does anyone load the 160 gr in the 6x55 swede?

You mean 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser, correct?

yes

160 Hornady RN with 46 gr of RL22 in my Ruger. I think that would be close to a max load for the older military Swedes. I chronied it a while back at around 2350 fps on a warm day. At 100 yards it's MOA.

sounds like a real deer slayer i will try it thanks''

Both Lapua and Norma load a 155 and 156 respectively.

My Model 70 FW Classic shoots the Norma 156gr Alaska SP's into very tight groups, indeed.

I'm waiting to try out the 129gr Sircocco's, that I picked up at a flea market last Fall, for next to nothing.
Two full boxes cost me a whopping $5.00 !

.

43Shooter,
What's the primer and COAL on that 160-gr load?
I also shoot a Ruger 77 6.5x55 SE.

cutNshoot, you probably already know this and I'm not big on telling people what to do but like I said I think this could be close to a max load. I'd start lower than 46 grains. I just rechecked the Lyman manual, 48th edition, it's their max. The test rifle they used was a 38 Swedish Mauser. I started at 42 grains of RL22 and worked up in a MkII Ruger. For all I know a modern action will handle a lot more but I got good accuracy with this and didn't push it any harder.

I don't own a 6.5 Swede... But if I did, I'd be looking for a load that runs a 140 Partition about 2725 FPS Avg (hey, it works great in a 260)

Lee 24, Used Win LR primer, COAL is 2.935. The cannelure is just below the edge of the case neck. As I recall I could have seated it further out but this worked ok.

Don't recall exactly but that's about what I'm getting with 47 grains of RL22 and the 140 Sierra BT. Two of the best 6.5x55 loads I've tried for velocity and accuracy are the 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip with 48 grains of RL 19 at 2971fps and the 95 grain V-Max with 45 grains of RL 15 at 3281fps. Temperature in the 60s that day.

Up until a few years ago I had gotten to thinking all I needed was a 30-06 and a 223. Lately I've started to think if a handloader wanted to (better make that had to) get down to one centerfire rifle for everything from ground squirrels to elk a 6.5x55 or a 260 might do it all.

I have always thought that the key consideration when loading the 6.5x55 is to load for the strength of rifle, since a load that is safe in a Remington 700 Classic might not be safe in an old Norwegian Krag.

Although I have successfully used the 156 grain Norma RNSPs to kill a variety of plains game, including an Eland, I did so because I wanted to shoot factory ammo that was available in Botswana & RSA, should my ammo get separated from my rifle during the trip.

22 years later, I can't think of any good reason to load a 6.5mm/0.264" bullet over 140 grains, unless the heavier bullets are required to meet hunting regulations, such as they are in Sweden for use on moose. I've come to think that a person could do quite well with 3 6.5mm/0.264" bullets for shooting everything from varmints thru moose in North America.

95 grain VMax for anything up to 125 lbs. +/-.
129 grain SpirePoint or SST for anything under 250 lbs. +/-.
140 grain Partition for anything bigger/tougher.

The long 6.5mm/0.264" cup & core bullets made their reputation based on deep penetration, but I doubt that they can out penetrate the 140 grain Partitions or a variety of monolithic "Barnes-like" bullets and, if given the option, I'd opt for the higher velocity and slightly flatter trajectory potential of the lighter premium bullets in most cases.

Jeff

Jeff, I'm really having a hard time finding a flaw in your logic...

Except maybe that you didn't mention the 100 grain Partition in there?? One of those at 3200 FPS will really wreck and Antelopes day

Most antelope weigh in under 125 lbs., so the 95 grain VMax ought to work pretty well too.

Jeff

For light and dual purpose I'll use the Nosler 100 BT. The 95's don't shoot nearly as good out of my T3's. I'd skip the median and go with a 130 TSX for big deer, bear and elk. That's if I wanted to keep it simple which is next to no fun at all. So I've got loads for the 100 BT's, 120 BT's and TSX's, 129 Interlocks, 130 TSX's and Accubonds, and 140 Interlock's and Partition's. And it could have been soooooooo easy!

The 95 grain VMax has shot good groups in every rifle that I've tried them in.

I don't own any Sakos that are under 30 years old, so I've never shot or maybe even seen a T-3 in 6.5x55.

Jeff

years ago I tried the 160 Horn RN, the Winch M70 fwt liked it the Rem 700CL did NOT, probably twist.

I don't remember if I ever shot them in the mausers, but I've been meanin' to try.

my records from 1994 indicate I was loading 44.0 of H450 (a slow ball powder no longer available)

shoot good

Poole