Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 6.5x55 Swede with 143 ELD-X or 156 Berger

MD and others,

Had anyone tried some of the newer bullets like the 143 ELD-X or the newest 156g bullet in the Swede? I'm most interested in your experiences with some of the newer powders like IMR 4955, 7977, RL 26 - in addition to some of the older (but goodies) like RL 22, H1000, IMR 7828.

I have a Ruger M77 with a 22" Krieger tube in the swede and I'm not necessarily looking to push the envelope but looking to get into the range of pressures the Swede can operate in a modern action instead of being limited to some of the rather conservative loading data out there today.

What's been your experiences with these bullets in the Swede - velocity and accuracy wise?

The 143 eldx shoots amazingly well at a 3.250 oal in my tikka. Harvested an elk last year with it. Wouldn’t be scared to point it at a big moose.

Muzzle velocity is about 2950. FYI. No pressure signs, The rcbs sizing die barely does any sizing with that load.

SawDoctor - assuming this is a swede what Powder are you using?

I'm using RL 19 with 130 gr. Accubonds and 130 gr. Scirocco's in my Barrett Fieldcraft. I'm getting 2770 fps and sub .75 MOA with it. I killed a lot of feral hogs and sheep with it last year.

Don't you mean 2750?

Probably not....

Buddy of mine runs 143s out of his Tikka Swede at 2925 via a healthy dose of RE25 and a Fed 215.

Man, that’s hustling right there. I thought I was doing well at 2775 with 26 in alpha brass with the 24” barrel.

Ramshot magnum and rl25 will get you there. N560 is pretty close and accurate. Back in the Obama era , conventional powders were hard to come by. Ramshot powders were easy to get and Magnum performs very well in the Swede. ( much to my delight )

Loading them with R26 50.5 gr. at 2,875 fps. Have not taken any game with them yet. You can go hotter but I wanted to be able to use this load in hot weather and accuracy was good so stopped there.

I am calling bullschit.You can barely get that with a 6.5PRC.I get 2755 with the 143ELDX under 46.5 grains of H4831SC and that is an over load.I have tried Magnum and get less MV.I have not tried RL 26 yet but have plenty of it and will load shoot and chrono Sunday.I have the Tikka T3 Lite in Swede.

I got 3,150 fps with 130s until I found out I was about three grains over max with R26. The beauty of using internet loads. Surprisingly there were no pressure signs. Dropped down to 2,950 fps and all is well if temperatures are under about 85-90 degrees. With 140s I am at about 2,850 fps and that is plenty hot enough for a 128 year old cartridge. This is only slightly faster than the Norma Scandi loads so should be OK.

Yes 46.5 grains would be an overload considering the cartridge has a 51000psi pressure limit.

For example, 2800 is possible with the Creed loaded to saami oal.( I just checked) There is about 11 grains of case capacity advantage to the Swede when loaded to 3.250 oal. That equates to about a 21% usable case capacity advantage to the Swede. When loaded to equal pressures that’s about 130fps velocity advantage. ( it’s a long action cartridge!!!)

The 6.5 prc has a 28% usable case advantage over the Creedmoor when loaded to saami oal. That equates to a 7% potentially velocity over the Creed. Conversely, less than 2% velocity advantage over the Swede when loaded to equal pressures. While the Swede is not capable matching the prc, as you can see it’s not that far off.

At 3.250 oal you can use a whole different class of powders than the Creedmoor. I’m knocking the Creed btw. It’s well designed and works excellent in short actions cartridges. Just using it as a reference point.

Buzz
I have a 143 ELDX load for my Tikka Swede that I've taken a couple dozen head of big game with. Elk on the big end down to wolves and pronghorn on the small end. I really like the combo on game but it really depends how you want the bullet to perform on flesh. I definitely try to stay off the shoulders with the ELDX. It does some damage, especially up close if you hit bone. I use 50 grains of RL26 for 2815 fps. shoots 5 well under an inch. I imagine that load is over book so proceed with caution. I had an accurate load with 4955 as well but speed was lacking compared to the above recipe.

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The 6.5 prc has a 28% usable case advantage over the Creedmoor when loaded to saami oal. That equates to a 7% potentially velocity over the Creed. Conversely, less than 2% velocity advantage over the Swede when loaded to equal pressures. While the Swede is not capable matching the prc, as you can see it’s not that far off.


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The Swede at modern pressures is a very capable round. The 6.5x55 AI can almost match the 6.5x284 and come very close to the PRC. But with the high BC bullets the velocity is not so critical and performance of all of them from Creedmoor on up is excellent. On game it would be hard to tell them apart until you get to the magnums.

Actually, having actually measured the capacity of the 6.5 PRC and 6.5x55 with similar bullets at standard OAL, the difference is more like 25%--so there's even less velocty "advantage."

On the other hand, since the 6,5 PRC is new and designed as a "accuracy" cartridge, the consistency of chambers, brass, etc. results in generally better accuracy than the 6.5x55. I know this partly because of owning both a custom 6.5x55 and 6.5 PRC with Lilja 1-8 barrels, and it is much easier to find super-accurate loads with the 6.5 PRC, even at velocities that would strain the 6.5x55 and are merely strolling along with the 6.5 PRC.

Whether all that matters when whacking big game at normal ranges is another question--to which the answer is no.

Well I ordered a box of the 143 ELD-X. I have 7828 and RL22 on hand, but I'm trying to get away from RL22 due to inconsistent lot to lot variations and pretty odd temperature sensitivity. It was over 90 here opening weekend.

Anyone know if the latest Hornady book has load data for 7977, 7828, or RL 26?

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That’s all I found.

I found some data on 142 grain Sierra HPBT bullets that maybe you can use:

IMR 7828 SSC
44 grains @ 2457 fps
47.7 grains @ 2671 fps

IMR 7977
46.0 grains @ 2494 fps
49.3@ 2666 fps

Try RL -26 with the 156 EOL Burger. I realized 2852 av MV with 50 .3 gr @3.220 OAL in a 24" RKS 7.5 gain twist . Voere Titan II action. Absolutely no pressure issues.

MRP and 142 ABLR or AB