My general purpose hunting rifle is a Mauser 98 with a 22" barrel, chambered in 6.5x55 (standard). I load it to 57 - 58K psi with Norma and Lapua brass. From that, I'm getting a hair under 3K fps with a 127 LRX. My hunting takes place at ~750 - 1,200' ASL; in typical spring and autumn conditions, I've still got >1,000 ft lb at the 600-yard mark. The projectile remains above 1,700 fps to ~750-yds; this velocity is the lower end of what Barnes has recommended to me through email communication. At that range, for what it's worth, the energy is in the realm of 825 ft lb. I feel comfortable loading hotter than 58K psi, but there is no point. My whitetail and hog hunting takes place at ranges shorter than 500-yds most of the time.
Once-fired Norma brass can be bought for $0.25 - $0.33, and 6.5x55 is the least expensive centerfire brass that Lapua makes (since this is the standard target cartridge throughout Scandinavia, they have the most on hand). Barrel life is in the 2,500 - 3,000+ range, depending upon your loads, shooting regimen, and personal accuracy requirements. It's easy to get 1:8 barrels for 6.5, as you know, and the throats for the Swede are nice and long to permit loading out of the newer, long-range projectiles.
