Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles M70 6.5x55 coming soon

Having a m70 rebarreled to 6.5x55 should be done around the end of the month. This will be the first rifle I reload for. Are some bullets more loader friendly then others? Barrel is going to be 1-8. Want to try accubonds, ttsx, and scenars. What would you start with?

Leave the barrel at 22" or longer, 129 gr Hornady SP are my goto bullet for deer same twist. goodluck. Magnum Man

123 Lapua Scenars, 127 LRX.

I have an M70 in 6.5 x55 that hasn't been used recently because of bullet availability. However, I've tried five bullets including the 125 Partition, 129 Hornady, 130 AccuBond, 140 Hornady, and the 140 Partition. I used several powders, but mostly H4350 and H4831. Best accuracy was with the 140 Partition and H4831, followed closely by the 125 Partition and H4350.

While I have not reviewed my chronographed velocities, I think all bullets lagged behind book velocities by 100-150 fps, maybe a little more in some instances.

Of course, all this is based on a trial of one rifle.

I use 140 AB's and RL-22/MRP with good success in my featherweight. The thin barrel heats pretty quickly so it takes a while to do load development!

Wrangler, your choice of cartridge and twist show superior reasoning and intellect.

Try Hornady 140s and 129s. They're good bullets both on the range and in the woods. And they won't break the bank. I also had good results with Sierra Gameking bullets. My assumption here is that the rifle is built for hunting....

It is going to be a lightweight hunting rifle. Featherwright contour with 21" barrel. Talley rings and leupold fx-ii 4x. I will have to find a hunters edge for it when funds allow in the next month or two.

120 TSX and 130 TSX have shot bug holes with my Tikka T3. Should work in yours as well.

You should decide before hand what weight range of bullets you want to load as this will dictate what throat depth you need. Old Swedish Mausers had extremely long throat as the service round most used was 156 grains - if you're loading 120 grains and lighter you'll want a shorter or shallow throat - 120 to 140 will require a little deeper - with an 8-twist barrel you can stabilize up to 160 grains but these are extremely long bullets requiring deeper throats if you don't want half the bullet seated below the neck in the case. I respectfully suggest that if you are not an experienced reloader, find someone who is who can go over all these considerations prior to you committing to your gunsmith.

140grains accubonds and ballistic tips

Short or standard action?

Minus the contour, you almost mirrored what I am putting together. Mine is a LH M70 that just got back from ITD. I went with a factory matched contour cut to 20", 1:8" twist. I didn't want the mile long throat so I had Dave use his match reamer--MUCH shorter throat. The neck is a little tighter too but I am set up to turn so no biggie there.

It sits in a Hunters Compact Edge with Williams bottom metal and I could not be happier. I currently have a 2.5-8x36 sitting on it in Talley lightweights but I plan to swap that for a FX-II 6x36 in the spring when I ship the rig off for Cerakote.

Bare rifle weighs 6lbs, 12oz. Adding the scope and rings and that comes up to 7lbs, 10oz. Not the lightest rig but very handy. A 6x36 will only drop about 1.5 ounces off the total.

I will try to get pics up tonight after work.

You don't specify if you are running bottom metal or an ADL setup so that could change the weight for your rig...and the barrel contour will shave some weight too. In either regard, the numbers above should give you a baseline to work with.

The action is fn long action. Definitely looking to shoot the longer high bc bullets..

I like an adl set up more but will leave it in the factory dura touch bdl for now. Is it easy to convert one of these to adl has anyone done one of them? I would be very interested in that. I could also save some cash and not have to buy the ptg bottom metal.

140's in the Swede are dogs. The case isn't really that big, even though it needs a long action. I have tried them all, and the 123 Scenars were the clear winner. I am hovering around 2950fps and they shoot excellent. The 123 Scenar has a BC of .527, so it is no slouch.

Mine is throated long from the factory, but it has never seemed to matter.

I'd have to disagree with Mr. Catcher. I use a 140 grain Accubond at about 2700 fps in a Blaser R8 and it has accounted for one shot kills kills large and small, including a spectacular "drop in a heap" on a red stag.

It isn't as fast as some but it sure is effective.

Not the best but I didn't feel like working on a spread and posing it...and the wife was handy.

I have to disagree with dogcatcher about the 140s as well. They are stunningly lethal on deer. At 2700 fps they're all you need.

It aint worth building a 1:8 for 140's with 123's on the table, unless its a 6.5-06. I say if you must have a long action, fill it up.

But dats me.....

War eagle rifle looks good except for the wrong side bolt thingy. I am not worried about hitting a high max fps I will be happy with good accuracy.

Very nice set up...