6.5 X 55

[1jonzmith]

have had a soft spot for the Swede since I first shot one 20 years ago. Mild recoil, exceptional accuracy, lots of bullet variety, easy on barrels, etc.

The old loads for the Swede were very mild and suitable for the ancient military rifles yet they were appropriate for everything up to and including European Moose. Modern rifles can take much hotter loads safely and expand the game that can be taken and the ranges at which they can be taken. So I see nothing but "up-side" to this calibre. Still, I see a lot of 6.5 calibres being created...6.5 X 47 being only one. I know about the 6.5 X 284 and the magnums but I don't want a barrel burner or retina dislodging recoil.

Any discussion on my alternatives, or my choice, would be welcomed.

Thanks,


John

[jeffreyC]

In many cases new cartridges are created to prevent hotter loads from mistakenly being fired in older rifles.

If some of your hotter loads were to be fired in an "ancient" military rifle which had suffered abuse would it withstand the pressure ?

One way to avoid this would be chambering for an improved version of the 6.5x55.

[Corprin]

If you are firing factory ammo, the 6.5x55 is going to be a bit anemic. If you are reloading you can bump the rounds to compete directly with the likes of the 6.5x.285 without the barrel burning. Give it a few min, some of the swede fans here will let you know how to load for this amazing round!

[Gmac5]

260 rem= 6.5x308 every thing the swede can do ,available brass .

[BoilerUP]

6.5x55 Lapua brass is MUCH cheaper than 260 Rem Lapua brass...

[cgeorgemo]

Might want to post this in the ammunition section.....

[thomae]

DaveMuzz must be out of town for the weekend. He is gangbusters enthusiastic for the 6.5 swede and usually chimes in these discussions with good info. Wait for him to return and I presume he will gladly share his experiences.

[ellobo]

For what its worth, at one time I had both a Swedish Mauser model 96 made by the Swedish Carl Gustave firm in 6.5x55 and a Mauser model 98 in 7x57. The Swede loaded with heavy long military bullets was very accurate. So was the model 98 loaded with long military bullets. Both bullets were culled from military rounds. When I reloaded with lighter bullets the accuracy fell off on both rifles. The rate of twist in both barrels was fast to give the accuracy to the longer bullets. It was yrs ago and I forget the rate of twist. Those olde military cartridges were originaly designd for long bullets. Even our 03 original rounds were designed for 220gr. bullets. Both of my 7x57's have a rate of twist that matches up well with 140 grain bullets.

El Lobo

[1jonzmith]

For what its worth, at one time I had both a Swedish Mauser model 96 made by the Swedish Carl Gustave firm in 6.5x55 and a Mauser model 98 in 7x57. The Swede loaded with heavy long military bullets was very accurate. So was the model 98 loaded with long military bullets. Both bullets were culled from military rounds. When I reloaded with lighter bullets the accuracy fell off on both rifles. The rate of twist in both barrels was fast to give the accuracy to the longer bullets. It was yrs ago and I forget the rate of twist. Those olde military cartridges were originaly designd for long bullets. Even our 03 original rounds were designed for 220gr. bullets. Both of my 7x57's have a rate of twist that matches up well with 140 grain bullets.

El Lobo


See, now, that is something I heard many years ago. The name for it was "over-stabilization" and it was supposed to be a bad thing. I called Sierra and they told me there was no such animal and that a round being over clocked was only a consideration if it was being spun sooooo fast that it disintegrated in flight due to centrifugal forces tearing it apart. They told me that if I wanted to fire 120 grain 6.5 bullets in my "olde Swede" with its 1 in 7 (?) rate I would have to depress the velocity and resultant spin rate. They also mentioned another thing I hadn't heard in my sheltered life.....the more lands in contact with the bullet the more accurate the round will be. FLAT BASE is more accurate that SPIRE POINT because of added land contact. Really? Said I.

Now if you want to take full advantage of a 120 grain 6.5 you need to reduce the spin rate to just barely what you need and if that doesn't produce the results you want then simply buy another $400 match grade barrel and see if things improve with a faster twist. That conversation actually made sense to some people. Brrrrr. But you get the jest of what they were saying. Every weight has its min stabilization spin rate. What I know is that a Barnes in a given weight might stabilize at a lower rate than a Sierra in the same weight and configuration...or vice versa. Nothing simple easy or quick except the emptying of the wallet....right?

I still am shooting the Mil version of barrel and I love this cartridge. I may get a different twist rate on the new one I buy. Have to talk to "Dave Muzz" a lot before I make a move. I am really looking forward to that. jegrabe@gmail.com

Thanks to all for the great info.

John (the German)

[1jonzmith]

In many cases new cartridges are created to prevent hotter loads from mistakenly being fired in older rifles.

If some of your hotter loads were to be fired in an "ancient" military rifle which had suffered abuse would it withstand the pressure ?

One way to avoid this would be chambering for an improved version of the 6.5x55.


The Euros give their riflemen more credit than we do and that is a fact. Reason is universal health care. Over there they sit on the necks of the manufacturers pretty heavy cause they have no tort law to even the scales. You cripple or blind a citizen over there then "we all pay the price" with their taxes. The victim gets ALL medical care, a seeing eye dog, home health care and home maint assist AND he/she is put on full disability pension immediately. They are really fair and balanced and open and honest with their compensation over there and supremely cautious of hurting people. Industry has a Govy crawling up their XXX at the slightest provocation. Still they make SAKOs and STEYER and Mauser and Glock and Anshutz and Walther and....you get the picture. They do export those special cast iron guns usually made in Spain or Italy but if they are caught selling those junkers "domestic" then the CEO gets to watch his son shoot a hundred rounds of ++P++ then the CEO gets to protect himself from a Pit Bull that has had his arse properly peppered to correct and mildness in his proper loving disposition. (the dog's)

The 6.5 X 55 sold in Europe is marked "MODERN RIFLES ONLY" if it intended for those and marked otherwise if that is appropriate and if a dupe puts that +P in a old 96/94 then he gets what he deserves and the herd gets thinned. We tried that here and we got Patent Medicines whose formula was a industry Trade Secret but were found to contain lead and mercury salts....children's cough syrups and health elixirs. Lead! Really, LEAD. But no gul danged Gummint interference....thank God for that. Got so bad we had to invent another wasteful Gummint agency called the Pure Food an Drug Administration just to get the lead out...so to speak... of our food and medicine. Europe with it health system is different. But, they still sell and buy guns over there. Here we get Remington and Windychester that shoot 4 to 5 inch groups right out of the box and that quality of firearm can't be given away over there. Will they ever see the error of their ways? Will they? Ammunition manufactures are the ones that restrict the high power rifle ammunition in the interest of public safety and TORT LAW.

Just fun'n a little. Please, no NRA indoc...please.

[teebirdhyzer]

the 6.5 Creedmoor is yet another alternative that will put you right there in the sweet spot for accuracy, available and affordable brass and factory ammo, and good barrel life. One of the real benefits you get by going the creedmoor route vs the swede is you can use a short action and feed from any .308 family magazines while still seating the bullet out long and near the lands if you need to. ....but besides that for handloaders, they should basically be very similar ballistically.

[1jonzmith]

the 6.5 Creedmoor is yet another alternative that will put you right there in the sweet spot for accuracy, available and affordable brass and factory ammo, and good barrel life. One of the real benefits you get by going the creedmoor route vs the swede is you can use a short action and feed from any .308 family magazines while still seating the bullet out long and near the lands if you need to. ....but besides that for handloaders, they should basically be very similar ballistically.


Thanks Tee

[jeffreyC]

Here in the US we have lawyers who will make sure if you put an open topped cup of scalding hot coffee between your legs while in your car and drive over railroad tracks and around corners, if it spills the people who sold the coffee to you are going to pay you over a million dollars.

If you did that in Europe you would be too embarrassed to admit it.

[1jonzmith]

Here in the US we have lawyers who will make sure if you put an open topped cup of scalding hot coffee between your legs while in your car and drive over railroad tracks and around corners, if it spills the people who sold the coffee to you are going to pay you over a million dollars.

If you did that in Europe you would be too embarrassed to admit it.


Now "Jeff". "There ya go again". (RR) This is your assignment.....Google "McDonalds and hot coffee and law suit" all at the same time sorta.. After you have read to the point that you feel embarrassed.....PM me and I will give you additional info that will sicken you. Were it not for that multi mega buck award, made by folks like you and I that heard weeks of testimony, they would still be serving coffee heated to 209 degrees to people that passed the stuff around over children and babies in the close confines of a CAR. This will go off topic in a heartbeat as "human Compassion, Tort law, child endangerment, disregard for public safety, reckless endangerment, greed and politics are always OFF TOPIC and inflammatory to someone". You might get away with telling the forum that you were completely wrong about that scalding thing at Ronald McDonald's. jegrabe@gmail,com :) PM style! Private!

John

[skoger]

I have built a ton of 6.5x55's ovre the last 25+years, close to 200 total. Go with a 7& 1/2 or 8 twist, nothing slower and a quality barrel on a savage long action, you will be ahead of the 260 in my book. I have 2 Swedes right now witht the above mentioned twists, and they both will shoot 85, 120, 140 grain bulletts in the low.3's and high.2's, with the right load, all day long. I worked these loads up in the mid 80's, tweaked a little ove the years, and came up with some sleeper loads that shoot the lights out. I came up with these loads over 2+years of trying 4 different primers, and 30 different powders, and shooting them in good conditions. I recently had a friend run some of these loads thru Qwik load on his compter, 100% efficent and not dangerous. I also shoot these loads in my go to Husqvarna 96 swede, that I sporterized in 1985, turned the barrel, reset headspace, timney trigger, and bedded in a syn. stock, Drille and tapped and bent the bolt,and I parkarized it. Burris 4x12x40 Sig. , redfield bases and rings. After 3000 rounds, throat is still decent and still shoots under 1/2 inch for 5 shots of my deer loads at 100, tighter than that with the 140's match. I killed my 40th deer last year with this rifle, and have taken over 800 chucks with it. PM me if I can help.

[Corprin]

Case capacity in gn of h2o

6.5CM = 53gn
.260rem = 53.5gn
6.5x55 = 58gn

If you are going long action, don't bother with the smaller kids, just build the Swede and never look back.

[davemuzz]

DaveMuzz must be out of town for the weekend. He is gangbusters enthusiastic for the 6.5 swede and usually chimes in these discussions with good info. Wait for him to return and I presume he will gladly share his experiences.


Thomae,

First, I do thank you for you compliment. I'm not an expert by any means but I do my share of shooting and will tell you what I know. I did ask Skoger back in April for his favorite Swede loads.....but honestly, I haven't had time to try 'em out.

For this year I picked up a heavy varmint barrel for shooting at groundhogs here in Pa. Now, I haven't ran the loads across my Chronograph yet, but the Hornady 129SST load (max per the Hornady volume 6 book using RL-22) is giving me the same excellent results from the varmint 1-8 twist that I was getting from my 1-9 twist contour barrel. I used the contour barrel for deer and antelope hunting as it is much easier to "haul" around.

Another excellent bullet that give me excellent results using RL-22 is the Berger 140gr. VLD. I use 48gr. of RL-22 and Win. primers. Now, be careful with this as it's 1.6gr. above the recommended maximum load. I went that high because I found the "just a bit more" made a huge difference in accuracy for this bullet. Also, it puts the bullet at a tad over 2700fps.

I have another excellent load using the Berger bullet and RL-22.....right now it escapes me and I have not yet shot this thru the varmint barrel.

BTW, my Swede barrels are all "wrenched" onto a Savage Model 10 action. Yes....a short action. I've yet...even with the Berger bullets set at 30 thousands from the lands, had an issue with the bullets being to long. But...my rifle is only a single shot and I don't fuss with magazines. (Why?...well some say you only need one shot. ;D ;D ;D)

I will also add that with shooting the Swede with these max loads, use high quality brass such as Norma or Lapua. The Win's and Rem's simply will not hold up.

Now, I have a hunting buddy who shoots the 260-Rem, and I can't bad-mouth that cartridge. He hit's more long shots that I do (his is a Savage with Shilen barrels the same as mine). So, I don't think you can go wrong with that caliber.

But.....my opinion and $1.25 will get you a coffee at the corner gas station.

Dave

[davemuzz]

John,

The "thing" that you want to consider is what game are you shooting with the 6.5, and how far is your "average" shot...and how far do you expect your "longest" shot to be?

Here in Pa. where the whitetail is king, our average shot is under 100 yards. The longest shot you may expect would be 300 yards and that's not very common. However, when I take a trip out west, a 300 yard shot is very common. So, the Berger 140VLD with a velocity of 2725 (MV) is a great choice....and it has excellent accuracy. Heck...I'm practicing on groundhogs here in Pa. at 300 to 400 yards to "keep in shape". ;D

And it's just plain fun!!!!

But, if your only going to shoot your game at 200 yards, then a slower 6.5 bullet will kill it just as dead as a faster, bigger 6.5 bullet.

Dave