Does U.S. made brass have the same size head as the common .30'06?

Not in my experience. In fact, my custom 6.5x55 has a minimum chamber cut with a Pacific T&G reamer, and Lapua, Norma and RWS brass chamber just fine. I only have Federal and Winchester brass from American companies, and it all has to have the rear of the case sized down with a .45 ACP carbide die (a dogzapper trick) to chamber.

On the other hand, my American-made brass is all a few years old. Maybe the current stuff is smaller.

Haven't bought W-W or Federal in many years, but its measurements were not 6.5x55 rim or head diameter. It worked, but it displayed significant expansion rings and I was concerned about premature case head separations. I switched to Lapua brass and the issue was instantly remedied.

NOT to dispute nor argue with anyone.

I have a Win 70 XTR FTWT in 6.5 Swede and W W and Rem factory brass works without any problems. I also have a couple of boxes of PRVI but I haven't messed with them yet.

OTOH - I have RCBS shell holders and MY 6.5 brass would not fit the No.3, I had to get a No. 2, which works perfectly.

TECHNICALLY speaking or Nit Picking the Swede's Rim OD is .479

While the 06's Rim OD is .473

so the answer to your ? is --NO, they're not exact.

Jerry

All of this seems to back up what the gunsmith who barreled my 6.5x55 said while trying to talk me out of it: "The damn dimensions are all over the place!" Which is why he went with the minimum-specs reamer.

The SAAMI specs for the base (not rim) diameter are .477 inch. But SAAMI's members are voluntary, and don't always strictly adhere to the specs.

My smith had to alter the bolt face on an FN action to accommodate the 6.5x55.

I like Lapua brass, works without issue.

DF

Yeah, that's been my experience as well with Lapua brass, which is one reason I run it in my rifle, though my smith did not have to alter the bolt face on my FN action. And it was a donor from a rifle originally chambered in .270 Winchester.

I found my FN action here on the Fire Classifieds, in the white, custom work done. I guess dimensions may vary some and if the specs weren't too tight, the Swede would work without alteration. This one had to be adjusted.

DF

All factory actions vary, but controlled-feed actions are normally more tolerant of rim-size variations than push-feed actions, partly because a lot of older CRF actions vary more. Even those made by FN, which was my point.

And of course we haven't even gotten into how much rim diameters vary on 6.5x55 brass. Cases can have what most people consider .30-06 diameter at the head, but the rims can vary independent of the case-head diameter.

Now that is something I haven't messed with yet.

Rim dia / Head dia , some things can get complicated UNnecessarily. <G>

Jerry

Yeah, but it's a fine old round, well worth the trouble.

I agree with JB on Lapua brass.

Good way to reduce variables with this round.

DF

My Lapua brass measures .478 just ahead of the extractor groove. Privi brass is .477. Winchester brass is .472. Remington brass is .475. This brass is all about fifteen years old. I prefer the Lapua but have had no issues with any; even the smallish Winchester. GD

I have found that the US brass FED, Winchester, Remington etc tends towards the 30-06 .473 rim diameter. The European brass PRVI, Norma, Lapua, and RWS tend towards the .480 diameter. All have worked in three different 6.5X55's, a Sako Finnbear, M38 96 Mauser, and a CZ 550FS. I have however found that Lapua and Norma are the most accurate overall and the brass lasts longer. I only buy Lapua or Norma for the Swedes now. Also the European brass does not fit in a 30-06 shell holder, the US brass does.

I saved PRVI brass for several years and started reloading for my CZ 550 American 6.5x55. Haven't had any issues.

I have three different 6.5 x 55s...

One in a Karl Gustaf Mauser, 1919 production

The second is a Ruger 77 Mk 2....

and the 3rd is a Model 70, Featherweight, push feed, that was rebarreled, previous owner running thru 5 different 30/06 barrels on it...

The Mauser and the Ruger will feed and extract anything on the market...

the Model 70 will only reliably feed and extract Remington Brass, so I use that in that rifle exclusively... and the Winchester brass I use with the other two rifles...

so I am gathering that the Remington does have a .473 base, while the Winchester has a little wider...it won't extract half the time if not more often than that...

just passing on my experiences here.. but that what works in my three....

I had a surplus Swede that would shoot either Remington or Winchester. It went away because I just couldn't see the sights well enough. I also had a experience with CZ 550FS. New rifle with a bad chamber. The replaced it after a 6 month wait. The replacement rifle shot everything well and was very accurate with the Remington factory load but it would not even chamber the Federal SST factory ammo. My Encore with a E.A. Brown barrel and ER Shaw rifle will shoot anything - Remington, Federal, Winchester and Lapua.

Various sources say there were even differences in the dimensions of Norwegian and Swedish military cases for a number of years after the round was first developed (and yes, it was developed by both countries, not just Sweden).

I recently bought a Norwegian-made Krag-Jorgensen military rifle made in 1923, but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. It will be interesting to see how it works with various kinds of brass.

I have both Winchester and Lapua brass for my daughter's 6.5x55. The Lapua brass requires the same shell holder as a 30-30, where the Winchester uses the standard .473 (30-06/.270) shell holder. I kinda freaked when trying to load the Lapua brass until I found that the 30-30 shell holder worked

I don't spec my reamers to minimum. It can make it difficult to properly size your brass to your chamber. I think my 6.5X55 is all Lapua.

Even more variation with W W brass.

My W W brass required the # 2 for the 30-30. Go Figure.


Jerry

I have to use a 30/30 shell holder for my Win brass, but NOT the Remington...

Not just for Seafire but all of us:

We have to use 'different' shell holders for some of the same brands of brass and on 'others' we use the same shell holder.

? Maybe the diff is in the shell holders we have ?

Just a thot and I'm not interested enuff to pursue it.

Jerry

The problem with blaming RCBS #3 and other '06 shell holders, all mine fit all my .473" rounds without exception.

It's just the 6.5x55 that won't fit the #3 and requires a different shell holder.

I think it's the round, not the shell holders.

DF

D F -

Yep - makes sense. OR the makers variance in 6.5X55 brass.
could be - same,same.

Jerry

I was just loading some some 6.5x55 useing the #3 shellholder and happen to look at the RCBS die box and it said shellholder #2.

Yep, 6.5x55 brass, chambers and reloading can be an adventure, for sure.

The main rule: There isn't a rule...

What you see is what your get...

A great round that can get a bit quirky with various makers of brass.

I'll again plug Lapua brass, especially for this round. Once my Mauser was set up for this brass, I've never looked back. With Lapua, you know what you're getting, no surprises.

DF

another plug for Lapua brass....

in the fact of good luck finding Remington or Win 6.5 x 55 brass...

I use Lapua brass in my Sako, WW in my surplus Swede...never had any problems either way. Sweet, sweet caliber.

http://www.saami.org/pubresources/cc_drawings/Rifle/6_5x55%20Swedish.pdf

The American 6.5x55 brass meets the drawing tolerances.

A SAAMI drawing so loose, you could almost drive SAAMI 303 Brit tolerances though it.