Brithunter
Well-Known Member
I look at this from a slightly different angle.
If someone was setting out today to design a 6.5mm cartridge, would they come up with a cartridge like the Swede? Odd length. Odd head diameter. Long throat. Low operating pressures, too big for a short action, doesn't really make full use of a 30/06 sized action.... etc etc.
Or would they just stick a 6.5mm bullet on the most common and efficient case design of the last 60 years?
Face it, the Swede is an inefficient and obsolete design.
I would not take a 6.5 to a boar for a bet. If I feel the need to throw heavier bullets around, ie 150gr and up, there are much better ways of doing this - that is what the 30/06 was invented for....
exactly what is odd about the Swedish cartridge?
is it any odder than say the 6.5x47?
As for the 30-06 that was developed from the Mauser 57mm case but in 1903 the American powders were not as advanced as those in Europe and so to even get near the excellent ballistic performance of the 8mm Mauser they had to make the case longer and even then to keep chamber pressures sensible the 150 grain bullet only had a muzzle velocity of 2700 fps against the the 8mm's 154 grain bullet at 2950fps which was adopted in 1905. The original 1903 30-03 used 220 Grain bullet and the pre 1905 8MM Mauser a 227 grain bullet. The 30-03 cartridge was a bit longer too.
The 30-06 was not and invention but a development of an existing cartridge for which America paid Mauser royalties.
Oh yes the .260 Rem is a 51mm case length the Swedish 55mm which is 4mm or if you like approx 3/16" which ia quite a ways from the 1/2" mentioned in this thread.
As for the .260 Rem fitting short actions............................................ Nope it fits medium actions short actions take .222 Rem/22 Hornet length cases
As for long throats well i have yet to actually see better precision on targt and better grouping by having a bullet seated close to the leade/throat. In my own experience I get better groups and precision upon target with some bullet jump. In fact in my 30-30 Bolt action which was throated to suit 170 grn Winchester factory ammuniton the 130 grain Hornady SP I use cannot be seated out long enough to get anywhere near the leade yet it and i have shot a fair few 3 shot one hole groups over the years. Like wise the sporterised Swedish Mauser with it military barrel shoots the Speer 120 grain bullets very well but f course there is now way you can seat them to the leade.
I also found that better precision/grouping was obtained with my 7x57 and the 139 Grn Hornady BTSP witht he bullet seated deeper into the case. In fact by seating it about 1/16" deeper into the neck the group size halved. Again in the P-H 1100 Lwt in .308 Win the Hornady 130 grn SP shoots very well and of course it cannot be seated to the leade either.
Now I don't really give a toss what they do in bench rest as it has about about as much use in normal stalking/sporting rifles as Formula One does to an every day car and let's face a formula one car is useless as a daily driver .
Today's cartridges have less taper which has been proven to reduce back thrust on the breech face. However they do require more careful fitting if they are to feed from a staggered Mauser type magazine properly which is why a lot of "Modern" rifles have gone back to straight line feeding magazines like those found in the original Lee Mk1 rifle.