Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5x55 Swede performance

Have been doing some study on the 6.5 cartridges, and ran across some interesting blurbs on the 6.5x55 Swede.....

According to several writers, the 6.5x55 case can be safely loaded with enough powder, in new-and-stronger-bolt-actions, which allow it to exceed the velocity in a 6.5 Creedmoor on the 140-grain bullet (and larger)

If this is true, it makes the old 6.5 Swede a very reasonable choice of cartridge in the 6.5-arena. (even though it puts you into a long-action)

For those of you who have newer, stronger-action rifles, and load for the 6.5x55, do you agree or disagree with some of the claims I've been reading online?

Your thoughts?

Cheers.

It's quite simple: More capacity with appropriate powders at the same pressure will produce more velocity. Nothing has changed about that.

I’d fully agree with that. I like my Swede and RL26 makes me like it a little more. The Lapua brass doesn’t stink either.

Absolutely. It can beat the .260 Remington as well in velocity at same-same pressures, although not by a whole lot.

Being a long action with a 55mm case, you can load those High BC bullets as far out as needed without magazine limitations.

My Swede is a strong action with Shilen barrel. I’ve loaded 147 ELD-M over RL-26 in Lapua brass. When it quits raining, I’ll check’em out and report.

Best load so far is with 139 Scenar and MRP. It likes heavier bullets. Some have reported 50 gr RL-26 as a good load. We’ll see. Because the Swede has such a pressure cap compared to its 6mm Rem cousin, I don’t mind running a bit over book.

DF

FYI Bullets.com has or had the factory Lapua 6.5x55 ammo with 123 and 139 scenars for sale at around $1.20/round.
Shoot em up and then have great brass....

It was a "..very reasonable choice of cartridge in the 6.5 arena..." in it's original guise before the 6.5 Creedmoor was ever conceived and it remains so today.

Yes, you can crank it up in modern actions, although in my Sako 85 I only run 130 grain bullets at a modest 2700 fps. At that speed it is bughole accurate and easily kills deer to 400 yards (far enough for me), is very pleasant shooting and very easy on that expensive Lapua brass.
In my jack knife sporterized Swedish Mauser I shoot the old Hornady 160 grain RN at 2300 fps and, IMO, there is nothing better for shooting deer in the woods.

O C

What you've read is true. Go to the Reloading Forum -- Big Game Rifles-- Campfire Pet loads on P 1
THEN select P 3 scroll down to - Good 6.5X55 loads--

There you will find many pages on modern loads for the Swede.

Good Luck


Jerry

Thanks to all for your replies and advice.
Have a super weekend!

I agree however the rumour that the increase comes with the 140 and above class bullets is a bit of a myth in that the increase is across the board with all bullet weights. I think the barnes bullets crowd likely can appreciate the added gain when pushing a 120 ttsx hard as barnes bullets seem to like extra velocity

Personally I rather am liking running a midsized case in a long action. No more deformed bullet tips nor bullets being seated deeper from hitting the end of the mag box. Also at some point when they come up with an .800 BC 6.5 bullet I will have room where the Creedmoor might start to experience some difficulty 😁

The Swede has a more tapered case that IMO feeds like a hound dog lapping up sausages.

Comparable brass seems to be a lot less dollars for the Swede compared to the Creedmoor and I've also found better deals on dies. The Creedmoor is toughted for its longer case neck versus the 260. The Swede has a slightly longer neck than the Creedmoor.

Everybody knows the Creedmoor is an excellent deer round while the Swede on the other hand has slain thousands apon thousands of moose. Giving the capability of the Swede to more effectively handle 140 - 160 class bullets I would think it is possible this might have a ring of truth

IMO there is little doubt that for the hunting minded enthusiast the 6.5X55 is definitely more Swede than the Creedmoor ☺☺☺



Trystan

Th 6.5X55 loaded as cra1948 stsed in the 2700 fps. range is really all you need to kill all the deer/ elk in the world to 400 yards. If you have a penchant for speed perhaps a 6.5 Remington Magnum, 6.5X284 or .26 Nosler is your huckelberry. The 6.5X55 wasn't designed for hot rodding and yet kills way beyond its ballistics even in its benign factory loadings. Just a thought!

This is a good article on the 6.5's

http://www.chuckhawks.com/case_capacity_matters.html

"The 6.5x55 case will hold approximately 57.9 grains of water, the .260 case will hold approximately 53.5 grains of water and the 6.5 Creedmoor case will hold approximately 52.5 grains of water. (The precise capacity of different brands of cases will vary, due to different wall thickness, etc.)"

Loaded to the same pressures the case with the largest capacity will send the same bullets the fastest. The 6.5x55 is faster than the 260 which is faster than the 6.5 Creedmoor if all are loaded to the same max pressure. Simply fact.

The 6.5x55 and the 6.5 Creedmoor also are short enough in case length to seat bullets out far enough to not impinge on case capacity like some bullets can in the 260.

They ALL are good rounds I like the 6.5x55 and the Creedmoor better just because I do. :-)

The 6.5x55 case surely isn't short enough to seat bullets out far enough to not impinge on case capacity in a short action. In a long action, this issue isn't germane for any of these three cartridges.

The case lengths and capacities of the 6.5 Creedmoor, 260, and 6.5x55 are as follows:

6.5 Creedmoor - 1.920" (48.8 mm) 52.5 grains of H2O

260 Remington - 2.035" (51.7 mm) 53.5 grains of H20 (1.9% greater than the 6.5 Creedmoor)

6.5x55 Norwegan/Swedish - 2.165" (55.0 mm) 57.9 grains of H20 (10.3% greater than the 6.5 Creedmoor and 8.4% greater than the 260 Remington)

The one short action modern rifle that is a tailor made fit for the Swede is the MRC 1999. Its "short action" actually has a 3.1" magazine box and will hold 160 RN bullets or any other 6.5 bullet seated out as far as they will go.

Speaking of, the legacy of that 160 RN seems to be a handicap to the Swede and lighter 100-120 grain bullets. Now I freely admit I only have first hand knowledge of two rifles so chambered - an original 1896 and the aforementioend 1999 but have compared notes with other folks on the long action Tikka T3 and it seems that factory 6.5x55 chambers have very long throats specifically to allow for those 160 grain bullets. This is perfect for 140 down to perhaps 129 grain tipped bullets but the throat is too long for the lightest 6.5 bullets. You can't reach the lands and have any part of the bullet still inside the case neck no matter how long the magazine is. Mule Deer has mentioned that he had a custom reamer made for his 6.5x55 with a much shorter throat than standard.

Again, the above is only based on three different models so I'm curious to know what others have experienced with modern commercially made rifles in 6.5x55.

The 6.5x55 isn't a short action round. Good info from Jim in Idaho about the one exception.

I have a 6.5x55 Swede on a long action MRC 1999. Custom order before MRC would build a Swede on short action. I did a test with 8 different bullets. Could get every bullet but two to kiss the lands at COAL less than the MRC 1999 Short Action magazine length of 3.125"

The two exceptions were a very pointy Berger VLD bullet (no surprise). And the Hornady 160gr RN. Seems that the Hornady 6.5mm 160gr RN bullet actually has a certain amount of taper, apparently to reduce bearing surface. It does not become "full bore diameter" until at least half way back to the base. OTOH, the Norma 154gr RN fills out to full bore diameter very quickly and would not have any trouble touching lands in the MRC SA 3.125" magazine box. Long story short, not all RN's are created equal...

Years ago I bought a bunch of heavy Hornady RN's to fill the throats in my 7X57 and 6.5X55 ..
No luck as both cal. RN's are dual dia.

I currently have 11 rifles chambered in 6.5x55, 5 of them are modern, factory built, commercial sporters; a Howa 1500, a Husqvarna 640 (FN 98 action), Remington 700 Classic, a Ruger 77 Hawkeye, and a Winchester/USRA 70 XTR Featherweight (1986 European run). The 700 Classic has a noticeably shorter throat that the other factory specs rifles. Shortly after the 700 Classics in 6.5x55 hit the market in 1994, it was reported that some factory ammo with 156/160 grain bullets, maybe PMC, wouldn't chamber because of the shorter throat. The others have longer throats and probably work better with bullets no shorter than the 129 grain Hornadys.

140 ABLR at 2920 22.5 barrel. love the 6.5x55