Switch from a hunting 6.5 Swede to a Varmit\bench 6.5 Swede

[davemuzz]

;D Yeah....you know your a gun nut when.......Last November I bot an in stock 6.5 Swede Shilen heavy barrel from Jim. Then Midway...at some point had their B&C Varmit\Tactical stocks (aluminum block bedded) on sale and I picked up one of those.

Now, last fall I had (and still have...and plan to keep) my Shilen 6.5 contour barrel with a Savage laminated stock. It's all wrenched and bolted to a Model 10 (yes...a short action) single shot action stainless. The contour barrel is very accurate, but for bench shooting and varmit shooting, it won't give me the cloverleaf groups I just gotta have!! :D

So, I un-wrenched the contour barrel and un-bolted the laminated wood stock....and then wrenched and headspaced the heavy shilen barrel and bolted it onto the new B&C stock....and Wha.....LA!!!! Here is what I ended up with:





Now, I went to the range and put about 30 rounds down the tube with the "contour ammo." Since then I've had a chance to measure the chamber OAL and I need to do a little tweeking of the seating depth, but the preliminary results look very promising!!! BTW, this is a single shot action. I like single shot actions. For some reason...simple is just easy to work with. ;D

And when the summer is over.....I'll change it back to a 6.5 Swede that is not only accurate.....but much lighter to carry!!!!

Dave

[Corprin]

What chamber bore do you have on the Swede? I have tried to seat mine to max AOL, but I think the throat is not bored for 140gn.

I also shoot my swede out of a SA, model 10fp-HS, I just single load right on top of the .308 magazine.

[Rick_W]

Been thinking of rebarreling my 116 in 7mm RUM to 6.5 Swede.

Figure if I put a new mag box in (don't want to screw up my RUM mag box) I won't have to worry about not having enough room to load the Swede long.

My set-up would ONLY be for target work. I absolutley love the way my 10FP with 20" heavy barrel carries and shoots for hunting.

What length barrels are you running?

[jonbearman]

Dave I have one similar just like yours and like it alot. You must tell us what loads and what kinda targets you shoot. I absolutly love the swede. I have one in a ruger m77 mk2 and it shoots good,I am going to sell it and make another savage build with one of Jims barrel.I have tried all he sells and really like the mcgowen.

[davemuzz]

The barrel length for the Varmit barrel (this one) is 26". After hunting with 22" contour barrels...this is like hauling around a very long pipe!!!!

I just checked the available free bore on this new barrel, and was surprised to find that, with the 129gr SST, the heavy barrel free bore was only 30 thousands less than the contour barrel. I also load up Nosler 140gr. and Berger VLD's 140gr, so I don't think I'll have any problems loading those with this barrel.

My "go to" powder for the Swede is RL-22. I'll post some targets when I get some range time.

Dave

[davemuzz]

I cleaned the bore up on the heavy barrel 6.5 Swede and measured the total free bore. I had to seat the Hornady's just a bit deeper than I had them seated for the 6.5 contour barrel, so I did just that and went to the range. Well, the first few shots to the left were bore fouling shots, and the next 5 were in a nice cluster. Well, that one wasn't touching.....maybe call it a "flyer"? ;D The load was the 129gr. Hornady SST seated 25 thousands from the lands over the Hornady maximum recommended charge of RL-22. (I'd tell you that....but it's in my shop...and I'm not right now)

[skoger]

Love the swede! I have built/sporterized a ton of them over the last 25+ years. I have a 96 swede that I built in the 80's, 7 1/2 twist, still shoots under 1/2 inch 5 shot groups all day, with a sporter barrel and wil ldo it with 3 different bullet weights. I have a savage build, with a Douglass SS 26" full bull, 8 twist, and it loves my deer hunting load. I like to sit and watch fields, using a 120sp "Sieera gameking, with favorit load of IMR-3031, and have taken deer out to 500yds with this load, broadside in the boiler room. They usually run 40-50 yds, then figure out they are dead and pile up. Shoulder shot with this usually drops them on the spot. Here is a tip, try using flat base bullets. I have found in 6.5 and a lot of 6mm guns, out to 200 yds on paper, flat base bullets will usually outshoot your higher price BT's. Pm me if I can help any way, have 85,107,120,129,140, and 160 grain load data that has shot really well in all my swede builds. I worked these loads up in the 1980's, by trial and error, and the ones I settled on, we recently ran thru Qwik Load computer program, came up 100% efficent or withing a 1 or2% of it, for our location, go figure.

[6mmBR_Shooter]

Looks like a pretty decent load!

[6mmBR_Shooter]

How do the lighter bullets shoot through the barrell?

[davemuzz]

How do the lighter bullets shoot through the barrell?

I can't tell you that yet. I'll have a chance to work on that in the next few weeks and follow up with a range report.

Dave

[skoger]

Hey guys, sorry about not getting back to the 3 who wanted laod data, workin a ton of overtime, and family emergencys. I just pm'd all of you the load data. Be aware this is near maximum, but I have had no issues in a swedish mauser, so should be no problems with more modern rifles, especially a Savage.