Greetings @Peter Adams,
I have both an M38 and a T3 Lite in 6.5x55. Both shoot well. The M38 has a reasonable barrel and has been re crowned as damage in this area can ruin accuracy. You need to have someone look at this before you waste too much ammo on it. Mine also has an aftermarket trigger. The throat is long so you may not be able to seat projectiles close to the rifling. I would stay away from boat tail projectiles as I found the 120 and 129 grain flat base projectiles shot well.
Make things easy on yourself by finding a mentor to help you get set up. Finding decent handloading data can be a challenge so I am happy to share my knowledge via PM. The US factory ammo is piss weak and not worth bothering with and the better stuff is eye wateringly expensive. There are also pitfalls in setting up your dies not to oversize your cases as US dies generally set the shoulder back too far. None of this is difficult to work through if you have someone to guide you along the way. The 6.5x55 is a great cartridge and well worth the bother.
Regards Grandpamac.
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