Never hunted with mine but I did a penetration test which blew me away. I lined up 4 12" dry hackberry stumps. Behind that was a dead 10" diameter hackberry tree. Behind that, and I didn't even look at the time, was a 7" diameter live hackberry tree, then a forest and, about 100 yards away, a 15' railroad embankment.
I fired an 8mm 180 Nosler Ballistic Tip from my 8x56 at @2360 fps. It penetrated 2"-3" into the first stump, turned inside out, and stopped.
Then I fired a 160 gr Hornady Round Nose Soft Point from my 6.5x54 at @2160 fps. That bullet went through all four 12" stumps, through the 10" dead tree, through the 7" diameter live tree, and sailed off into the forest. 65" of absolutely straight-line penetration from a soft point. No wonder they found the 6.5x54 effective on elephants, buffalo, and all the big stuff.
I have a copy of a 1932 Western Cartridge ad. It shows an 18 year-old girl from Kansas City kneeling with her Mannlicher-Schoenauer 6.5x54 Carbine in front of the two polar bears she had killed with one round apiece from her little rifle. Don't know if I would recommend the round as the optimum polar bear round but I know, now, it's been done.
