6.5x55

I shoot mine as often as possible.

I have not, however, used the Hornadys you speak of. I tend to stick with anything in and around the 140 grain weight, as they tend to group best for me out of the ole 1913 M96.

I have had great results with Hornady 140gr. I use IMR4831. I think I have read where the lighter bullets do not stabilize in the fast twist rate of the barrel.

I have a few too many rifles chambered in 6.5x55mm Swede. I have done a lot of load experimentation. Some have been listed here. Right now I am on a little Nexus 7 tablet and do not have access to my experiments using the 129 grain Hornady. But I do know they worked just fine .

My M96 really shines with 140 gr projectiles and powders such as IMR 4831.

Got my first one - a Mod. 70 re-barreled by Pac-nor. 24" barrel.
The 123 gr scenars in Lapua brass grouped around .425. I ran some 142 gr LRAB's pushed by 45.5 gr IMR4350 and shot a 4-shot group of .330. Took it out this past weekend after reloading some others and repeated it then ran 10 over the chrony and averaged 2794 fps w/ an ES of 11 and an SD of 9.
Sunday AM I took an axis doe @ 109 yards with that combo - DRT.

I had great luck with mine with H4831 and 140 SP Hornady'. I never tried any of the other weights through mine when I owned it.


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HEAVY METAL 1 said:

I think I have read where the lighter bullets do not stabilize in the fast twist rate of the barrel.

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This is false. Fast twist barrels stabilitze light (and heavy) bullets just fine. It's slow twist barrels that don't stabilize heavy (really, long) bullets.

I have had much better luck in the 6.5x55 with the 139-140 grain bullet

I have have not shot my Swede in years (it was my late wife's favorite) but love the cartridge. I built a Savage in 6.5x55 about 2 years ago. Once I got my extractor problems sorted out is has been a great 500yd gong ringer.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=763025&highlight=in+savage+mood


Mike

I assume you're shooting a Swede M96. These rifles are throated for a 160 grain round-nose bullet, and lighter bullets sometimes can't be seated far enough out to shoot accurately.

I have shot a lot of Remington 140 grain bulk bullets in mine. Those bullets have two cannelures. When seated so the forward cannelure is even with the mouth of the case, they will not shoot accurately. When seated so the rear cannelure is even with the case mouth, they shoot fairly well.

Go to a heavier bullet and seat it long.

E Rex;

My load uses the Sierra #1730 140 grain GameKing bullet. Because I'm a left handed shooter & couldn't find a suitable gun at the time, I had a left hand bolt gun built for me. As it was a custom build, I had the smith throat the barrel for that bullet at the OAL I wanted. Since the build was on a modern action, my load is probably not suitable for your gun. I would, however, suggest along with several others on this thread that you go to a 140 grain bullet.

I see that Midway USA has just put the Hornady 143 grain ELD-X 6.5 mm bullet on sale at 10% off, you might wish to try it.

900F

I see that Midway USA has just put the Hornady 143 grain ELD-X 6.5 mm bullet on sale at 10% off, you might wish to try it.

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When choosing a bullet for Swedish Mausers, pay attention to the bullet's profile. Many low drag bullets have a long nose, and a relatively short body. As far as the throat is concerned, this means they are SHORT -- the long nose does not engage the throat, and you get the same jump to the lede that you would get with a shorter bullet.

Bullets with shorter noses and longer bodies tend to shoot more accurately in Swedes.

Fella's;

There are enough commercial 6.5 Swede guns out there now that there's sure to be plenty of exceptions to that idea. I'd have a hard time listing all the current production producers of 6.5 x 55 mm rifles. I do know that both Remington and Winchester made a run of them, with Tikka, Sako, Mauser, Blaser, & CZ being in production at this time. There's certainly more companies doing it, but I'm not sure of just who, though they're probably European. In any case, modern bullets with higher G1 B/C's need not be thought of as unsuitable because of that aspect. My son's two modern Swede's do quite well with that type of bullet. Mine is a custom, but it does exceptionally well with the .491 B/C Sierra.

900F

When choosing a bullet for Swedish Mausers

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No one suggests that modern made, commercial rifles in 6.5X55 Swede have long throats. But if you have a Swedish Mauser, it will have a long throat, and will usually shoot best with the bullet loaded waaay out.

Have a M96 and M38, I agree with others above about seating long heavy for caliber bullets if it is a military barrelled Mauser in 6.5x55.

Have you thought about getting the Hornady OAL gage system (used to be made by Stony Point I believe) plus the modified case in 6.5x55. It lets you determine exactly how far out you can seat your chosen bullet before it engages the rifling. Other method is to do a chamber and throat casting then measure the throat length and go from there.

What I do is take an unsized case, insert a bullet by hand (use a bit of toilet paper to keep the bullet in place if necessary) and chamber it. The bullet contacts the lede and is shoved a bit back into the case.

Then I eject the cartridge and measure OAL and back off a bit on my seating die.

I also take the bullet and twirl it in the muzzle, and subtract the distance from the nose to the twirl mark to get the throat distance. When I go to a different bullet, I use this to determine how to seat the new bullet.

Vern Humphrey said:

What I do is take an unsized case, insert a bullet by hand (use a bit of toilet paper to keep the bullet in place if necessary) and chamber it. The bullet contacts the lede and is shoved a bit back into the case.

Then I eject the cartridge and measure OAL and back off a bit on my seating die.

I also take the bullet and twirl it in the muzzle, and subtract the distance from the nose to the twirl mark to get the throat distance. When I go to a different bullet, I use this to determine how to seat the new bullet.

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I do the same with a sized case. Plus it is stable enough to use as a jig when setting up your sizing die. Once the sizing die is just barely snugged to your "loaded" round you can calculate the amount to back off. Reloading die are standardized at 14 threads per inch or 0.071" per rotation (about 0.018" for a quarter turn).

Mike

What I am shooting is a 94 Swedish carbine so it looses a lot of velocity due to barrel length. I was trying to help that a bit for deer hunting.

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That would not be a good idea. Stick to published loads, even a bit below max, and work for accuracy. The 6.5X55 is the standard moose cartridge in Scandanavia, and is more than enough for deer.

E rex;

The cartridge, and therefore some of the guns, is now over 120 years old. Therefore, and rightfully so, factory ammo is not loaded as hot as possible. Look on your receiver, the date of manufacture should be the front bridge.

If you want to really see what it'll do, get a modern action 6.5 Swede. You should be able to use the high B/C bullets, and launch them with some more emphasis on velocity. My particular load, and it's not hotter'n the hingesofhell, with the aforementioned Sierra 140 GameKing is still carrying well over 1100 ft. lbs. of energy at 500 yards.

900F

The Hornady 129 bullet is not particularly accurate in my M96 Swedish Mauser, however it is superbly accurate in my custom M98 mauser with a 1 in 9" twist and tight .264 diameter bore. My 1919 Carl Gustaf Sweede has a #1 bore but long throat and ,2665 groove diameter. It loves Sierra 140 grain HP-BT Match bullets seated out to just touch the rifling leade when the cartridge is chambered. Lapua 160 grain round nose bullets I bought a decade ago were .266 diameter and would shoot "bug-holes" at 100 yards. Unfortunately, these are difficult to find. My opinion based on 4 of my military 6.5X55 Swedish mausers is thay are not particularly accurate with bullets shorter then the 140 grain spitzer.