Thanks guys.

The rifle is a Carl Gustav M-38, and belongs to my eldest daughter who is stuck in Sydney at the moment. In the 1970s a bunch of these things were sporterised in Australia using locally-made coach-wood stocks I believe. The scope is a Leupold 2-7 x 28 Ultralight, and it never moved off 2-power the whole trip (no handicap at all for an open-sight shooter like me!) In fact, these culling trips are the only time I use a scope in the field, ever!

My own M-38 has an 1899 Obendorf action and remains in collectable military format. Both these M-38s have the nifty dial-micrometer rear sight. Very cute!

My cartridge components for culling are Highland cases and Sierra 140gr Game-King seconds to cut costs, with a modest load of AR2209 for petrol. I didn't get many of the Sierras back: those that didn't exit explosively simply blew to bits inside. Just what I was looking for after last-year's frustration with the Highland projectiles' titanium-jacketed tungsten-cored armour-piercing performance!

IMHO the 6.5x55 is highly underrated as a cartridge for general use on medium game such as pigs, goats, and all but the largest deer. With those loong 140gr pencils, it seems to kill out of all proportion to its calibre.