Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The Swede & Modern Rifles

You bet. I got this for $200 a few years ago. Canada is awash in used 6.5x55s, imported from Europe. A company called Tradeex, now defunct, because the owner retired I believe, had 100s for sale. I bought an M38 in good to VG condition. It replaced a new Tikka 695 I bought before the T3 series came out.

The old girl cleaned up nicely.

Now there's a sweet old girl.

I currently have 2. A Tikka T3 fluted Hunter & a Sears M52, tarted up to look like an M70 Supergrade.
I shoot Hornady 129s & 130gn Sierras over 51gn of 7828ssc for 2860fps.
I love the cartridge. It's just perfect for everything!

That's a sweet Ruger.

Here's mine

Rob that is beautiful!

Nice bunch of rifles fellas - mine is a M70 FWT too. But getting back to the OP's original question...

[Mr. Barsness please jump in if you have changed you mind on this, or I am misremembering]

I recall reading a while back in something of JB's that based on case capacity disparity between the two, a good rule of thumb for "modern" pressure 6.5x55 load was 2 (sometimes 3) grains more than published 260 Rem maximum charges, for approximately the same pressure.

SAAMI max for the .260 being 60K PSI, your Tikka should be fine with that.

Again, JB, please correct me if that's not good gouge.

Rex

Years ago when these military Swedes were readily available, wasn't' Century Arms sportarizng them a with a new stock and selling them for about $200 or so?

saddlesore-

I know that Kimber sporterized quite a few with a Ramline stock. I've got a friend that has one. Lights out with factory ammo. Not sure of the grain. I bet Century did the same.

Rex,

Yep, that's about right. There will be some variation due to different throat-lengths in 6.5x55s, along with factors such as case weight. But in general potential difference in velocity between the two rounds, when loaded to equal pressures and barrel lengths, is about 1% to 1.5%. This is according to the 4-to-1 Rule, which states that any potential velocity difference between two cartridges of the same caliber is approximately one-quarter the difference in powder capacity, with bullets seated to the maximum standard overall length.

Thank you everyone for your input, it has been greatly appreciated. There are some truly beautiful rifles in those pictures. Good shooting and hunting to you all.

I noticed that Ackley's book did not overload test the Swedish Mauser.
So I bought 94, 96, and 1938 Swedish Mausers to overload test.
But before I got around to that, I overloaded a VZ24 Mauser I had converted to 7mmRM


7mmRM 180gr VLD moly 70 gr Re17, Quickload calculates 108 kpsi, primer fell out, both lugs and abutments have slight plastic deformation. The bolt would not go back in the rifle. Other VZ24 bolts would fit in the rifle. The subject bolt would fit in other VZ24 rifles. Some work with lapping compound and the subject rifle and bolt were compatible again. I subsequently shot an antelope at long range with the lapped rifle.

Comparing 94, 96, 38 Swede bolt lugs, they are almost the same.
Comparing Swede to VZ24 lugs, the Swede has 30% more cross section on the ejector side and the VZ24 has 15% more on the other side.

Comparing bolt lugs of the VZ24 to Rem 700, Win M70, and Sav 110 rifles, they are almost the same, with an insignificant lug cross sectionall advantage to Sav110.

I think I saw Swedish Mausers in 270 win for sale in Shotgun News.

What soured me on Mauser testing was a case head failure in a 1903 Turkish Mauser. The extractor broke in half and came flying out of the action, toward where a shooter would have been. Some rifles do not have this problem, like the Ruger #1, Sav 219, and handi rifles. But the Sav 219 and handi rifle will not always extract overload stuck cases.

I just took delivery of 6.5x55mm. It’s a little takedown version built on Mauser MEX action. I’ve been researching load data, so have found this thread rather timely.

Mike,

If you need any, several of us have bought this ammo in the link below. It is loaded with 140gr. Nosler Partition bullets. They ship quickly.

https://www.ammoshoponline.com/shop...nal-hunter-qty-20-free-shipping-over-49/

Thanks for the link!
Mike

Not necessarily relevant to the bullet weights the OP asked about, but about 10 or 12 years ago Terry Wieland had an article in Rifle Magazine about the importance of IMR 4350 powder, his dealings with an old German gunsmith that had emigrated to Canada, and loading the Swede for a "modern" rifle. He ended-up with a load of 48.0 grains of IMR 4350 and a 140 grain Nosler Partition.

I started using the cartridge in the mid-1980s in the imported M96s and M38s that had flooded the US surplus market. I liked the quality of the rifles and the quality of the Swedish surplus ammo that was also cheaply available. My brother picked up a 6.5x55 Model 70 Featherweight for me while I was overseas, and I started using it for whitetails when I returned to CONUS. The first few deer were taken with Norma factory ammo with mixed results. Several boxes of Federal Premium ammo with 140 grain Partitions resulted in my longest string of one-shot kills with no bullet recoveries. I was happy! Then I made the mistake of chronographing some of the Federal ammo and found that it was barely breaking 2400 fps.

I used Wieland's article as a basis for developing some 140 Partition loads with a little more speed. I understand that the ammo companies that load 6.5x55 (or other old military cartridges) have to keep pressures in mind for a wide variety of old guns. I worked up to 47.8 grains of IMR 4350, Federal GM210M primer, and a Partition seated to 2.955 inches. Average velocity for 10 shots out of the Featherweight's barrel was 2776 fps, and the rifle maintained it's sub-MOA accuracy. The Lapua brass I used and the spent primers showed no excess pressure signs. I think this gives a better idea of what the cartridge is capable of when handloaded for a modern rifle with good components. It gives me a little more confidence if I decide to take the rifle out west for antelope or mule deer. (But I don't think the deer will be any deader.)

If accuracy is the index, then a chopped Swede is one of the finest rifles in my safe, and that's with a 114-year-old military barrel.

I have rebarreled at least a dozen M38 Mausers that were made by Husqvarna in the 1940s, most of them made in 1942/43, for a variety of cartridges that have SAAMI specs load data producing higher chamber pressures than those of the 6.5x55. I think that the Sweds are well made actions, but they share a potential safety issue with the other pre-1898 style Mausers, the small gas shield. I have always installed a commercial style gas shield on the M38s when I've rebarreled them for myself and for my Norwegian bachelor farmer friend. Brownell's used to catalog them, but for some reason they don't seem to be available from any vendor these days.

They used cut-rifled barrels, and indeed many shoot excellent if the bore condition has been maintained