MY ITALIAN SWEDE
JOKL LE ROUX
Afew seasons ago, I took stock of the firearms in my small hunting arsenal and came to the conclusion that my CZ .243 Win, although still in pristine condition, was becoming redundant. Due to the persisting drought in the Karoo I haven’t used my .243 there for about four seasons. The .243 is also not versatile enough (read powerful) for some hunting applications and its 100gr bullets are wind sensitive.
I own a .223 Rem, 7x57, 7x64, .30-06 and a .375 H&H but felt that I needed a calibre capable of launching bullets weighing from 90 to 140gr. So, I have decided to let go of the .243 Win.
For more than a decade I have been eyeing the 6.5x55 Swede. Its low recoil and muzzle blast, inherent accuracy and short action (thus potentially lightweight rifle) count in its favour. When used for hunting, the long, slender bullets with high sectional density provide flat trajectories and impressive penetration (a 140gr 6.5mm bullet has a higher SD than a 160gr 7mm bullet). Furthermore, it is versatile with bullets ranging from 77gr right up to 160gr. I am not a speed freak requiring 3 000+fps velocities (I prefer to limit my shots to 300m), and I also love classic calibres. The modern 6.5s do not interest me.
BUT FIRST SOME RESEARCH
I was in no particular hurry to buy a 6.5 Swede, so I had ample time to do some research on different rifle brands. A CZ offers good value for money, and so does the Howa but I love a beautiful piece of wood on a rifle. Then I happened to visit Outfitters in Worcester where, on enquiring about the calibre, an exceptionally beautiful Italianmade Zoli in 6.5x55 was shown to me. Its exquisite walnut stock immediately caught my attention, the action was very smooth, its weight felt good, it shouldered nicely, and the trigger is easily adjustable. I fell in love with the Italian immediately! I asked the people at Outfitters to keep the rifle for me and went back home to do some research on Antonio Zoli rifles.
Since this article is not in
tended as a Zoli review, I will be very brief. The Zoli family has a 400-year history of gun-making. Although they are famous for their high-end shotguns, they have made quality bolt-action rifles since the 1980s, but have marketed them only in Europe where, despite serious competition from other well-established gun-making firms, they have become quite popular. The current Zoli bolt-actions are based on the excellent Swedish Husqvarna 1900 actions (Husqvarna has closed down their rifle-manufacturing division), which was duplicated, improved upon and modified by Antonio Zoli using state-of-the-art technology. And made more versatile by adding a few optional extras such as a set trigger and a detachable magazine (the rifle is also available in a left-hand version).
GETTING MY OWN
Locally Zolis are offered in various models of which the Bavarian and Taiga are two. The latter is a fancier model than my Bavarian I. Within two months of paying the deposit the licence was granted and I fitted a Nikon Monarch scope to the Zoli. For breaking in the barrel, I used Norma 140gr factory ammunition and did not expect very tight groups. However, the rifle managed a number of sub-MOA 5-shot groups which really excited me!
I ordered 120gr and 130gr Claw bullets from East London (I use Claw bullets in all my calibres and the bonded ones have never let me down). Working up some loads for the 120gr bullet resulted in excellent accuracy with two very tight cloverleaf groups. Muzzle velocity was 2 995fps. This load was intended for springbuck and blesbuck on the plains. Unfortunately, due to the drought in the Karoo, I had only one chance at a lone springbuck ram at my regular hunting place. I couldn’t get closer than about 240 metres, but had a good, solid rest on my Stable Sticks. At the shot, the ram dropped in its tracks with a shot to the junction of the head and neck.
EASTERN CAPE HUNTING
During the 2019 season I visited an old farming friend in the Glenconnor area of the Eastern Cape. This time impala and warthog were on the menu. I was also keen to hunt a kudu bull, but because of the extended drought my host wanted to give the kudu in the 2 000ha enclosed area some time to recover. I respected that.
A strong, cold westerly wind was blowing on my first morning in the veld. I decided to work my way upwind to the western farm boundary, looking for impala taking shelter against the wind on the western flanks of deep valleys while also sunning themselves. Within an hour of still-hunting, I spotted some impala and plotted my stalk using the contours of the land and the sparse shadows of some pruim- and witgatbome. With about 30 impalas in the herd, they could spot me easily, so I had to be careful.
When I emerged from behind a ridge directly south of them, they were still too far for my liking and I used some spek- »
» bome and taaibosse until I ran out of cover when the animals were about 170m away. After the previous season’s springbuck ram, I felt quite confident that I could take a shot. By using my binoculars, I found a mature ram among the herd at the bottom of the steep slope. I made myself comfortable with the Swede on the sticks and noticed through the scope, set at 8x magnification, that it was quite a nice-bodied ram. Aiming behind the shoulder I fired. The ram stumbled a few paces downhill, and then disappeared behind some shrub. I wasn’t worried at all because I knew my shot was good. The bullet hit slightly high and above the heart but hit the top of the lungs, killing the impala within seconds. I was chuffed!
The afternoon drew a blank with the wind reaching hurricane force, but the next morning was crisp and quiet. I was keen to get another ram but had two aborted stalks due to some long-necked ewes spotting me and sounding the alarm. At midday on my way back to my bakkie, and after topping a little ridge, I spotted three warthogs trotting in Indian file along a game track. They were on their way to the neighbour’s fence about 100m away, after having visited a nearby water hole. They were 120m from me and I knew that they would not stop.
Now, I haven’t tried running
shots for some time but on the spur of the moment I raised the Zoli, swung half a pig-length ahead of the leading sow and touched off. I heard the bullet connect and saw the hog turning tail, rushing through the shrub as only a heart-shot animal will do. One warthog, confused by my silencer-muffled shot, came running full-tilt straight towards me. At first I thought it was charging me but then I gathered myself, lined up on the pig and at about 20 paces shot it through the head.
The third hog who had turned back towards the water hole, then decided the neighbour’s side would indeed be safer and headed for the fence again. I knew it would hesitate at the hole for a second or two and waited with the Zoli at the ready yet again. When the warthog ducked halfway under the lower fencestrand, quartering away from me, I let rip at its head and it died on the spot without even kicking. Three shots, three warthogs! I felt even more chuffed than after my impala ram. The Italian Swede was really boosting my confidence.
AN INVITATION
After recovering the pigs my host offered me the opportunity to hunt an area of about 1 000ha that was not game-fenced. I was welcome to shoot a kudu bull there, but there were also some springbuck and the odd impala and plenty of pigs. He, however, warned that stalking a kudu bull there would not be easy due to the more open terrain. I have hunted this property before, and the experience gained over decades of stalking kudu on my deceased in-laws’ property near Prince Albert, where cover is generally very limited, gave me some confidence. I would initially stick to the short, dry, sweet-thorn-lined drainage lines, working my way up to a hillock that houses the only good cover, consisting of spekbos, pruimboom, witgat and boerboon. If I could reach that area undetected, I would have a chance.
I am a firm believer of rather being over-gunned than undergunned, but decided not to swap the 6.5mm for the 7x64, since the chances of finding a bull was limited, and if no kudu would offer a chance, I could possibly stalk a springbuck. Subconsciously I wondered if the 6.5, loaded with 120gr Claw bullets, would be powerful enough for kudu.
The dongas and dry rivulets produced nothing but some bateared foxes and a duiker, fortunately running across the flats and not towards my target area. I carefully worked my way onto the vegetated hillock and found a place which offered me a view over a depression I previously named “Amphitheatre”. I selected a spot in the shadows of a sneezewood and started scrutinizing the area within the amphitheatre, which was about 150 metres across and 300 metres long. Besides a magic view on the magnificent Cockscomb Mountain Range in the distance, I saw nothing else for almost an hour, but a family of warthogs feeding on their knees about 30 metres away and a steenbuck ram that browsed to within five metres of me. I didn’t dare batting an eyelid until he was out of sight.
A KUDU IN SIGHT
Suddenly, I noticed a lone kudu cow at 11 o’clock across the depression, trying to soak up the late-afternoon sun. I sat tight. Half an hour later, I saw the tips of a bull’s horns behind some thick spekbos at about three o’clock. Ten minutes later I had marked four bulls, three of them were trophy-size animals while the fourth one’s horns had just completed their second turn, a four-year-old meat bull. None of them offered a clear shot. They were quietly browsing across my front, showing themselves partially from time to time, and I was becoming worried that they may disappear over a little ridge, outside my line of sight. That happened soon enough, and I had no choice but to relocate some 30 metres up-slope to keep them in sight. I took extreme care not to make any noise... looking twice, stepping once, and after about five minutes reached my selected spot. Something told me to set up the sticks immediately and get the Swede ready.
I did that and then noticed what looked like a piece of grey kudu hide through a small opening in the spekbos shrub. Looking through the scope I could see a white, vertical line. Then I saw horn tips and recognised the animal as the youngest of the four bulls. I was looking at the first white line behind the bull’s shoulder through a gap in the bush. With the bull 190m away I made up my mind. My hold on the Stable Sticks was solid and that bull could take one step forward any moment, disappearing from sight.
I double-checked through the telescope (set at 8x) that there were not any intervening twigs, and pressed the trigger. The bullet hit with a solid thump and the bull emerged, running flatout directly away from behind the spekbos, but its white tail was up! From the corner of my eye I noticed the other kudus scattering in all directions, but I kept my eyes on my bull, until it disappeared behind some thick shrub. Then I saw a small cloud of dust rising and knew he was down.
I mentally marked a lone, redblooming boerboon as a landmark, but it still took some casting about to pick up his running spoor. He covered less than 50m before going down and I found him dead, shot through the lungs. It was not a trophy bull, but I was after a meat animal anyway.
BULLET PERFORMANCE AND RECOVERY
The 120-grain Claw had passed straight through the bull’s chest with the exit wound about three times bigger than the entry wound, indicating good bullet expansion. The 6.5 mm has lived up to its reputation. During the slaughtering process I noticed that the bullet had punched through a rib bone on each side.
The recovery was somewhat tricky, but an ordinary wheelbarrow did the trick. The two labourers helping me to recover the bull knew the technique, and the carcass was on the bakkie within half an hour after we started the recovery.
I realise that you cannot judge a calibre’s capabilities after shooting a small number of animals, but it would be an understatement to say that I am extremely chuffed with my Italian Swede, after three hogs, a ram and a bull!