Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Best ammo for my military 6.5x55 Swedes

I just picked up at auction a lot of eleven 6.5x55 Swedish Mausers. They are model 94/96's and are all Carl Gustaf manufacture and between 1905 and 1911. All are 29" to 29.5" barrels, except for two carbines with 18" barrels. Actions and bore are clean and bright on all of them. The range discs all show either no wear or a "1", and all shoot point of aim, or one over.

I was told NOT to fire factory ammo (Winchester, Remington, etc) unless they are loaded to the Swedish military specs, as the factory loads are too hot and generate too much pressure for the rifles. (I was told not to exceed 47,000 cpi, where modern factory gets up to 60,000).

A couple of people have told me that the Wolf and Prvi are all loaded to the Swedish military specs. Anybody have any other info on what to shoot out of these rifles, as I REALLY worry about damaging them: they are all in excellent condition (graded 95%+), complete matching serial numbers on all parts and came from a private collection and have not been shot much (if at all) since they went into the collection.

I would say who ever told you that is full of crap, Winchester, Remington factory 6.5 x 55 loadings are on the mild side, not going to hurt your guns at all. Now Privi and I know for sure Sellier and Bellot is loaded hotter than American ammo so is Norma. I had a 96 that Kimber sporterized back about 20 years ago, I shot winchester Remington Sellier and Bellot and Norma loads along with my hand loads no ill effect I still see 20/20 and I have my fingers. The fellow I sold the rifle to, shoots his deer with what ever ammo he can find. Right now I think he shoots Remington's other than that I don't know what else to say about it.

What gmsemsel said, with emphasis on the pressures of American factory 6.5x55 ammo.

plus the fact that Swedish Mausers are a lot stronger than most shooters believe. In reality they'll take the same pressures of 98 military actions of the same period, since they're well-made out of some of the best steeel of the era.

Theorists get all hot and bothered about 94/96 Mausers not having the 3rd locking lug at the rear of the bolt like 98's, or the Swedish actions not "handling gas" as well. Guess what? The pre-'64 Model 70 Winchester doesn't handle gas nearly as well as the Swedish Mausers. And how often has anybody here heard of some shooter being saved by the 3rd lug when the front locking lugs cracked on a 98 Mauser?

The people who've told you that BS are just repeating BS they've heard (and partly misunderstood) over the years.

THNX guys for the info in this thread. I'm new to the 6.5 Swede and am learning. I have 2 boxes of Privi ammo and have a couple of ?? My Swede is a Win 70 so...

1. I'm not concerned about the pressures BUT, how does Privi ammo pressure compare to American factory Swede pressure?

2.I've 'heard' that the Privi ammo is 'dirty' after shooting. Is there anything to be concerned about? I have NOT decided but was considering pulling the bullets and 're' loading with good primers/powder.

Any helpful instructions will be appreciated.

Norma uses Swede M-96 actions for their pressure tests. These actions are very capable of handling higher pressures. In fact, when the Swedes adopted the M-96 action, the first ones were made in Germany and the Swedes insisted that Mauser use Swedish steel, considered to be the highest quality at the time.

jwall,

There is nothing wrong with the Privi ammo. Just shoot it, save the brass and reload with your choice of powder, primer and bullet.

rld

Thank you guys for the info! I have had a bad experience with using factory ammo in milsurp rifles...a very nice H&R M1 Garand fell victim.

I can see the mistake (beat me gently) was asking the "experts" at the auction (who were more than glad to crowd around and give me all sorts of advice, from "you got some nice rifles at a decent price" to what ammo to use (reference original question) to "that original blue needs to come off and so does that original finish on the wood, just use steel wool"....

I was just wanting to make sure on what ammo to use, because once is enough, and the thought of eating a bolt (not to mention destroying the rifles) sends shivers clear to my stacking swivel!

Does anybody have anything bad to say about Wolf for target ammo out of these? I am looking at using one or two for military rifle matches (it was told by another "expert" that these rifles win hands down for accuracy for any military issue rifle) with the rest going into my "look but don't shoot" vault. Think I will use the Hornady or Nosler loads suggested on this forum for matches, unless somebody has a better factory match load?

IIRC: Terry Wieland tested to destruction a couple of rifles; one was a Swedish and the other a P17 Enfield. The actions held against extreme abuse, and did not crack lugs or let go in that way, even with extremely high pressures that would make any rifle unusable. Pressures were so high that brass flowed into the actions, and the barrel expanded enough to blow parts off the stock. But, no lug failures.

I think that 'Rifle' magazine had a special ed on Mauser rifles, and that article was included.

I have a model 38 Husky 6.5x55 swede and I shoot the same ammo in it that I shoot in my Ruger 77 6.5x55 and Remington 700 6.5x55.

The older Hansen ammo [I think prvi is the new name]140 gr FMJ is damned accurate stuff. I once shot a turkey at 200yds away with iron sights using that ammo. LOL.

If you can find any the swede surplus (I think it was designated M41 is nicely accurate. I fondly remember my son when he was about 12 schooling some 30 somethings at the range with a Husqvarna using that ammo, as he repeatedly banged the spinners at 200 yards with iron sights. One of the "guys" girlfriends/wives remarked that it was too bad they weren't as good as the kid! He just quietly smiled and kept at it.
Attached is a link to a good swede sight.
http://dutchman.rebooty.com/index.html

The best ammo for your rifle would be the ammo you load yourself. While factory ammo has made great strides in the last few decades only you can decide what you want and load to meet your expectations. You just have to play around with loads a bit and find one for practice and one that's serious.

Ok. I don't reload rifle ammo, due to a friend having a bad experience with reloaded .300 Win mag. I do reload my own shotgun shells and my pistol ammo though.

Think I will just stick to factory or surplus ammo for them.

Well, if you reload, you are the QC link in the chain, so if you go about it correctly there is little chance (nearly none) of having a bad experience. Particularly if you are not trying to reach levels of "the next caliber up" with your rifles.

The 6.5x55 Swede is one of the easiest cartridges there is to load for.

What did he do shoot somebody else's hand loads in his rifle? That is something you should never do, each rifle is a law on to itself in that regard. A load that works fine in my rifle, may have issues in another. Hand loading is a safe and enjoyable past time. And for cartridges like the 6.5 x 55 its a benefit to do so. I been handloading my own ammo for going on 45 years now. I still have my eyes and my hands and fingers, and never had a problem with any of the guns I shot over those years. In the early days of my hunting life, If I wanted to shoot a Nosler Partition, I pretty much had to load my own ammo. I think you are missing on on an aspect of shooting and hunting here but its your call not mine.

Sort of: he made a bulk purchase on what he was told (by the gun shop) was factory .300 Win Mag, and it turned out to be "remanufactured from recovered components". His Browning BAR bit it, and due to being a good design, probably saved him from much more serious injury.

So the bottom line is that you don't reload based on someone else [bleep] up? Do you still drive your car even though many others have had accidents with theirs? Step outside your comfort zone and you may just find out that as long as you keep a decent amount of supplies on hand when the shelves are bare you'll have plenty of ammunition and it will have been custom made for your rifle.

Yep, factory ammo IS outside of my comfort zone. Out of necessity I bought some factory ammo for 2 rifles, new to me. To my surprise they were very accurate>>>albeit SLOW.

I'd never give up handloading if I had any choice at all.

Skidrow, didn't say I didn't reload, I just don't reload for rifles. Since the pressures involved in shotgun shells and .45 ACP are less than what you encounter with rifles, I prefer to give myself some safety margin, just in case I screw up and don't catch it. And having seen what happens when there IS a screwup with reloaded rifle ammo....

Besides, I don't shoot enough rifle ammo compared to pistol or shotgun to really be cost effective for me to reload for rifle. Currently, I shoot right at 6000 shotgun shells a year and roughly 8-10k of .45 ACP...I would have to buy another press strictly for rifle (I have two presses; one for 12 gauge and one for .45) and just don't see the need to spend the money and time, as I currently shoot less than 500 rifle rounds a year. It is just easier (and probably cheaper, you count my time) for me to buy factory rifle ammo in bulk, and sell/trade the brass at gunshows.

Take good care of the carbines. Un-mucked carbines are scarce and pricey these days.

John,

No disrespect intended, but I'm pretty sure that the post-1898 style Mauser actions were designed with a larger gas shield on the bolt for a reason. Maybe the reason for the larger gas shield isn't as valid today as it was when it was designed, but I doubt that it was incorporated into the "improved" 1898 style action "just 'cause".

When I sporterize a Swedish Mauser, I always install one of the commercial style bolt shrouds with a larger gas shield that Brownells and MidwayUSA sell.

I've only had one pierced or blown primer and that was in a sporterized FN 24/30 on which I managed to plug the barrel with snow and failed to notice that I had done so. The result was a wedge of steel broken out of the face of the bolt, so the pressure must have been really high, but the shooter and repaired rifle are still in operation today.