What do you use for 6.5X55 out of a Swedish Mauser?

[Twotone]

Morning all,
Planning to pick up a swede in the coming months and am wondering what you use? This will be for target shooting rather than deer. I'm thinking of 140grn projectile, but unsure what powder to use.

All my guides suggest the various yank powders, the VV app lists quite a few so just wondering what people use? Bonus points if it's out of an M96 Swedish Mauser!

Cheers

 

[Utectok]

N555 is very good for me and I’d guess you’d want Berger Vld bullets at around 140 grn?

 

[Twotone]

Thanks for the suggestion!
I've not yet decided on projectiles, I know there are SMK and Hornady ones also at 140grn ish.

Do you shoot this through a Swede Mauser? What sort of distance/groupings do you get with this? Thanks

 

[Utectok]

Thanks for the suggestion!
I've not yet decided on projectiles, I know there are SMK and Hornady ones also at 140grn ish.

Do you shoot this through a Swede Mauser? What sort of distance/groupings do you get with this? Thanks

I shoot a swede and have tested n150 n165 n160 and n555 and consistently get highest MV with n555. Regarding bullets I don’t really target shoot and I use yew tree tlr ones at the moment. A friend says Berger bullets are the best for targets but lapau are good to. I wouldn’t know.

 

[Twotone]

Thanks for this! Gives me a good place to start

 

[Utectok]

I think I’d use these for lr target Berger Match Hunting VLD Bullets - 6.5mm 130gr - 1967spud Reloading Supplies Ltd

 

[Utectok]

Or maybe these

Lapua Scenar L HPBT - 6.5mm 136gr - 1967spud Reloading Supplies Ltd

Prices per x 100

www.1967spud.com

 

[Utectok]

These would get you to 1000m and are actually available shock horror!!

Lapua Scenar L HPBT - 6.5mm 120gr - 1967spud Reloading Supplies Ltd

Prices per x 100

www.1967spud.com

 

[Twotone]

Thanks for the suggestions! Ill take a look at these and see what works best

 

[Utectok]

Groups

 

[Twotone]

Good shooting!

 

[Fosbery Holster]

A friend of mine who shoots Swedish Mausers (extremely well) uses a load made up of
Reloader 22,
Lapua brass,
Remington primers,
Lapua Scenar 139g HPBT bullets

 

[NP435]

Morning all,
Planning to pick up a swede in the coming months and am wondering what you use? This will be for target shooting rather than deer. I'm thinking of 140grn projectile, but unsure what powder to use.

All my guides suggest the various yank powders, the VV app lists quite a few so just wondering what people use? Bonus points if it's out of an M96 Swedish Mauser!

Cheers

Mine is the Model 38 short rifle, RL15 and 95grn V-max atm, If I were going heavy bullet probably a slower powder depending on data and IF (hahah) I could find powder on the shelf.

 

[markyw]

1920 M96 with Soderin diopter, Rel 22 or RS50 pushing a PPU 139gr bullet at M41 speeds.
1944 M38 with a Vortex scout scope, Rel 22 or RS50 pushing a PPU 156gr SP at around 2600fps.

Both shoot well when I do my part.

Mark

 

[Twotone]

Thanks for this! Sounds like a good recipe.

 

[Twotone]

Many thanks

 

[Twotone]

Reloader 22 sounds like the powder of choice, thank you for this

 

[Dunwaters]

Most of the guys at our club shooting old Mauser’s use Sellier and Bellot rounds, less than £2 a pop in boxes of 50.

 

[Twotone]

Thanks for this, I would use them but S&B brass isn't great for reloading and I want to get a perfect load (plus maybe save some cash )

 

[Laurie]

Military Swedes have long throats (when new, never mind after years of service even though these rifles were very well cared for and inspected annually to ensure barrels remained within tolerance). Bearing that in mind, I'd avoid any type of long VLD style bullet, all of which are position-sensitive. The ancient, blunt, but incredibly tolerant 140gn Sierra MK is an excellent choice for this application, and if you're going to shoot at short to moderate distances its relatively low BC isn't important. A widely used alternative is the 139gn Lapua Scenar which was probably developed with this application up front given its importance to Scandi competition shooting.

When I had one many years ago, there was little better around than Viht N160. Lapua brass, a hot primer (to avoid poor obturation / smoked cases), 140gn SMK seated as far out as still gave reliable feed from the magazine, and 44gn N160 produced excellent results in an M1896 that had been built as a Service-Match rifle by some Swedish unit armourer. With a Soderin aperture rearsight it shot remarkably well with handloads out to 600 yards and won me a few medals in regional HBSA Historic Arms competitions. Start two or three grains lower at 41/42gn with either bullet and work up slowly and you should find something the rifle likes. N555 is close to N160, just a tad faster burning, so as others say it should do well with this combination.