of light snow over a heavy crust, with snowshoes strapped to your shoe-pacs?
A good hundred yards away, across the blow-downs and white coated stumps left by the loggers, as a big buck threw up his antlered head and started away at a lumbering gallop. Twelve inches of snow and the crust bothered him; and it was another hundred yards to the shelter of the cedars which he sought.
The silver bead of the little 6.5 Mannlicher found his shoulder, and I eased off the trigger. "Wham!" said the smokeless; and the buck, caught with the 160-grain bullet midway of his stride, plunged forward and slid, nose first, into a pile of brush.
A moment later I stooped over him and grasped one of the branching antlers to turn him over. The fast, heavy bullet had broken both front shoulders, the hole emergence being almost the size of a silver dollar.
In the past fifteen years it has been my good fortune to try out most of the common types of American-made hunting rifles in a lot of calibers; and there is no more certain method of starting an argument than to state that such-and-such a rifle is 'the best' for any given purpose.
The little 6.5mm Mannlicher is my own pet tool at present, and this in spite of the fact that for many years as a guide and hunter, I used and swore by a .38-40 carbine; killed lots of game with it, and took plenty of abuse from the wise boys who just knew that it wasn't a suitable gun for use on any kind of medium or large game.
In those days my hunting was confined to dense cover, where it was unusual to get shots at more than 60 to 80 yards, usually snap-shooting through brush, and for that sort of work the little old .38-40 was, and still is, mighty good medicine.
Three years ago I went into the Allagash region of northern Maine, where there is a lot of hardwood, and the country is full of streams and lakes which offer plenty of shots at long range. Knowing that the .38-40 was outclassed in this type of hunting, the little 6.5mm came into my possession and immediately I fell in love with it.
Equipped with a full-length stock with a nice cheek-piece, a very smooth-working bolt which is rigid even when fully extended, an 17-inch barrel of fine accuracy, set-triggers, a silver bead mounted on a nice ramp, and a swinging Lyman receiver sight with two apertures, this little tool handles splendidly, is light to carry in the woods, and slams its loads out to 300 yards with very little drop.
It did not take me long to discover that those long, lean, hungry- looking 160-grain pills had plenty of wallop. I shot three large bucks and a couple of black bear with them, and in no case did a bullet stay in any of these animals. They rambled right on through meat and bone, and there was never any necessity for chasing anything which was properly hit.
The bullets also showed up splendidly when shooting through very thick cover, not flying to bits and going off at a tangent as do the lighter slugs from the .250-3000, .22 Hi-Power, and others of the same type. I experimented with the 140-grain open-point Western load, a much faster bullet, and it was deadly enough; but the recoil oddly, seemed heavier than that of the longer, heavier bullet, and for other reasons I did not like it as well as the regular 160-grain load.
Beautifully balanced for offhand shooting, with a glass-hard action which would slide backward and forward by itself, the Mannlicher won its way into my affections almost at once. By pressing a small stud on the right side of the receiver, the rotary magazine spills all the loaded shells right out into your hand; and this is a good feature, which might well be copied by some of our American makers of fine rifles. That rotary magazine, by the way, is hand-polished, and detachable, and is certainly a sweet bit of mechanism. In three years of constant use I have never had even the slightest intimation of a jam or a misfire with the 6.5, nor lost a single head of game that offered a decent chance.
Lacking the equipment for careful targeting at known ranges, I can not say just what sort of groups it would make in a machine rest, but for practical work in the game fields it appeals to me as just about the handiest, deadliest, sweetest-shooting tool which ever got into my hands - and I've had plenty of rifles!
Reading the works of other hunters and riflemen, I note that with very few exceptions they show a decided preference for longer barrels in the Mannlicher - preferably 24 inches or more. No doubt these long tubes do add speed to a bullet, and more punch at the delivery end.
I never got a chance to tag a moose with that small sweetheart of a rifle, but would welcome the opportunity to try it out on from a mature dinosaur to a small switch engine. I think it would stop either if held right.
One of the bucks killed with it was shot at an estimated range of 350 yards, across a big marsh. Using the regular 160-grain loads, I held a couple of feet over his shoulder and eased off the set trigger very carefully, shooting from the prone position with my elbows dug in solidly. The buck threw up his head and whistled, stamping his feet angrily and evidently uncertain as to the nature of the big insect which had just cracked past too high. So, dragging the front sight down just a hair, I slammed the second one across and both Mrs. Lee and I afterward agreed that we heard it land on the big boy's shoulder. Down he went in a still heap, not even thrashing after he struck.
As usual we found both shoulders broken, and the 10-pointer was 'too dead to skin", after detouring around a lot dri-ki, we finally reached him.
Performances of that type have welded my affection and respect for the little Mannlicher, until it even seems likely that I will keep it permanently, something which has never happened with any other rifle in my years of constant change; and outside of the specially built arms of Griffin & Howe, Hoffman, Niedner, and others of their kind, it seem to me that the 6.5mm Mannlicher stands almost alone in the field of finely built and most effective hunting arms.
End of the article.
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Thank you for your time folks, and hopefully others out
there may enjoy having read this old article from the past.
regards to all, waidmannshiel, outsidebear
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Post by missionary on Mar 7, 2016 18:26:34 GMT -7
Greetings Bear
That was one of the finest 6.5 articles I ever read. Sure does have a lot to say for long heavy bullets. Thank you for posting it !
Mike in Peru
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2016 20:41:52 GMT -7
Mike in Peru: you're welcome. I have a copy of that original magazine article framed n' handy, it's in the top 3 of my favorite 6.5mm articles. When in Alaska had a case of 'GAS' (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) that included Mannlicher-Schoenauer rifles/carbines. In 1985 helped with the beginning of the Mannlicher Collector's Association. Acquired 18 Mannlicher-Schoenauer's when in Alaska. When I came south to the lower-48 in '98, found homes for most of them with other MCA collector's. I did retain 3 6.5x54 carbines, and have since been able to provide a home for a customized Greek Military Breda 1927, in a Sporting Rifle configuration - as close to a Charles Sheldon rifle that I'll most likely ever have. In 1977, when acquired my first Model 1903 6.5x54 carbine, I began to research back in time to see who may have used this type of carbine/cartridge? Roy Chapman Andrews used it in Asia; Vilhjalmur Stefansson in his Greenland/arctic explorations; Bell of Africa, on elephants, for awhile anyway; naturalist Charles Sheldon - having harvested between 70-80 grizzlies in his years of collection for museums n'such, it was the cartridge he used, but in 6.5x53R; Sir Alfred Pease, in 'The Book of the Lion', he would ride along the veldt and upset a lion enough that it would charge him, then he'd dismount, toss a double-barrel black powder 10 gauge on the ground in front of him, and have just enough time for 1 shot from his .256 Mannlicher - if that 1 shot didn't stop the charging lion, he'd drop the Mannlicher, QUICKLY grab up the double-barrel 10 gauge (with both triggers wired together) and when the lion was about 10 yards away, cut loose with 2 round ball loads out of the 10 gauge - in his book he said it usually laid the lion over on its back!; in the book 'Two Dianna's in Alaska', published in 1909, the two women used a pair of .256 Mannlicher carbines among the rifles they took to Alaska, killing 2 large coastal brown bears during their hunt. There were others who also used the 6.5x54. In 1910 the 6.5x54 cartridge was among the Top 10 preferred cartridges (the Model 1903 carbine/cartridge combination) of professional hunters and explorers, in a world wide poll taken then. Until one handles n' uses a Mannlicher-Schoenauer Model 1903 in 6.5x54mm, their firearms experiences shall not be complete...  |
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Post by missionary on Mar 8, 2016 3:31:45 GMT -7
Good morning Bear
Well you near had me convinced to sell off a Marlin/Ballard... Nah... But I will keep the eyes open for one to come wandering about my AO. It may take me a while just to remember how to spell that Mann.. Schooner name. Thanks again though !
That GAS disease has wacked me more than once.
Mike in Peru
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mike
Bullet Hole
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Post by mike on Mar 8, 2016 7:27:04 GMT -7
Kenneth Fuller Lee was one of my favorite author's. In the late 1940s he wrote an article for The American Rifleman titled The Woodsloafer's Gun (and I might not have spelled that correctly). It was about the '94 carbine in .25/35. He also had a lot of very high praise for the .44/40 carbines. In addition to that, he had a way of writing about those fine old guns that must be admired. Shoot sharp, Mike
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Post by Bullshop on Mar 8, 2016 12:01:50 GMT -7
My own firearms experience is to date incomplete in that I have not yet experienced an Mannilicher Schoenauer rifle or carbine in any caliber.
Even with this sadly lacking situation with firearms types I have had much pleasant experience with the 6.5mm caliber with the taking of two elk and some number of deer with the caliber.
My first experience with the caliber was with a classic rifle in a first model Chas Newton rifle chambered for the 256 Newton cartridge. I was elk hunting the DeerLodge Nat. Forest walking a fence line when at about 40 yards jumped a medium size rag horn bull that had been bedded by the fence. As he was rapidly departing I leaned the rifle on a fence post top for a good solid rest and acquired a good sight picture of the departing elk. Running straight away the only view I had was of his yellow rump a target I had grave doubt of slipping one of these rather small looking 129gn Nosler Partition bullets through to the vitals of this animal. My load with this anemic appearing bullet was pushing it from this classic rifle to a chronographed 2900 fps. Watching the elk add perhaps another 40 yards distance to his original 40 yard head start I waited for the slightest turn that would allow a mid length entry for the bullet to have half a chance (pun intended) to reach the vitals. At about this distance he finally turned his head to have a look back at what it was that startled him from his bed. When he did and I saw just a wee bit of yellow flank I slid the cross wires to the yellow spot and touched of the set trigger of that fine old Newton rifle.
At the crack of the rifle the elk took a nose dive and skidded on his lisp until all forward motion ceased. I lacking confidence in the small bullet to adequately perform the task assigned to it reloaded the rifle, took aim again and watched through the scope to see how things would progress. Not wanting to shoot up more edible meet than was absolutely necessary I waited. For a few seconds I was very close to sending off another Nosler bullet as the bull struggled to get his front feet under him which he did for a couple short seconds. At that point he collapsed and lay still without having to fire the second shot. By the time I crossed the fence and got to him it was over.
I looked the bull over and found that my shot had come so close to the hind quarter before entering the right flank that it had shaved hair off the right hind quarter. When I butchered the bull I found the little Nosler bullet now half its original size with the nose expanded away to the partition had come to rest at about midway in the neck between head and shoulder on the left side of the neck. That little 129gn bullet had entered just in frot of the right hind quarter and traversed the body passing through paunch, intestine, diaphragm, heart/lung, and traveled half way down the tough neck mussels on that elk. That experience helped to instill far more confidence in the caliber than I had prior to it.
This past season of 2015 I took another elk with another 6.5mm caliber rifle in another chambering but that story I will leave for another time.
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Post by missionary on Mar 9, 2016 7:40:54 GMT -7
Howdy Dan
Thank you for that good read. Well again the 6.5 seems like a good one when connected with a long bullet that will penetrate. Good shooting also! that of course made all the difference in where that little torpedo had to go.
Mike in Peru
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