6.5x55 Brass Question

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deerfarmer

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I have a new tikka T3 in 6.5x55 coming my way and have a question about brass. I did a search on this forum and found mentions of 2 different base sizes:

.473" - North American Standard
.480" - European Standard

What kind of brass should I be looking for to load for my new sweety?
 
I have shot Remington, Winchester (both North american standard), and Prvi (European standard) brass, and it makes absolutely no difference as fas as i can tell. If your ejector only engages .00035" of the European rim, or alternately won't spring .00035" over the American rim, there's probably a problem.
 
Go with european brass made to CIP specs. North american brass being undersized gave the swede an undeserved reputation for brass failure just above the base.
 
Keep in mind 6.5x55mm is a lower pressure cartridge. I have 3 Swedes I load for and have shot my loads in Tikka rifles without issue. Your Tikka can handle more pressure than my war relics. I'd go with Euro spec brass if you plan on using hotter loads. I rarely go over 40k psi.
 
There was a time about 30 years ago when 6.5X55 brass was just plain unavailable. To keep their guns shooting, a lot of guys used 7X57 or other brass in desperation. I think that's where you get the smaller diameter from.
Ivor
 
Winchester brass has quite thin primer pockets, I won't buy that again; generally not that impressed with Wincheter brass. Remington works fine. PRVI is great brass but the necks are very hard (at least on the batch I had) and needed to anneal all of the necks for the first load keep them from splitting. Winchester, remington and prvi all work in a tikka.
 
Where is this gem of knowledge that says NA standard is .473 base and rim dia? According to SAAMI it is .4803" and I don't believe that NA manufacturers are intentionally making undersize brass with 6.5X55 head stamps 'cause it's easier. As one poster said lots of guys were making their own from Roberts, 6mm and 7X57 and these would be undersize, but the NA standard for the 6.5X55 is NOT.473 !!!

Op... I have Lapua and Norma and they are both very good brass. This is the first Lapua I have used and it is outstanding brass, I am impressed with it.

This is the load I settled on because I have about 10 boxes of 140 gn Nosler Parts.........

 
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c-fbmi said:
Where is this gem of knowledge that says NA standard is .473 base and rim dia? According to SAAMI it is .4803" and I don't believe that NA manufacturers are intentionally making undersize brass with 6.5X55 head stamps 'cause it's easier. As one poster said lots of guys were making their own from Roberts, 6mm and 7X57 and these would be undersize, but the NA standard for the 6.5X55 is NOT.473 !!!

Op... I have Lapua and Norma and they are both very good brass. This is the first Lapua I have used and it is outstanding brass, I am impressed with it.

This is the load I settled on because I have about 10 boxes of 140 gn Nosler Parts.........

Click to expand...


Thanks c-fbmi - I'd be happy to "settle" with that load too :)
 
photo_zps63d69824.jpg


I've seen some undersized American brass before, but not Norma or Lapua.

Sorry for the poor photo - that is a Remington case.

Here is a round from Europe.
photo_zps535d11b7.jpg
 
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deerfarmer said:
Thanks c-fbmi - I'd be happy to "settle" with that load too :)
Click to expand...

A guy's gotta get lucky once in a while.................I more meant that I didn't even try other bullets like ABs or the 125 Parts, cause I started with the 140 Parts and got this group plus a couple more proving groups similar, right off the hop with the 140s so I quit right there. Possibly I should have used "lucked on" instead of "settled on" as a more accurate term. Regardless I'm happy because of the quantity of Parts I have for this rifle, I doubt I'll run out in my lifetime.
 
I use mostly Rem and Win brass in my sporterized M96 but I only have 3-4 firings at most on the most used of it. Even after that little shooting it's getting the same look around the web as some of my .303 British brass so there is probably some case head stretching. Once this brass is used up I'm probably going to be looking at Norma or Lapua just to avoid future headaches.

samsplacci71 said:
Keep in mind 6.5x55mm is a lower pressure cartridge. I have 3 Swedes I load for and have shot my loads in Tikka rifles without issue. Your Tikka can handle more pressure than my war relics. I'd go with Euro spec brass if you plan on using hotter loads. I rarely go over 40k psi.
Click to expand...
Most of the lower pressure loads for surplus rifles are lower pressure in case they are fired in a Krag rifle which is a 1-lug bolt action. My M96 Swede dated 1900 has handled max pressure loads for modern rifles without issue. In fact most Swede owners I have talked to who reload say theirs prefers loads on the hotter end for best accuracy; mine is the same.
 
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