6.5x55 Swedish

[LuckyEddie]

I haven’t experimented as the loads that my friend set me up with, do what I need them to do.
N160 44grns and 140 Hornady bullets do the job very nicely.

The target photo was my first ever shots with a full bore which an acquaintance who kindly let me try before I decided on calibre.

The second photo was my first ever outing after deer.
Yes the shot exit was a bit far back, but considering it was my first ever quartering shot at a deer, it was good with the buck going down on the spot.

 

[GBR66]

I’ll take them.
Let me know the details.

Cheers,
Ed

Will PM you later

 

[GCodeCritter]

After much experimenting I settled on 45 gns of N160 but for obvious safety reasons do start low and work up until you detect pressure signs then go back a bit.
My COL is very long as the 6.5x55SE has a very long chamber to accommodate heavy round-nosed bullets.

View attachment 445383

Youre right about the long chamber! With a comparator and oal guage, I measured my rifle against factory sako blades and they are jumping 7.3mm to the lands. It was quite a surprise given that on a good day I can stack sub 25mm groups at 100m .

 

[Foxyboy43]

Youre right about the long chamber! With a comparator and oal guage, I measured my rifle against factory sako blades and they are jumping 7.3mm to the lands. It was quite a surprise given that on a good day I can stack sub 25mm groups at 100m .

Indeed so - the jump on my very long thus shallow seated 130gns Gamechangers is well over 100 thou yet they are tackdrivers. Kinda makes one think about all the “touching the lands” theories. If I tried that the bullet would sit outside the case….

 

[Selous]

Indeed so - the jump on my very long thus shallow seated 130gns Gamechangers is well over 100 thou yet they are tackdrivers. Kinda makes one think about all the “touching the lands” theories. If I tried that the bullet would sit outside the case….

I gave up seating close to the lands a good few years back. I now seldom go closer than 50 thou. Haven’t noticed a deterioration in accuracy yet!

 

[GCodeCritter]

Yeah, given how the rifle was shooting before I had knowledge of what the lands were, im not going to bother chasing them, even if it was possible to do so.

 

[Smellydog]

I will always have a soft spot for the Swede.

The only real advantage to seating a bullet out as far as possible is to fit more powder in the case.

 

[Tirea]

After zeroing both rife this is the results with my bullets, I think is good ( 3 relative fast shots on each )

 

[billgatese30]

Another swede shooter here who is ~120 thou from the lands with 139gr bullets. Hitting the lands I'd be almost dropping out of the case!

 

[Buchan]

I've put together the standard 42grain N550 74mm COL and have a nice group with good group 27118 to 2731fps, Sako M695. I'm tempted to leave it, but also tempted to play!!

@Karhumies why remove the tips (apogees if you said before). I know Ed does that for the .222 fox and it's recommended for the Barnes 120gr

Top right target was yesterday's testing. Top right is with Sako brass, top left saki brass but a small font head stamp, middle is PPU brass.
Top Left is a .308 load with 120gr Barnes
So I have two workable loads in my rifles for deer - woot! (this was stuff I needed to do before the doe/hind season!)

 

[smokey]

I’m reloading for my 6.5×55 Swedish and wondering how many others are still in love with this calibre.
View attachment 445358

 

[smokey]

I’m reloading for my 6.5×55 Swedish and wondering how many others are still in love with this calibre.
View attachment 445358

i reload(6.5 skan data) does everything better than a 6.5 creedmore less barrel ware less pressure

 

[Scipio]

I will always have a soft spot for the Swede.

The only real advantage to seating a bullet out as far as possible is to fit more powder in the case.

What is your min seating depth though, @Smellydog ? (given of course that one has already gauged that going very long is fine with ones max coal in ones own rifle, and that the magazine will allow for it etc.).

 

[6mmarc]

Been shooting and loading for this caliber for over 30 years when I was a kid it was the best long range thing going for hunting and in the bench rest world before a lot of these new fangled cartridges if I had to go to just one caliber it would be 6.5
Started with a husqvarna sporter then got a sig sauer 2000 and just got a helix in this caliber
The sig is definitely the best of the three

 

[Smellydog]

What is your min seating depth though, @Smellydog ? (given of course that one has already gauged that going very long is fine with ones max coal in ones own rifle, and that the magazine will allow for it etc.).

I don't have my Swede notes anymore sorry, it was years ago I had a Swede.
It was a new for the time T3 light.
I bought some south American fmj ammunition and some S&B soft points and it liked to put them near as dam it down the same hole group wise. I then loaded up some Hornady 129 or 139gn bullets and a fox round with 95gn vmax, and they wanted to go down the same holes as each other.
The 95gn vmax was a fair jump to the lands in Swede being a shortish bullet.

It was boringly accurate, the scope was only a few clicks off center I remember too.
I only ever swapped the trigger weight spring on the rifle.

 

[Scipio]

I don't have my Swede notes anymore sorry, it was years ago I had a Swede.
It was a new for the time T3 light.
I bought some south American fmj ammunition and some S&B soft points and it liked to put them near as dam it down the same hole group wise. I then loaded up some Hornady 129 or 139gn bullets and a fox round with 95gn vmax, and they wanted to go down the same holes as each other.
The 95gn vmax was a fair jump to the lands in Swede being a shortish bullet.

It was boringly accurate, the scope was only a few clicks off center I remember too.
I only ever swapped the trigger weight spring on the rifle.

Thanks for the response Smellydog - and that Sounds like a good rifle, - even without a lever handle on it ,D

As for tikkas often having lots of jump/long throats, i was looking at some videos of Scott Satterlee (who seems a very cool and generously sharing dude, shooting and reloading wise), and in one of those videos he proposed that a big component of tikkas (and i think also sakos), ability to make quite accurate rifles for their price range was their clever use of that long jump.

Now it's my impression that a lot of 6.5x55s as well as quite a few other old european cartridge types, like the 7x57, 7x64 etc often have quite long throats as well, so if satterlee is correct in his theory, that design trait of many 6.5x55s rifles might, like with the tikkas of today, be one of the main components as to why so many experience good accuracy with the 6.5x55, and some even believe it to be a inherently accurate cartridge. That and low recoil, perhaps.

 

[P7 BOG]

My favourite chambering - only just ahead of my .308.
130 gns Sierra Gamechangers over a modest charge of N160 are super accurate and will drop anything this side of the Pond…

How much N160 do you use and what are the groupings like.

 

[tarponhead]

This was a 10 shot group with Norma 93g copper in 6.5x55, after tweak to zero a new (to me) 20” stainless barrel with a Wildcat mod, on a Sauer 202 action. It was windy but no idea why the group shaped like that. Probably me in a hurry and not letting it cool enough… Ready to go hunting!

 

[Foxyboy43]

How much N160 do you use and what are the groupings like.

45gns and minute of deer….

 

[P7 BOG]

45gns and minute of deer….

View attachment 451051

Thanks Foxboy43