6.5x55 Swede Ackley Improved BJAI

I just put my order in for a 6.5x55 BJAI swede barrel from Ragged Hole barrels. I went with the Wilson 26'' 1:8 twist varmint contour. I have a nice wood stocked model 110 .270 I got just for this project last fall. It's been sitting in the corner, waiting for attention. While I wait I'm on the hunt for some dies. The goal of this cartridge is to push 140-150 grain slippery bullets at 2900+fps, with moderate pressure, into a ragged hole. Time will tell.

Feel free to post pictures of beautiful Swedish girls holding rifles while we wait:p

I'll be interested to hear about this project, being a long-time Swede fan. I've got a 26" X-caliber 1:8 6.5x55 (standard) heavy on a 110. Getting 2925 - 2950 fps with 140s (depending on the projectile). My target pressure is 58K. I use Reloader 26, exclusively.

From my reading, reloader 26 is some magic stuff. I have a stash of h4831 for this project.

Great choice for a cartridge to work with. The 26" barrel and that capacity ought to be about the most you can squeeze out of a 6.5mm with good barrel life.

If some pundit comes along and blows the .260 Rem out to a 30° shoulder so I can crunch in a couple more grains of H4831 and calls it "Improved" I might start looking for a gunsmith with that reamer.

I haven’t looked at the specs on the BJAI, but we’ve got a few here running 6x55’s made by running a 6BR reamer in an additional .580 or so. 30° shoulders and minimal body taper (.460 at case/shoulder) on 6.5x55 Lapua brass. You might compare your print to the 6.5BR, you may find that it’ll work for sizing and eliminate the need for custom dies if that cartridge is what I think it is.

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Originally Posted by Stumpkiller

If some pundit comes along and blows the .260 Rem out to a 30° shoulder so I can crunch in a couple more grains of H4831 and calls it "Improved" I might start looking for a gunsmith with that reamer.

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http://www.6mmar.com/260_Imp_30_.php


Looks like JGS makes the reamer, and could tell you the smith that has one.

Hotolds442, its a good idea. I did the calculation on body taper per inch to see if any would match and have the correct length neck. I do kinda regret going the road less traveled. A 260 AI would save me 80$ on dies, and 308 based brass.

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Originally Posted by Robinhood

http://www.6mmar.com/260_Imp_30_.php


Looks like JGS makes the reamer, and could tell you the smith that has one.

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Bah. My network admin here at work considers that website "Weapons" and I'll have to open it from home. But thank you for the link.

I did open it in "Cached" mode to read through it and will check it out again at home. 40° is a bit severe, but Mr. Ackley liked it.

Not that I have exhausted the full potential of the stock 20° shoulder. ;-)

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Originally Posted by Evlshnngns

Hotolds442, its a good idea. I did the calculation on body taper per inch to see if any would match and have the correct length neck. I do kinda regret going the road less traveled. A 260 AI would save me 80$ on dies, and 308 based brass.

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The original 6.5-08 (Ken Water's .263 Express) was on formed .243 Win brass. Just think - he missed naming the winner in 1956 by 0.001" And he had the proper twist as well.

https://www.riflemagazine.com/magazi...110partial.pdf

Called the first of this week, said 2-3 more weeks. Neat article on the 263 express.

I got it! Thanks John and all the others at RHB. It looks really nice, threaded on the reciever good-n-tight. Hopefully I get to shoot it this weekend.

Keep us updated. I have one in the works too!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I built one a few years ago on a 700 with 26.25" barrel. I haven't chronographed it since I've been finishing the stock at a snail's pace. I went with Redding Dies. Here is the text of an email, originally from Bob Jourdan, about the cartridge:

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Here are some of the powders that I have tried and my thoughts on how
well they responded accuracy-wise:

all data below used Fed210 primers and 140gr bullets seated into the lands.


IMR4831 - up to 47gr. pressure signs were ok but didn't show much
promise so never persued this powder any further.

IMR7828 - up to 50gr pressure was fine. Have more room to go up.
Showed good accuracy and numbers on the chrono were very good. Would
be worth a second look.

R25 - up to 54.5gr pressure was ok, accuracy was ok velocity was 3080.
Never persued this any further.

H1000 - up to 54gr. This had decent pressure. Probably has a little
more room to go up but accuracy was showing a lot of promise right in
the 53.5gr region so I never went higher. velocity was 2930fps. I went
back to this load more than once and would probably be my second
choice of powder for this chambering with 140gr bullets.

H4350 - up to 48gr pressure was getting up there but still had more
room to go if needed in case of hot weather. But the accuracy jsut
wasn't there for me even though several of the 6.5x284 shooters said
this powder worked great in their rifles. I jsut never got it to shoot
very well. But more than one 6.5x284 shooter has won with this combo
also. Just an FYI.

H4831 - up to 51.5gr velocity is right around 3000fps and this would
be considered a max load for me without drastically shortening your
case life.

50.5gr of H4831 after many years and barrels is my go to load for
140gr class bullets. this should give you right around 2925fps avg MV
and adjust your seating depth and neck tension and tweek your load
from here and I think you will be surprised. It's always worked for
me.

Also as for the case head diameter yes RWS cases measured the smallest
for me. My chamber measures .4785 (Dave keep me honest here!!) and RWS
cases measure .4765/.4766" right out of the box. Lapua and Norma
measured high .477?" out of the box. RWS has given me the longest case
life but you can't get htem any longer. Lapua was very good for case
life and Norma you have to watch the primer pockets. But I think I now
have 15 or so loading on my Norma brass and they just barely hold a
primer but they shoot and measure as well as the RWS and Lapua.

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RHM, THANKS. I was on the hunt for load data last night. I loaded a dozen starting at 48gr and stopped at 51gr h4831. I'll be watching close. At 51 there is still room in the case, I might try a slower powder some time.

I wish I could share some personal experience, but I haven't shot it much, and what I have done has just been fireforming. I've been kind of slow to get my shop set up, so the project has been stretched out over the years. I always heard to fireform with max 6.5X55mm loads and work up to 6.5-284 loads since the capacities are so similar. I'm told there is an accuracy node around 2930-2950fps and another around 3050 or 3100fps. There's another thread on a site you can probably find with a quick search called the "6.5 Addiction (Swedemoor)", which also looks to have some good info with a little hotter loads than where Bob was at in his original development.

I'm getting over 2900 fps out of my standard 6.5 Swede with H4831sc and IMR4955. It's in a CBI barrel and will shoot under an inch at 200 quite regularly. An AI version would be nice for the brass stability though.

I built a 6.5 x 55 BJAI on a Mauser 98 a few years back. Machined the blank to just leave an 8th inch of wood on the forend of the Fajen Stock its inand bedded it on pillars and epoxy.

It is exceedingly accurate, on one lucky day I put four ( Last four of a test batch that had done very well at 100) Hornady A-max 140's into .69 at 300.

Haven't repeated THAT group, but the accuracy is there.

I used Bob Jourdans loads as a staring point, and have ended up sticking mostly to the H4831 SC.

I plateaued around 2900 with the 140's nothing seemed to get it past that with the 4831, more powder brought pressure signs with diminishing returns on speed.

With 120's I could get past 3100.

Bob Jourdan Loads printed in Precision Rifle Magazine

M98 Custom Mauser, 27" Barrel (see notes)
Sako AV, 24" Barrel (see notes)
by Bob jourdan, 1997 update
120 gr.
IMR4895 45.0 3,111 47.0 3,214 27" Near Max.
IMR4064 44.0 3,034
AA2700..48.0 3,042 51.0 3,225
AA4350..49.0 3,085 51.0 3,195 Max.
H414....51.0 3,143 54.0 3,326 Max most accurate
H4831...54.0 3,090 57.0 3,246 Compressed
IMR 7828 55.0 3,153
Bob Jourdan loads
129 gr.
4064 41.0 2,791.....42.0 2,838 27" barrel.
4350 47.0 2,874.....48.0 2,963
H414 47.0 2,903.....51.0 3,080
H4831 49.0 2,929....53.0 2,986
7828 54.0 3,075
140 gr.
4350 47.0 2,808.....48.0 2,883 27" barrel
H414 48.0 2,861.....50.0 2,968
H4831 48.0 2,803....53.0 2,922
7828 51.0 2,872

Interesting how the Swede is still going strong with many. The BJAI is a very good idea. Thanks for the posts guys!

I’ve been a huge fan of the Swede for awhile. You guys aren’t making things any easier on the wallet, because now I’m convinced I should be shooting a 6.5x55 BJAI.

I fire formed the brass a month ago, finally put some bullets through it today. I loaded h4831, started at 47gr and went to 50.5gr using Nosler CC bullets. Two different three shot groups where under .7" ctc, one five shot group did .78". I loaded two 140gr nosler RDF's at 51gr, .09", definitely going to load 10 more of those. I don't have a chrono, nothing fun to report on velocity. It does have some kick! I found myself flinching, closing my eyes, also had lots of movement from my heartbeat. Plenty of room for smaller groups.