Sellier & Bellot Exergy – 6.5×55 Factory Cartridge – Bullet test

We did a little Sellier & Bellot easter shootout at the last weekend! Thank you for the Aseliike Remes to make it possible! This is the first part of the article series that will concentrate on the S&B Exergy factory cartridges. This part will consist the 6.5×55 caliber and the 308win, and 9,3×62 will follow in different articles! The S&B Exergy Blue bullet test articles will follow right after these Exergy articles!

Exergy is the original copper made hunting bullet of the Sellier & Bellot. At their homepage , they are writing that the jacket material of the Exergy, is not available. But on the Exergy 30-06 cartridge page, they are mentioning that it is made of 100% Solid Copper. So we cannot be sure about the exact material, but we know that it is a lead free bullet with little round aluminium tip on the top of the bullet.

But, to the results!

Sellier & Bellot Exergy 130gr – 6,5×55 Swedish Factory Cartridge

TESTING

Test gun was a Blaser combination gun with the 600mm barrel. We measured the velocity ca. 5m from the muzzle and got a 792m/s impact velocity, which is quite spot on to the promises of the manufacturer, which is 805m/s v0 velocity from the 600mm barrel.

The slower impact velocity was achieved by reloading. If the velocity at the muzzle is 805m/s, what the manufacturer claims. The speed of 691m/s simulates the impact at the distance of 91 meters (ca. 100 yards).

THE BULLET

The working style of the S&B Exergy bullet is to open in five petals and retain its high weight after the impact without losing the petals.

The harder hit, with the velocity of 792m/s (2592fps) was too harsh for this 130gr Exergy bullet and it lost three of it’s five petals. Which can also be seen on the retained weight (81,8%) This kind of close distance impacts are not common in normal hunting, so we don’t see this breakdown to be very significant thing. It tells us that the velocity of the factory cartridge has probably been adjusted to the working velocity area of the bullet. The more velocity you dare to add, the better and more reliably the bullet works at the longer distances. So the the breakdown at the close distances might be a well considered decision to achieve longer working distance to the factory cartridge.

At the impact of the 691m/s (2267fps) the bullet worked great and kept all the petals intact as can be seen on the photo above. The retained weight was also excellent. With this velocity, the bullet opened all-the-way to the bottom of the expansion cavity. So we can expect reliable opening of the bullet also on the greater distances than 91m/100yards.

RELOADING

This S&B Exergy .264″ 130gr bullet is only available in factory cartridges.

WOUND CHANNELS

Test targets were wetted newspapers. The bullet with impact speed of 792m/s (2592fps) penetrated 49cm (19,3″) of wet newspapers, and the bullet with impact speed of 646m/s penetrated 51cm (20,1″).

The wound channels can be seen below. With some bullets, it is easy to see the effect of loosing the petals, from the shape of the wound channel. But between these two, the difference is quite small.

SUMMA SUMMARUM

Factory cartridge with a good copper bullet! You can expect good working at the over 100m distances also. Low ballistic coefficient (G1: 0,240) affects the velocity quite fast at the greater distances. Not the bullet for the real long range hunting, but at the normal hunting distances you can expect very good results! Don’t forget the suprise factor possibility at the really close shooting distances.

Sincerely yours – The Hard-Hitting Shooting Lab