School me on 6.5x55 swede

[Lovesbeer99]

I've been looking for a rifle in .260 Reminton and I found a nice rifle but in 6.5x55 Swede. So I know you can form .308 brass to .260 Rem and since I hand load this seamed like a reason for me to select the .260.

So which round do you like better and why? Which is easier to load, to find components for, to find loaded ammo at Walmart, to shoot long range with.

I plan to shoot out to 300 yards on paper and would like to be able to shoot at least to 250 yards on White Tail.

Thanks in advance.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I doubt you will find loaded ammo at Walmart for either. The .260 seems to have become the pet round of the long range competitive shooters.

In the internet age I think it will be just as easy to find reloading components for either.

I'd say is is basically 6 of one half a dozen of the other.

 

[snakeman]

You can buy prvi 6.5x55 online for fairly cheap. I would go with 6.5x55 as its more popular.

 

[jrdolall]

Plenty of Swede ammo available online for affordable prices. I shoot Privi in my sporterized Swede and it is a sweet shooter though not drilled and tapped. I can hold a good pattern at 50 yds using iron sights but really have not tried outside that distance because my eyesight sucks.

 

[Reloadron]

You may want to give this article a read.

Years ago there were 6.5 X 55 Swedish Mauser rifles pouring in as surplus. The cartridge began to take off here in the US. My brother in law actually built up a match bolt gun around the cartridge which went real well. Remington also chambered the round in a 700 Remington Classic one year. Been a while so I am not sure.

I would not mind having a 6.5 Swede rifle. My brother in law passed away and that rifle was not to be found so he apparently sold it off at some point. Anyway, given a choice I would likely take the 6.5 Swede over the .260 Remington. If you get into hand loading for it there are some great possibilities.

Just My Take
Ron

 

[MrBorland]

I have a CZ550 in 6.5 Swede. Love the caliber, but prefer a short action, so I've been kicking around the .260 Remington, or 6.5 Creedmoor. The tradeoff seems that the 6.5 Swede will handle 160gr bullets better, but 140s are all I'd need for now.

One of the disadvantages of the 6.5 Swede seems that there are relatively few modern factory rifles chambered for it, so your options are limited. OTOH, while factory .260 rifles aren't common either, the round is derived from the .308, so AFAIK, any rifle chambered in .308, 7mm-08, or .243 can be converted to .260Rem with a barrel swap. This opens up your options considerably.

 

[Baba Louie]

Other than a few European mfgs, a few pricey limited run Winchster 70s Remington 700s and I think Ruger made them one year, or old swede Mausers, Howa/Legacy does offer their 1500 in 6.5SE at a good price point.

Both Ruger and Remington 7s can be had in .260 Rem but both are short hunters, not really set up for long range... tho I bet they can still reach out there.

Or find a 96 that Kimber sportorized a few years back, buy ammo, go hunt and or shoot waaay out there.

 

[dak0ta]

Birmingham Small Arms CF2 1982

 

[viking499]

What model 6.5x55?

 

[Loosenock]

I harvested my first 9 deer using an 1894 Swede mauser carbine. Fine, fine rifle. I wish everyday I had never let it get away. My dad bought if for me, paid $19.00. Must have been about 1960.

'drif

 

[Kachok]

Ballisticly there is little difference between the 260 and 6.5x55 until you get to longer barrels where the sweed's slightly larger case gives a tad more speed. I prefer the sweed becuase I have always been able to get fantastic accuracy out of them, but there is nothing wrong with the other mid range 6.5s either.

 

[heeler]

Dakota,that's a beautiful rifle and I applaud you for not over scoping it.
That rifle looks very well balanced.
Although I have never owned a 6.5x55 I knew a guy several years ago that used his Ruger M77 in that caliber and he killed a lot of deer and Elk with his.
He spoke very highly of the caliber.

 

[LSWC1]

I have the old Swedish Mauser "Short Carbine" & it is amazingly accurate for a military surplus rifle. I love it.

 

[Coltdriver]

I have a Swedish M38. I sold my CZ in 6.5 Swedish because it was only a 1 in 10 twist. To shoot the 160 grain bullets you really need a 1 in 8 twist.

The 160 grain bullet has the highest sectional density of any bullet. I'll stand corrected but I have never seen a higher sectional density in any other bullet.

Which makes it put a lot of punch behind a fairly small diameter. I saw a bullet recovered from a bull elk once, a 130 grain Barnes TSX. Fully expanded and stuck just on the inside of the hide after passing right through the heart.

I have a Steyr in 6.5X54 which is a modern action that I can load right to 6.5 SE ballistics. I am going to try some Oryx 160 grain bullets this winter.

My surplus Swede is amazingly accurate. I have only had success with 140 grain bullets. I think the cast 160's I have are a bit undersized for the barrel.

The recoil is very low, on par with a .243. And you can work up a point blank range of between 250 and 300 yards depending on what round and loading you use. That long missile 160 grain bullet has hit a lot of pie plates at 1000 yards. Not suggesting it for hunting, just saying that long skinny bullets fly really well and maintain a predictable accuracy once you learn the arc.

 

[Float Pilot]

The 6.5x55mm Likes longer bullets a touch better than the short necked 260 Rem. Plus the 6.5x55 likes the bullets seated long into the barrel throat.


The 6.5x655mm Swedish / Norwegian Mauser was not a Paul Mauser company development like the 7x57mm Mauser.

Norway was somewhat under control of the Swedish Crown at one time (until 1905) and a Swedish - Norwegian rifle committee was formed in October 1866. By 1867 they decided to use the Remington Rolling Block rifle. Originally being chambered in 12.17mmx42mm Rimmed. These later being rebarreled to a Danish designed cartridge of 8 x58mm Rimmed. Around 1880 the Jarmann rifle was also developed and fielded

By 1890 test began in Sweden to find a more modern repeating rifle with a flat trajectory. The Norwegian Rifle committee of 1891 recommended a 6.5mm projectile, so the Swedes went along with it. In 1893 a new joint commission was formed by order of King Oscar to fully develop the intended cartridge.

Oddly enough it was the Norwegians who wanted a rimless modern case while the Swedes originally held out for a rimmed case. At one time they even tried to agree on a semi-rimmed case to make everyone happy.....

A case developed by Roth was really the seed of the final product. Meanwhile they also kept a few rifle manufactures busy trying to come up with rifles to shoot a cartridge that they were still trying to iron out.

Finally by Nov 1893 the joint committee agreed on the cartridge design and by Jan 1894 it was officially adopted.
By April 1894 rifles were again altered to fire the new cartridge. The Swedes having chosen the Mauser 1894 carbine and Norway the Krag Jorgensen Rifle. Both in 6.5x55mm.
Paul Mauser must have been pulling his hair out.

 

[meanmrmustard]

I'm waiting for Kachok to chime in. Seems to be his pet.

Edit: must have missed him...cuz he's here!

 

[Lovesbeer99]

Sorry I didn't mention this earlier but the gun I'm looking at is a brand new in the box Winchester 1885 low wall. If you check the Winchester website you'll see it listed for about 1300 but I can get if for less.

The 1885 is on my short list and I've seen used Browning B-78 in .260 Rem on the market now and again but the 6.5x55 swede seams interesting to me. I haven't shot on yet but based on references and ballistics it seams right.

 

[jem375]

Personally I would get the 260 because I reload and have many 308 cases..

 

[Water-Man]

I have a Tikka T3 Hunter in 6.5x55SE.

 

[hang fire]

Coltdriver: My surplus Swede is amazingly accurate. I have only had success with 140 grain bullets. I think the cast 160's I have are a bit undersized for the barrel.

The recoil is very low, on par with a .243. And you can work up a point blank range of between 250 and 300 yards depending on what round and loading you use. That long missile 160 grain bullet has hit a lot of pie plates at 1000 yards. Not suggesting it for hunting, just saying that long skinny bullets fly really well and maintain a predictable accuracy once you learn the arc.

The M38 Swede has a larger bore diameter than the M96. My 1942 Husky slugs at .2675" and the Lee 160 grain Cruise Missile nose is too large diameter to seat boolit out in throat. I resize the nose in a .257" die, which results in the first band at .264", and 2nd at 266". The boolit can then be seated with GC at neck/shoulder junction and works fine through action.

So far accuracy with the Lee Cruise Missile remains iffy for me, good up to 1700 fps, but faster and accuracy goes south.

 

[GooseGestapo]

re: sectional densities...
The sd for the 220gr .308" bullets is 0.331;
higher than the 0.328 for the 160gr .264's.
And the 1/10" bbl of the .30/06 stabilizes them very well, indeed.

Not to rain on anyones parade, I have a .260Rem and adore it. Though realistically, it isn't anything more than my .257Roberts or the .270. FWIW; I rate the 7mm08 superior to it in most categories; hunting, ect.
The only reason I'd opt for another 6.5 over anything else would be for one of the competitons where the .264"s are winning. ie; very long range competitons.

This in a nutshell explains why the 220gr .30/06 had such a following in the eary 20th century in places like Africa, Alaska, and Canada where large game that can bite or stomp were frequently encountered while hunting light-big game...
Newer/better bullet designs have largely negated the advantages of high sectional density bullets such as the 6.5's and heavy .30's.... Such as with the 180gr Nosler Partiton for the .308"s. Often they will penetrate as much or more than the 200gr or 220gr due to higher initial velocities as the base section on all three are much the same, so that the recovered weights are similar.... The extra weight just "blows" off the front as shrapnel. This explains why I've seen the 140gr Remington Corlokts out-penetrate the 140gr Nosler Partitions in the 7mm's.

A recovered 120gr Speer .264" from my .260 from a deer I shot last year weighed 77.5gr. Two other rounds that went through the chest cavity exited. Impact was at ~85yds from 2,800fps m/v. Not bad, but not significantly better/different than my .257Roberts or .270.....
and; fwiw; my 1/9" twist in my Mod-7 w/20"bbl stablilzes the discontinued Sierra 160gr RN very well. Sub-moa 5-shot groups with RL22... on demand...not just occasionally. No, the last 40 or so from that box are NOT for sale... Much better b.c. than the 160gr Hornady's... Not to mention more accurate due to lack of cannulure.