Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Heavy Loads for the 6.5x55mm Swede...

Been disassembling PPU ball ammo, to harvest the brass, ahead of a reloading project.

Rifle is a 6.5x55mm Ruger Hawkeye African 24"/1:8 Bbl., currently aperture sighted.


Tentative powder/primer selection is IMR 4831/CCI 200 respectively. (recommended, and is also used for the .270 Win/150 gr. load)

Bullets are .264/140 gr. Speer Grand Slam (current production), w/ an eye out for some of the new .264/130 gr. Barnes TSX-BT.


So, two basic loads.


Would like these loads to be at or near .30-06/M2 pressure - 50K CUP/60K PSI, a/o 2800 fps at the muzzle.

Hodgdon Reloading Data Center says 46.3 gr. of this powder will yield 2700 fps, remaining w/in the anemic SAAMI spec of 46K CUP/51K PSI for this cartridge.

Figure (extrapolate) ~ 48 gr. should yield ~ 2800 fps, and still be under the 50K CUP/60K PSI limit.


Would start the ladder at ~ 46 gr., chrono'ing above maybe 47.5 gr. and paying a little attn. to group size.

Figure the 130 gr. TSX would used the same final charge, albeit w/ a different velocity.


Questions/Comments/Concerns appreciated.




GR

With my swede, I let the chronograph dictate where to stop. That should get you in the ballpark.


If you are set on a certain pressure, then you need to get a pressure measuring system.

Murphy doesn't sleep and there exceptions to every rule.

Have been using 140s with around 50.0 grains of Ramshot Magnum for years--and in the 21" Lilja barrel of my custom FN Mauser (which has a 1-8 Lilja barrel with a shorter custom chamber throat) they average right around 2700 fps. Might get as much as 2800 in longer shorter-throat barrels.

Ramshot's data lists maximum charges between 49.4 and 50.7 grains of Magnum with various 140-grain bullets, at pressures around 55,000 PSI--but velocities in the 2600-2650 range from a 24" barrel. Based on those numbers, am guessing their test-barrel has a somewhat longer throat, probably the SAAMI standard of a tapered throat .56 inch long.

One of the more interesting hunting stories about my rifle (rebarreled by Charlie Sisk) is the first animal I took with it was a pretty decent Montana whitetail buck, at around 35 yards--not unusual on Montana riverbottoms Reported it on the Campfire, and some guy postedsomething like: "Only 35 yards? You're not much of a hunter, are you?"

I hope you put him on Ignore.

I shoot 127g Barnes long range at 3150 out of a custom 700, 26", 8T using R#26 and cci 250 primers.

Tell him most of the time you like to slap the bucks on the hind with your hand to get them running, THEN shoot them at 35 yards or so

I am interested in the Swede, but have had so much good luck with the 6.5CM, it may be just a duplication of performance.

2800 or so w/ the GS 140's will be an honest 350 yd rifle w/ a MPBR(6") and top-of-the-back hold.

Same w/ the 130 gr. TSX startin' at ~ 2900.


Would settle for 2700/300 yards (2800 for the 130's), but that would be a bare minimum.

IMR 4831 should do it, no sweat.




GR

Pretty much--and 6.5 Creedmoors have far more consistent chamber throats. Which is partly why there's a LOT more pressure-tested (and consistent) data for 6.5 CMs these days.

RL-26 brings some interesting possibilities to the bench... but prefer a single-base powder and a more adequate ballistic envelope for this one.

Did a work-up on the .270 Win./150 gr. ABLR using RL-26... and came up w/ a 650 yd. huntin' rifle out of a 22" Bbl.

Woof.




GR

The potential problem with RL-26, as I have mentioned here and there, is that is was NOT designed as a temperature-resistant powder. Instead it happened to be pretty temp-resistant, but in my tests at Fahrenheit temperatures from zero to 80, it has not been nearly as consistant as RL-16 or RL-23, which were designed to be very temp-resistant.

Worked up a .270 Winchester load with 26 at around 65-70 degrees, then tested it from zero to 80. It varied enough in velocity to change POI 1.5 inches at 100 yards, which means around 6 inches at 400. I much prefer the consistency of more temp-resistent powders, whether other Reloder powders, Hodgdon Extremes, IMR Endurons or Vihtavuori.

SAAMI screwin' the cartridge, instead of givin' it its modern due, is a travesty.

The 6.5CM is a modern and efficient cartridge, but loaded to its strength, the Swede will leave it behind in the field.




GR

The older I get... the longer a 400 yard shot seems to be.

8>)

Probably hard to beat H4831.




GR

Bullschidt. The difference in powder capacity is only 6-8%, depending on brass thickness. Because velocities at the SAME pressures only increase (or decrease) at 1/4 the rate of powder capacity, the difference in potential muzzle velocity between the 6.5 CM and 6.5x55 is about 1.5-2%.

At velocities around 2700 fps this means about 50 fps at most, given the same pressure and barrel length. With loads around 3000 fps the difference "increases" to about 60 fps.

50-60 fps is about much velocity as such loads will lose in the first 50 yards-- Please explain how this means the Swede will leave the 6.5 Creedmoor behind in the field, especially since the difference at the muzzle will be even less at longer ranges.

Why, because I'll take the Swede, of course.

Classy cartridge.




GR

Gee, I've been shooting at least one 6.5x55 for 30 years. But also have used the 6.5 Creedmoor and .260 Remington, which do the same things. So far none of the animals have been impressed with the extra "class" of the Swede.

Might also mention that even though almost everybody in America calls it the 6.5x55 "the Swede," it was co-developed by the then Combined Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden, so both their armies could use the same round. This is why the round became known as the "Swedish Mauser" in the U.S.--far more Mausers showed up here than Norwegian Krags.

At least one(1.0) was apparently enough for SAAMI.

One would have thought they were sellin'em at the CMP.


Have heard that ~ 2700 fps is about all the 6.5CM likes to shoot in a 140 gr., which should put the spread closer to 100 fps.

And even that won't change the taste of the meat.

But it will help out a little bit on iffy range shots w/ an aperture sighted rifle.

... classy not w/standing.




GR

Are you happy w/ 2700 fps/140 gr. for this cartridge, 55K psi bein' the CIP max.?

As stated, 2700 fps is the book max. from Hodgdon/IMR 4831/51K psi/24" Bbl..

Still a solid 300 yd. cartridge.

Don't have your weather, though, but understand the desire RE: temp. stable powder.




GR

I used Magnum rather than Hunter because Ramshot's data listed higher velocities with Magnum. Am very happy with 2700 fps from a 21" barrel--and the pressure of the charge I use, 50.0 grains, would be more than the 54,800 PSI listed in the Ramshot data for the 140 Nosler Partition with 48.0 grains.

SAAMI cannot list "modern" pressures with such older cartridges because chamber throat-length and action strength various so much in older rifles, especially compared to modern rifles, which tend to have much shorter throats than older rifles. (This is also true of the 7x57--which was not only chambered in earlier Mausers than the K98 but in Remington Rolling Blocks.)

Have found 2700 fps or so fine for shooting big game at over 400 yards, when using bullets with a reasonably high-BC--and the "advanced" military load for the 6.5x55 (introduced by Sweden in 1941) was a 139-grain boattail spitzer at a listed 800 meters-per-second--around 2625 fps--from a 29-inch barrel. It was considered one of the better sniper rounds of the day, despite muzzle velocity being limited by the powders available.

Also used Magnum rather than Hunter due to finding it more temperature-stable, especially when used in a somewhat compressed load, such as 50 grains with 140s in the 6.5x55.

When Finn Aagaard wrote about the 6.5x55, he refused to call it "Swedish."


Okie John