6.5 x 55

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Last Post 23 December 2009

Standard Member

shastaboat posted this 18 September 2009

Has anyone done much with this mold and success and recommended load data? In 6.5x55 #266455.

Because I said so!

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rno172 posted this 04 December 2009

Nope, but I would be interested in what you find out for my Mauser. Right now I'm working on .303 240Gr loads.

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shastaboat posted this 04 December 2009

Good to hear from another Reno CB shooter. I've got a lot of info to share on my experiences this summer with the 6.5 x 55. Call me at 775-969-3055 (Red Rock) long distance from Reno or call me on my cell at 775-233-8063 and I'll call you back for free on my hard line. I finally got mine to shoot to .75” at 100 yds at 1700 fps chrono. It was a chore but eventually worth the effort. Also another member in Gardnerville and I are trying to get a local CB club started if you are interested. Name is Brent Johnson.

Because I said so!

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CBA Member

tturner53 posted this 04 December 2009

I'm only over by Sacramento, if you get a match going let me know. Also LeverBob from over by Virginia City might be interested. Thanks.. Tim

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TRKakaCatWhisperer posted this 05 December 2009

shastaboat wrote: ... I've got a lot of info to share on my experiences this summer with the 6.5 x 55. ...

Brent -

Could you publish a summary table of the highlights?

(I'm a little further away, in Pulaski, Virginia.)

THANKS!

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Tony65x55 posted this 06 December 2009

Brent, I would appreciate that also. Getting my 6.5's to shoot CB's well has been long and fruitless. Thanks,

Tony

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tturner53 posted this 06 December 2009

Tony, what load are you using in your Swede? Which gun? I'm working on a cb load for my Gustav using a semi-custom bullet mold from Lee known on the forums as the “Cruise Missile". I'll report here when it gets interesting. The Swedes are famous for their quality and accuracy, hang in there(you have to now with your new name). Search cruise missle on this forum, search your mold number, and also search other'cast boolit' site. There's tons of info. Good luck

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raytear posted this 06 December 2009

Experience with 6.5 X 55

I had a 6.5 X 55 that I built on a Turkish made Mauser 98 style action using a Swedish barrel. Before y'all laugh yourselves silly let me explain. The barrel was an unfired replacement barrel that was made as a spare part for the Swedes to rebuild one of their M-96 or M-38 rifles. I bought it from Sarco a long time ago--maybe 15 years. The action needed some cosmetic work, but is more than sound enough for the stresses of the 6.5 X 55.

Using a 3-9 X scope, it shoots Hornady 160 grain RN jacketed bullets into reliable 1'-1.5” clusters using H414. I shot many Texas whitetails and feral hogs that all dropped on the spot using that load, and never recovered a bullet.

As an experiment I took some Federal 6mm Remington cases, ran them thru the 6.5 sizer 'til the were a nice snug fit in the chamber, and trimmed them to length. I know the conventional wisdom is NOT to do this. But I fired some starting loads with 120 grain Speer spitzers and they worked great--5 shots into a ragged 3/8” hole at 100 yards. The cases expanded very evenly near the base. The rifle did this with 4 consecutive groups. I neck-sized the cases and repeated the performance without incident.

I decided that the next step should be to try some cast bullets, so bought an RCBS 140 grain silhouette mould on sale. Casts great gc slugs. However, I discovered that the bore diameter on the Swedish barrel is at least .266. How it does so well with .264 jacketed slugs is beyond me. It did not do at all well with the RCBS bullets which I could only get up to about .2645. Before I could do any follow up testing, another shooting friend saw the rifle, shot it, liked it and induced me to trade it to him for a sporterized M-1898 Krag.

So, while the Swedes build good stuff, at least one of their barrels is a bit fat in the grooves. (Perhaps that is why it came on the surplus market.) At any rate, if I had an M-96 or M-38, and it did not shoot cast bullets up to my expectations, I would double check the barrel's interior dimensions.

I liked the first rifle so much that I have parts to build 2 other 6.5 X 55's and the barrels are US made commercial ones that measure .264 across the grooves. One will be on a small ring Mauser the other on a Mauser 98 variant. The small ring action will be on a purpose built, dedicated cast bullet rifle. When available time and available $$ coincide, I plan to get that twin rifle project completed. :-)

I have some of those RCBS slugs left over and I would be willing to give them, as in no $$ changing hands, to someone who wants to try that particular bullet. They are cast from wheelweights and were dropped from the mould into a water bath. Not sure how many I have, but send me a PM and I believe we can work something out.

From the heart of the Texas hill country! RMT

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tturner53 posted this 06 December 2009

Free bullets?! Yes, I'd love to try them. PM me if still available. thanks Tim

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shastaboat posted this 06 December 2009

OK, here's what I experienced. I first cast some 266469 in WW. Sized 266. My barrel has a 265 grove diameter and is bright and shinney. Seated gas checks. Hardened in toaster oven at 400 degrees/dropped in water. Then full length sized and lubed.

Tried various powders 2400, 4895, 4227, etc...from 1500 fps to about 2200 fps. Damn thing shot all over the friggin map and was also showing yawing at 50 yards. I was seating the bullet to the bottom of the case neck.

I hadn't been doing much cast shooting in the last few years and had forgotten the basics.

Then I did a chamber cast and remembered to seat the bullets to kiss the rifleing. Also I was having trouble sizing in my Lyman 450 and a buddies Saeco sizers. Bullets were so long they were tending to bend the nose. I was able to cast some LT and be carefel to size as straight as possible. I also decided to slow things down a bit and tried 11.5 gr. of Unique and 14 gr. of 7625. The SR7625 group was better and showed higher velocity at 1560 fps chrono'd

I was able to finally group that bullet at 50 yards in .75” I got the idea to find a 266455 that was shorter and thought that I would be able to eliminate the bent bullet problem.

When I located a 266455 from Erik at hollowpointbullet.com I tried 7 lbs WW and 3 lbs of LT. I also allowed the bullets to sit for a week or so and then sized and lubed without hardning them as before. I use a home made lube of 50% beeswax and 50% high temp lithium wheel bearing greese that I bought at Kragens Auto parts. Leading was not my problem.

I then tried the same Unique and SR7625 loads and both were acceptable accuracy wise. The SR7625 was better again. and chrono'd at 1697 fps and seating it out to touch the lands consistnatly shot to .75” at 100 yards. I tried 15 grains and accuracy fell off so I settled at 14 gr. My lead mix cast out, sized and lubed with GC to 126 gr. +-. This bullet doesn't leave much contact with the case neck. About 3/16th of an inch. OAL 2.917". Any longer and I pulled the bullet if I extracted a round from the chamber. Worked well on jack rabbits and should do well on coyotes out to 150 yards.

My rifle is a self sporterized Swede 96, barrel I cut to 18.5". I drilled and tapped the receiver, mounted weaver bases and Tasco rings and 3x9 tasco scope; fitted a Dayton Traister cock on opening cocking piece and adjustable trigger. I used a dremel tool to deepen the cocking cam slot on the bolt. Mounted it in a composit stock, glass bedded the action front recoil lug area and rear tang. (relieved the rear tang with the dremel. It also shoots 120 gr jacket at 2850fps and 140's at 2700 fps to 1.25". My loads are max and I won't quote them for your safety. Safe in my rifle... I took it to Colorado this year and bagged a cow elk. Does a nice job for a short 6.5 lb carbine. Hey I've got a 6.5 lb, 6.5 Swedish Mauser...lol...

Because I said so!

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Tony65x55 posted this 07 December 2009

tturner53 wrote: Tony, what load are you using in your Swede? Which gun? I'm working on a cb load for my Gustav using a semi-custom bullet mold from Lee known on the forums as the “Cruise Missile". I'll report here when it gets interesting. The Swedes are famous for their quality and accuracy, hang in there(you have to now with your new name). Search cruise missle on this forum, search your mold number, and also search other'cast boolit' site. There's tons of info. Good luck Thanks for the encouragement. The current mould I have is an old Lyman 129 gr Loverin design. I sized at .266 and tried it in four or five of my 6.5's and the accuracy was ...uh... terrible. I tried a bunch of different powders and all were awful. I gave up on the project for a number of years but my son has just started hunting a few years ago and of course, I gave him a 6.5x55 Remington Classic.

Suffice it to say he goes through j-bullets like crazy and I don't want him to slow down as practice makes a good shot, but the costs are high. I live in Canada and even cheap j-bullets are over $30/100. 140 A-max are $50/100.

I have ordered a Lee 170 gr Cruise Missile (should be here any day now) and I'm looking forward to trying it. Please keep me posted on what you learn and I'll do the same. I have high hopes for this bullet as I have twelve 6.5's to feed plus my son's.

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shastaboat posted this 07 December 2009

Try your 266455 with 14 gr of SR7625 and seat the bullets as far out as you can into the lands without pulling the bullet on a dummy round. That was the trick for me. Chrono's at 1700 fps in my 18.5” barrel. Of course you have to do all the other cast bullet stuff to insure quality bullets. You should also scrub the hell out of the barrel with JB's first and get all the jacket fouling out. I don't think the fast twist in the 6.5 X 55 is as good as 1 in 12” or 1 In 14” for consistant cast bullet results but I proved to myself that under 1” moa is possible. You just have to work at it.

Because I said so!

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CBA Member

Maven posted this 07 December 2009

shastaboat & Tony6555, I've had a M 96 (CG) since 1993 and have had a few hiccups with it. After slugging it I found that the bore was a bit larger than some of the other Swede's I saw and larger than the dimensions of commercially available bullet molds, with one exception. Veral Smith/LBT made me one, which largely solved the bullet fit problem. However, I later discovered that longer CB's needed to be sized nose first and then base first (to install the gas check & lube them). Once I did that, my accuracy problems practically vanished. I later purchased a single cav. Lee custom mold on FU-Bay (looked like a miniature version of Ly. #31141), gave it the same treatment and had no accuracy problems. Ditto for a 6 cav. Lee Group Buy mold offered on the Cast Boolit site. The only CB I haven't had to size in 2 directions was the 150 gr. Ly. 268645 (now redesigned and renumbered). If you want to tame the 6.5 x 55mm beast, try this:

1) Slug your bore and see if you can find a mold that casts .001” larger (no mean task!)

2) Size your CB's in both directions with the exception noted above.

3) Try to hold your velocity to 1,750 fps or less because of the fast twist. Powders similar to H/IMR 4198, 5744, VV N133 are perfect for this. AA #9 or WC 820 (AA #9 burn rate) works very well if you can get it at a reasonable price, but you don't want to use more than 15.5 grs - 16.0 grs. as a starting load.

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tturner53 posted this 07 December 2009

Maven, have you tried the cruise missle and if so are you sizing both ways on it?

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mtgrs737 posted this 07 December 2009

I have a couple of 96 Swedish mausers that I have been working on cast bullet loads for. I have two moulds that I use to cast for them. Both Lee custom moulds, one is the cruise missile and the other is a six cavity Lovern style at around 125 grs. it is a Lee custom from a Group Buy. Both of my rifles have oversized bores so I have not tried the Lyman mould as most I have heard will drop too small for these fine rifles. I have a custom made die that sizes a tad over .268” for my Lyman 450 lubesizer that works fine for the oversized Lee bullets. I also sent a new set of Lee Collet Dies back to the fatory and had them alter them so the sizer and seater dies would load the .268+ cast bullet. I use a Lee universal cast bullet flairing die to bell the case mouth and a Lee Factory crimp die to remove the bell on the loaded round. I get respectable groups at 100yds with a magtech LR primer and 12 grs of Unique under either bullet. I find that velocities over 1600fps will open the groups. I also have one of the rifles fitted with a Dayton Triaster trigger that makes the rifle much easier to shoot accurately.

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Maven posted this 08 December 2009

tturner53, No I never purchased the “cruise missile,” but if I did, I'd probably size both ways too.

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JSH posted this 08 December 2009

I have been just hanging back on this one, as it was directed at one mould. I will offer my findings on this as it may help some one. Mould I am using is the RCBS 6.5 sil design, Sized to .266+. Lube is FWFL. Rifle is a 96 swede, all original. I forget the exact load but it was a max asper Lyman using unique. It shot ok initially. aht did make it better was found by accident. I didn't have a 6.5M die, so I used a 270 I had for some unknown reason. Belled/flared the mouth with the .270 mdie. I seated them all to what i had found to be the best length. After doing about 50 of them i noticed i had the die body up quite a ways so the bell,flare was not taken out. I had read that the throat and some chambers were a bit over sized in the past readings of the swedes. So, I thought I would see if they would chamber. Sure eough, went right in. I have been shooting mine like this for some time now with a lot better sucess than before. I believe this may center the case neck better? The above mentioned groups, has anyone shot them out past 100? I ask this because mine fall apart and go nuts much past 100. I susupect the bullet is picking the twist up as it falls transonic? Jeff

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shastaboat posted this 08 December 2009

The two most critical issues I found for the Swede's. 1. bullets must be loaded as far out as possible starting into the lands. (deep throat) this post is XXX rated...lol...

Velocity must be kept at less than 1700 fps because of the fast twist. This counters the conventional problem with long jacketed bullets that requires a fast twist. In CB you have to match the bullet and speed to the given twist. In jacketed bullets you have to select a twist that will stabilize a given bullet. That's why they designed the Swede's with such a fast twist and long throat. They were using 170gr jacketed bullets. When shooting CB in the Swede, you have to overcome the long throat and be able to catch the rifleing. And there is the problem with the long slender CB designs. I now believe if you try to drive the CB too fast that the inertia causes the bullet to upset and will not stabelize, assuming that the loader has overcome the problems with leading. Around 1700 fps is about max. Any faster designates that the alloy has to be much harder. For hunting a hard cast bullet approaching pure linotype just isn't productive. I want accuracy and some expansion and don't want to just punch holes.

Because I said so!

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Tony65x55 posted this 08 December 2009

Great notes guys. Thanks. I'll be trying these tips in 2 Tikkas, a Remington and a wack of M-96's as soon as my cruise missile mold arrives. I'll post up my results.