Thread: Is a 6.5x55 enough gun for Thar

There is a good shot placement resource here: https://www.africahunting.com/community/shot-placement/

The entry for Tahr isn’t as comprehensive as some of the others but it is well worth looking at nonetheless. https://www.africahunting.com/thread...ng-tahr.49741/.

I am not a Tahr Hunter (yet) and cannot comment on the OP‘s question about the 6.5x55 being suitable or not. Obviously the bloke that wrote this entry in the shot placement thread would probably say “no it’s not”, but I would bet a dollar or two on him being a Magnum shooter and that tends to skew their perspective, that’s been my experience.

My view as a regular 300-600m 6.5mm deer shooter is that the bullet choice is the key, with the heavier 6.5 bullets having an undeniable benefit of a very high sectional density. So a good premium quality bullet in the 130-150gr range pushed hard at 2750-2900 ft/sec is unlikely to struggle with penetration. I guess I’m just reflecting on how I would prepare for my first Tahr hunt if I was determined to use my proven rifle - if it can knock over big heavy reds and 150lb++ pigs at those ranges I’d be pretty confident I could knock over a Tahr - as long as I selected a bullet tough enough for the job.

Several good quality bullet options stand out for me, the main bullet type that I would avoid full stop would be the A-Max / ELD-M, Tipped MatchKing types, they work very well at distance on our soft skinned deer and goats but would be a poor choice for Himalayan Tahr.

I would be keen to get my hands on some of the new Norma Bondstrike in 6.5 for Tahr, I hope it doesn’t take too long for them to arrive in New Zealand as projectiles only. I don’t much like the marketing though as they are pushing them as extreme long-range bullets, which doesn’t really make sense to me.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

There is a good shot placement resource here: https://www.africahunting.com/community/shot-placement/

The entry for Tahr isn’t as comprehensive as some of the others but it is well worth looking at nonetheless. https://www.africahunting.com/thread...ng-tahr.49741/.

I am not a Tahr Hunter (yet) and cannot comment on the OP‘s question about the 6.5x55 being suitable or not. Obviously the bloke that wrote this entry in the shot placement thread would probably say “no it’s not”, but I would bet a dollar or two on him being a Magnum shooter and that tends to skew their perspective, that’s been my experience.

My view as a regular 300-600m 6.5mm deer shooter is that the bullet choice is the key, with the heavier 6.5 bullets having an undeniable benefit of a very high sectional density. So a good premium quality bullet in the 130-150gr range pushed hard at 2750-2900 ft/sec is unlikely to struggle with penetration. I guess I’m just reflecting on how I would prepare for my first Tahr hunt if I was determined to use my proven rifle - if it can knock over big heavy reds and 150lb++ pigs at those ranges I’d be pretty confident I could knock over a Tahr - as long as I selected a bullet tough enough for the job.

Several good quality bullet options stand out for me, the main bullet type that I would avoid full stop would be the A-Max / ELD-M, Tipped MatchKing types, they work very well at distance on our soft skinned deer and goats but would be a poor choice for Himalayan Tahr.

I would be keen to get my hands on some of the new Norma Bondstrike in 6.5 for Tahr, I hope it doesn’t take too long for them to arrive in New Zealand as projectiles only. I don’t much like the marketing though as they are pushing them as extreme long-range bullets, which doesn’t really make sense to me.

I'd hazard a guess that the eld-m / amaxs have successfully killed many a tahr in this country.

Originally Posted by Nick-D

I'd hazard a guess that the eld-m / amaxs have successfully killed many a tahr in this country.

+1 amaxs work great, well the 162 and 208 work great

Originally Posted by DLW

+1 amaxs work great, well the 162 and 208 work great

They didn't all work, while the above ones were fine, I only used the 243 105's for a couple of hunts, I found them to be be a very poor choice for Tahr

Greetings Imaca and All,
May I respectively suggest that a box of Nosler Partitions may be considered. Yes they are expensive but you won't need many. You could also leave the remaining part box in a semi ostentatious position, say next to your mounted Tahr head as a conversation starter. A retro projectile for a retro NZ hunt.
Regards Grandpamac

I've shot at least 30, maybe 40 tahr with my 6.5x47 and 125gn Nosler partitions (its is an old action, so it runs at a very sedate 2700 fps) and its always worked absolutely fine out to 300M - about as far as I'll shoot. The thing I've found with partitions is that they can be quite "picky" about barrels they'll shoot in. I have had a series of rifles that they were hopeless in (a 250-3000, a 6.5-06, and a 7x64 - they all shot really well with other projectiles) and I only tried them in the 6.5x47 cause they were "in the cupboard". They go perfectly OK in the wee Mauser kurz and its a bit fussy about what it likes - so its hard to make that one out!!

My uncle shot around 8000 Tahr as a culler for tails. 222, 308, 7x57, 3006. He also guided people at times who had magnum cannons.
The 7 x 57 with 139 Hornadys was far and away the best apparently. Told me that the biggest mistake was to think that the anatomy of a Tahr had the bits in the same places as deer etc and to shoot too far back. Said that he always shot 'just behind the front leg' but on a tahr that is proportionately nearer to the front than most people think in the heat of the moment.
If the 7mil could sack them the 6.5 surely will. The cannons tended to blast right through and the bulls would run 'parently

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

My uncle shot around 8000 Tahr as a culler for tails. 222, 308, 7x57, 3006. He also guided people at times who had magnum cannons.
The 7 x 57 with 139 Hornadys was far and away the best apparently. Told me that the biggest mistake was to think that the anatomy of a Tahr had the bits in the same places as deer etc and to shoot too far back. Said that he always shot 'just behind the front leg' but on a tahr that is proportionately nearer to the front than most people think in the heat of the moment.
If the 7mil could sack them the 6.5 surely will. The cannons tended to blast right through and the bulls would run 'parently

What was your uncles name Moa Hunter?
Yes the treble two was very popular for several reasons,amongst the cullers on the thar.
The .223 accounted for many thousands also,, from the aerial crews back in the day.
I personally would'nt recommend a treble two for a novice hunting thar for the first time or any recreational hunter fi that matter on thar.

Originally Posted by doinit

What was your uncles name Moa Hunter?
Yes the treble two was very popular for several reasons,amongst the cullers on the thar.
The .223 accounted for many thousands also,, from the aerial crews back in the day.
I personally would'nt recommend a treble two for a novice hunting thar for the first time or any recreational hunter fi that matter on thar.

PM on name. Re the trebly, uncle told me what they did was pretty disgusting by todays standards. Sneak up to a mob of Nannys and kids, shoot the lead matriarchal nannys fair in the guts, they would hunch up and not run and lead the mob away. Then with a couple of extended mags, methodically shoot the lot and retrieve the tails.
What he did tell me about shooting bulls with the 222 was that they used Norma 50 or 55 gr pills ( someone will know) which were hard and would penetrate. Shoot quickly every bull in the mob just behind the front leg. Don't show yourself and DONT shoot any bull twice. The bulls would walk around then start swaying an falling over, one after the other. If a bull was shot again because it hadn't gone down it would run off over a bluff and the whole lot might follow.

Originally Posted by doinit

What was your uncles name Moa Hunter?
Yes the treble two was very popular for several reasons,amongst the cullers on the thar.
The .223 accounted for many thousands also,, from the aerial crews back in the day.
I personally would'nt recommend a treble two for a novice hunting thar for the first time or any recreational hunter fi that matter on thar.

PM on name. Re the trebly, uncle told me what they did was pretty disgusting by todays standards. Sneak up to a mob of Nannys and kids, shoot the lead matriarchal nannys fair in the guts, they would hunch up and not run and lead the mob away. Then with a couple of extended mags, methodically shoot the lot and retrieve the tails.
What he did tell me about shooting bulls with the 222 was that they used Norma 50 or 55 gr pills ( someone will know) which were hard and would penetrate. Shoot quickly every bull in the mob just behind the front leg. Don't show yourself and DONT shoot any bull twice. The bulls would walk around then start swaying an falling over, one after the other. If a bull was shot again because it hadn't gone down it would run off over a bluff and the whole lot might follow.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

PM on name. Re the trebly, uncle told me what they did was pretty disgusting by todays standards. Sneak up to a mob of Nannys and kids, shoot the lead matriarchal nannys fair in the guts, they would hunch up and not run and lead the mob away. Then with a couple of extended mags, methodically shoot the lot and retrieve the tails.
What he did tell me about shooting bulls with the 222 was that they used Norma 50 or 55 gr pills ( someone will know) which were hard and would penetrate. Shoot quickly every bull in the mob just behind the front leg. Don't show yourself and DONT shoot any bull twice. The bulls would walk around then start swaying an falling over, one after the other. If a bull was shot again because it hadn't gone down it would run off over a bluff and the whole lot might follow.

Yes that was the norm for some cullers but not everyone involved. Taking the lead nannie out was the proven method for sure.
In a big strung out mob,,(indian file) one always worked through the mob starting from the rear. The type of projectiles in the triple two that bored into the big Bulls were called a Hammer Head ,,it took a follow up shot on many occasions all the same.
Thanks Moa Hunter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPTOH60-0oQ


mid-cased 6.5s work

Originally Posted by gimp

mid-cased 6.5s work