Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Opinions on the 6.5x55BJAI

You might add that it has 5% less powder capacity than the 6.5x55 and that it is rather difficult to stuff a 142g projectile into the shorter case and come up with any ballistics that meets or exceeds the Swede and that the 6.5x55 also can be used with a short action...have one on my Savage. No problem. Besides the 260 Remington brass sucks.

There isn't 25 fps difference either way between the 6.5x55 and the .260 when using 140-142 grain bullets.
And the 6.5 only gets this close when it is loaded 10,000+ psi ABOVE SAAMI SPECS!

According to Ken Waters there isn't 2 grains of water difference between the 2 when same bullets are loaded to same length.

The .260 is also BETTER suited to a short action because the case is .129" shorter than the 6.5x55 meaning the same bullets have to be seated deeper into the powder column of the 6.5 to fit the same SA magazine.

Finally, there is brass, with proper headstamp, available from Norma, Nosler, and Remington for the .260 Rem, so your brass quality argument doesn't stand either.

You can have all the nostalgia you want but the 6.5x55 offers NOTHING over the .260 Rem.
And it only gets close if you OVERLOAD the 6.5x55.

A 2 grain difference in case capacity, 54 grains for the 260 vs. 56 grains for the 6.5x55, amounts to 3.7% difference and, using the 4 to 1 ratio ROT, about a 1% increase in velocity potential, assuming that all other variable factors are equal.

I'm not a fan of Remington brass, perhaps due to the early influence of Jack O'C, who liked Winchester/Olin brass. I have used Norma and Winchester/Olin 243 brass to make most of my 260 cases since 10/97.

Jeff

That 2 grain advantage is only if the 6.5 doesn't have to seat the bullets into the powder column to meet mag length requirements too.

You could not pick two cartridges that are closer ballistic twins than these two.

Jeff, have you tried the Norma or the Nosler .260 brass ever?

Jeff,

What are you using for a case capacity reference?

I've used "The Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions" and "Pet Loads" for a long time but I would really like another source.

Thanks

I don't remember where I got it, but I have it on an EXCEL worksheet so I can let EXCEL do the math for me.

If you have EXCEL and would like a copy of my worksheet, sent me a PM with your email address and I will send it to you.

Jeff

Yeah guys but I'm beginning to fall into love with everything that I read on the 6.5x55BJAI. You see, I have no intentions of loading it to the max. I simply wish to get that 150 to 200FPS more and keep the accuracy.

My 6.5x55 to 6.5-284 rechamber, a 1986 vintage Winchester/USRA 70 Fwt, has been very successful. It has the shortest barrel of my 6.5-284s, 22", but gets consistantly higher velocity for the same loads. It really is 1 of those "faster" barrels.

Jeff

FWIW, the 6.5x55 and 6.5-284 have EXACTLY the same case length, so the 6.5x55 CAN be used in a short action rifle, but I doubt that the 160 grain Norma factory loads would fit in the magazine box of most short action rifles. Although 4mm of case length isn't much, it often is just enough to be GO/NO-GO to determine if a cartridge will work through the magazine or if you have to load it as a single shot.

I like the 6.5x55, 6.5-284, 257 Roberts, 7x57, etc. but think that some of them, because of the combination of bore diameters and bullets, work better in short actions then others do. I like the 257 Roberts, but think that if a person was designing a short action .257" bore cartridge shorter than the 30-06 parent case, they would be more likely to pick the 308 as the parent case, rather than the 7x57, if part of the criteria was "best" fit in a short action.

Jeff

Have you ever had any feed problems with the 6.5-284? That is the only other cartridge that I have considered. If I was to build one, it too would be downloaded a little. I'm looking for the 2900fps velocities with 140gr bullets.

I have 6.5-284s built on Remington 7, Remington 700, Savage 99, and Winchester 70 PF actions. The Winchester 70 is the only long action and I haven't had any trouble feeding. However, some people do report feeding issues in Remington 700s, so the feed rails might need just a light touch with an Arkansas Stone.

Jeff

Bob Jourdan loads

129 gr.
4064 41.0 2,791.....42.0 2,838 27" barrel.
4350 47.0 2,874.....48.0 2,963
H414 47.0 2,903.....51.0 3,080
H4831 49.0 2,929....53.0 2,986
7828 54.0 3,075

140 gr.
4350 47.0 2,808.....48.0 2,883 27" barrel
H414 48.0 2,861.....50.0 2,968
H4831 48.0 2,803....53.0 2,922
7828 51.0 2,872

Note Different powder lots can make 100 fps change with the same load.

Those are just beautiful numbers. I feel like I just played the lottery and won!

Have y'all ever tried a ratchet-rifled barrel? They say they are faster, more accurate, and easier to clean.

Note that those number were generated using a 27" barrel. Cut it back to 24" and you're likely to drop between 60 and 90 fps.

Jeff

Wow! Still around 2900fps! I like 'em 24 inch barrels?

I know this is an old thread but I have been shooting a 6.5x55 BJI for a year now. I had one built on a 700 adl long action, the action was trued up and the bolt face done. I put a 28" barrel on it. I have been loading it with 47.5 grains of rl22 and getting 2830-2860 fps with a 140 grain a-max or 140 vld. I have never been total happy with how it shoots and am having the barrel set back and re cambered before the shooting season starts this spring to see if I can get the results I am looking for. I may even have to re barrel but I will try the set back first. I also am trying a new HS stock on it that I just got this week.
When I say I am not total happy with accuracy I was hopping for less than .5 moa and have found the gun very inconsistent some days shooting .25 MOA and some days 1.5 MOA and not able to figure out why. I think my best relay in a shoot was a 48.4 at 900 yards out of a possible 50.10. That's Canadian F class scoring not just sure how you score F/class in the U.S. That's not a bad score but the next relay at 800 yards was not even close.
I have had no trouble pushing 140 grain bullets up past 2900 fps with pressure signs only starting at close to 3000 fps. I wanted to stay a little slower than that to help with barrel life but I am thinking that this may be part of why it shoots inconsistently as some people say the 6.5s like to shoot around 2900 for the most accurate round. I will be doing a little research on this. I would like to get 2000 rounds out of a barrel but this one at 1200 rounds even with most of them down around 2800 may be done. I am going to give it another chance as I really like a 6.5x55 I am just not sure I would bother going improved again if I did not all ready have the dies and reamer.

I did not go with the 6.5x55BJAI. Instead I went with a 6.5 Rogue, which is identical with the exception of a 37 deg shoulder instead of the 40 deg. on the BJAI. Here is an initial load-finding response of a 140 SMK with 50 grains of H4831SC pushing it.

"the 1999 British Long-Range Benchrest Championship was won by a Tikka Continental in 6.5x55. Group size was an almost unbelievable 10 rounds into 4.4 inches at 1,000 yards."

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_2_49/ai_95680073/pg_3/?tag=content;col1

There is a reason this round has flourished world wide since designed in 1891...it simply works.....and very well.

No doubt an 'improved case' can give a little less drop/drift, but the above is 'proof in the pudding' of the original.

Looks like a shooter - the rifle and the indian! Congrats.