Been hunting with the 6.5 X 55 since I was a Boy Scout and bought a Swede Mauser for $39.95 mail order!* Still can hit the pie plate at 200.
* of course I have a fancy one now. Sweet shooter.
In the next year, I plan on building two 7mm rifles: One in .284 (for which I’ll neck up 6.5x284 brass) and a 7mm WSM. I happened upon a short 1924 Yugo action on which someone had opened up the bolt face for .535 heads, so it seems like a natural fit.
I debated between the 6.5 and 7mm for a long time, as there are really good choices in both, with more established cartridges with more brass available in the 6.5’s. In the end, my preference for heavier bullets with higher Bc’s won out... there’s some new stuff out there in 7mm which is just spectacular... and for that, I’ll just put up with the brass issue and hoard all I can find and make it fit.
http://www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/barnes-match-burners/
http://www.hornady.com/store/7mm-.284-162-GR-BTHP-Match/
Look at the 7mm vs. the 6.5. I’m sure you could design a 6.5 to achieve the same, but you’d need to tighten the twist as the bullet should be getting pretty long.
So we’ve pretty much convinced everyone who doesn’t work for the government that there’s something to this 6.5 to 7mm obsession... but no matter. They’ll still be using 5.56 for quite some time to come, if for no other reason than to make the recoil acceptable to the women they’re going to let join the Rangers and other combat groups.