6.5x55 Help please

Ganderite said:
I have a number of Swedes. Military sporters and the commercial M98 and the 1640s.

I used a single shot target rifle in 6.5x55 and gave a sporter to my brother in law, who shot a moose with it. Mushroomed160 gr RN under the hide on far side.

I also had a nice Win M70 in 6.5, but it had no class/character.

Get one of the Inter suplus 1640s.
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1640s are nice. I borrowed my old 1600 in 308 from a friend to see how it fit me and how things sat with my body. Fit well and I could probably have one again with cheek riser.

Nice, all the energy stayed in the animal.
 
NAA said:
^^^^^

I was sold on the 6.5x55mm about 30 yrs ago when I first shot a buddy's Win 70 featherweight in it.

At the time the factory sporters in the ctg were hard to come by so I had a Model 96 Swede short rifle sporterized by a local gunsmith. It was just ok & never held a candle to buddy's M70.

Eventually, I scored a NIB Ruger 77 MkII in 6.5x55mm and parted ways with the sporter Swede. [I did also have Model 96 and 38 Swedes that were full wood, military, that I kept]. Today, I wish I never sold that Model 77 but did when I scored a Remington 700 Classic in 6.5x55mm after that.

A few years ago, I managed to score a vintage, pushfeed Win Model 70 in 6.5x55mm which I always considered my rifle 'holy grail'. So, off went the Rem Classic.

I no longer have any Swede military rifles, sold my last M38 at a gunshow a couple years back.

I consider the Model 70 a 'keeper'.

The 6.5x55mm is a great ctg!!! :cool:

-----------
NAA.
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I've been sold on the cartridge for years now too, ever since I heard about it. Love hearing about peoples enthusiasm towards it. My only concern really I guess it boils down to safety of the m96s when reloading, I don't want to take my face off. I found a beautiful m96 sporter, and a few nice 1640s/1600s. Having a hard time deciding between them. I love Husqvarna and the look of those vintage guns. The other sporter has a beautiful stock and is light enough that I can haul it around in the woods/mountains hunting potentially with no issue. I've been reloading 10+ years, can do it safely, just I don't want a horror story. I heard don't load past 45,000 psi in these rifles- I'm always looking for signs of pressure on cases but past looking at max pressure I'm not sure how to measure that...
 
hoytcanon said:
A Ruger M77 Mark II is what I am shooting in 6.5x55... great rifle, shoots really well... currently using 120 NBT's in it.

Top rifle;
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Great looking set of rifles. Classic wood rifle style, something about that warm pleasing aesthetic of the combination of metal and wood.
 
I don't have a Speer manual, I'll have to Google that one. Thinking about it now, I do have an older late 80s/90s Hornaday manual. I'm curious to compare data.

Conflicting information I've been hearing is that the load data is always geared towards an older military rifle just to prevent any liability issues. But then I've also heard load manuals also keep the loads lower anyways to prevent any mishaps...
 
Hmatt said:
She’s a beauty. I love my m96, but would be nice to have a modern action to start pushing the limits. Better optics etc. I just have a sig whiskey 3 on mine. Reticle sucks but glass is decent. Especially for the clearance price I picked it up for at Christmas lol.
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I'm considering a more budget type scope to get the rifle up and going instead of letting this potential rifle sit in the safe until I get a good set of glass. Sigs have intrigued me ever since they came onto the market at Cabelas here in the Calgary area.
 
m1008 said:
From a uk site


“The 6.5X55mm 'Mauser' / SE / SKAN situation is pretty complex historically, and probably only a handful of people in Scandinavia know all of the detail and nuances.

First, max pressure-wise, there are only two categories, and that only applies to Europe / CIP. 6.5X55mm SE is the current standard CIP cartridge and rifle proofing one. That is, in the absence of any other factor this is the European cartridge. Its MAP is 3,800 bar / 55,114 psi.

However, as that's excessive for some historic rifles, lower pressure standards are adopted by some European ammunition manufacturers for some of their products, geared to around 45,000 psi or maybe a bit less. In effect, although this is the original version so to speak, it's now no longer the standard, definition and standards-wise, rather a 'shadow version'. In fact, c.45,000 psi is too high for some historic rifle models I can think of and if I were loading for them, it'd be to considerably lower peak pressures. Pressures and hence loadings aside, there is no difference in cartridge or chamber dimensions.

In the US, SAAMI doesn't do dual-standards after bad experiences in the past with other cartridges where users failed to read warnings on ammunition cartons to only use their contents in modern weapons in good condition, or specifically not for named firearms. SAAMI rates the 6.5X55 at 46,000 CUP MAP, but if some of the US factory deer loads I've chronographed are anything to go by, I'd say the ammunition factories load them substantially below that level.

Then we get to the complicated bit - SKAN. First, it's an SE pressure-wise, so no difference at all in loads. It's all about standardising chamber and case dimensions. The big prone centrefire international rifle discipline across Scandinavia is an internal regional one based originally on 6.5X55 Service Rifle. When prone rifle shooting as overseen by ICFRA moved from Service Rifle to Target Rifle in the 1960s, most countries such as the UK simply dropped their old competitions and equipment and moved to 7.62 and the new single-shot rifle regs even if the first rifles were mostly rebarrelled Enfiled No.4s with cut-down stocks, or military Mauser 98 action-based. Scandinavia adopted those, but also stuck to their own version using originally service rifles with allowed improvements including match sights.

Then a problem arose. In these Scandi international comps, the host issues ammunition to all parties including the visitors. It turned out that when the 6.5X55 was originally and jointly developed by Norway and Sweden in the late 1880s/early 90s, that although a single set of 'toleranced' chamber and cartridge drawings were approved and issued to all parties, the various countries' armouries interpreted the tolerances differently. This led to situations where 'say' Norwegian manufactured ammo was 'tight' in a minimum headspace Danish or Swedish chamber, and in the reverse situation Norwegian competitors were issued ammunition with too much shoulder clearance in Swedish or Danish hosted events. Functional chambering problems with some batches of ammo at tolerance limits aside, it was claimed that some combinations gave the home team a competitive edge.

With the discipline remaining popular and desires to make it even more so, the participants got together sometime last century (1980s?) and decided to sort this issue out whilst also dealing with the matter of original rifle actions being worn out and nothing like state of the art in various things like lock-time. Rather than adopt the GB NRA TR situation of where every competitor decides on his or her choice from various competing designs that were being constantly improved (and tended to become more expensive in real terms at the same time) once adaptation of the former service models went out of fashion, the Scandis adopted a single design by Sauer, the STR, that everybody used. Switch barrel too, to allow quick change to 308 for those comps with non-Scandi countries and/or disciplines where only 223/308 can be shot, also to allow various standard barrel lengths to be available and swappable for different uses. At the same time, the chamber / cartridge discrepancies were sorted with a new and slightly different standard spec for the Scandinavian standard rifle, ie the 6.5X55mm SKAN. It is slightly different from SE. Most times there are no issues in ammo interchangeability with commercial sporting 6.5X55mm 'Swedish Mauser' ammo, but IIRC the SKAN chamber is marginally shorter from bolt face to shoulder datum line, so maximum tolerance cases from non-SKAN spec sources may not always chamber in the Sauer competition rifle.

The whole set up has worked very well AFAIK. The STR on its home turf is much cheaper than a state of the art TR rifle here and is much more flexible too allowing more than just slowfire single-shot matches in a single discipline. When a barrel is shot-out, replacement is a DIY task buying off the shelf chambered barrels at a fraction of the cost of machining, chambering, headspacing, and fitting stainless barrel blanks as is done elsewhere. Everybody uses the same model of rifle and shoots the ammo supplied in big matches, although I'm sure handloading is done by many in club matches where 'local' rules allow.“
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It's complicated. I appreciate the information. This is the exact reason why I came to the collective knowledge of the CGN network here- helping me learn this information and others that might be in the same boat.
 
OP, did you end up deciding on a rifle?
I agree, these vintage wood and steel rifles are something special. I don’t mind owning all kinds of different guns, modern and old, for different purposes.. however for big game hunting these husqvarna rifles just feel right.
The price vs quality it what got me into them in the first place.
I have a couple m96 sporters, a 9.3x57 and a 6.5x55
As was mentioned earlier, get a sporter that is already drilled and tapped, has good modified bolt handle, and safety to allow scope.
If you have to do this work you are up to the price of a 1640 anyways.
This is the mistake I made on my first one, paid a gunsmith to do bolt handle and bought an aftermarket trigger with safety.
The second one (6.5x55) already had a nicely done bolt handle, d&t, and side safety. The original trigger is actually fairly decent. All for something like $275 I believe. It doesn’t have any sights, the finish is fairly worn, but man does it shoot. Right around 1 MOA and I really didn’t even do much load development. For offhand shooting I do better with this gun than any of my other center fire rifles. The balance and handling are just sweet and the recoil so low that scope bite isn’t on my mind in the least.
If I did it again I’d get 1640’s with the stronger actions, faster lock time and hinged floor plates.
However I’d still never sell these old m96’s, it would feel like betraying them if that makes any sense? They feel like they’re worth more than the couple hundred I’d get for them.
 
D.Pagenkopf said:
I've wanted a hunting rifle in 6.5x55 for a while. I have and have owned a variety of calibres. Today I want to fix the itch and get a 6.5x55. Combing through ads I'm finding more model 96 sporters than commercial rifles. I'm a fan of Husqvarnas and know they make good quality rifles and military (sporters) rifles are built to be tough.

What's people's experience with the military sporter rifles?
Does the commercial ammo work with them?
How are you handloading?
In terms of model 96 commercial rifles are they stronger or any different.
Any other considerations I ought to have?
If I can find a Husqvarna 1600 series I wouldn't mind that and that ought to negate my uncertainty being a "modern m98 action".

I'm after 6.5x55. Yes I understand that there is a plethora of other 6.5s. No I don't want any of the others at this time.
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I own 3 6.5 x 55 rifles. Two are original military, a 1900 M64 Obendorf (which has one of the most amazing military triggers I have ever used), and a M38 built in 1943, Both are accurate and a lot of fun to shoot.

The other rifle is a modern Zastava M70 in 6.5 x 55 SE Mauser 98 type action) so rated for higher pressure. These rifles were a great deal when they were available; got this one brand new for < $700; mirror bluing, highly figured wood, fully adjustable trigger, good iron sights (Although I have a Riton Varmint Scope on it. All shoot better than I do.

I run 85 gr Sierra varmint bullets for ground hogs and 158 gr PPU in the military rifles.

I also have a Husqvarna Commercial Mauser 98 built on a FN Commercial Action (no thumb cut) that I bought from Intersurplus in 9.3 x 62; cleaned up with little effort, beautiful bluing at about 90%, nice beech stock with no cracks, and a German Side Mount scope mount that is easy to remove and replace, holds zero, and allows iron sights to be used with the scope on the rifle. Very accurate shooting, but substantial recoil (It hurts so good)lol; got it for just under $500,00

I love all 4 of these rifles and will never part with them as long as I can shoot.
 
D.Pagenkopf said:
I've been sold on the cartridge for years now too, ever since I heard about it. Love hearing about peoples enthusiasm towards it. My only concern really I guess it boils down to safety of the m96s when reloading, I don't want to take my face off. I found a beautiful m96 sporter, and a few nice 1640s/1600s. Having a hard time deciding between them. I love Husqvarna and the look of those vintage guns. The other sporter has a beautiful stock and is light enough that I can haul it around in the woods/mountains hunting potentially with no issue. I've been reloading 10+ years, can do it safely, just I don't want a horror story. I heard don't load past 45,000 psi in these rifles- I'm always looking for signs of pressure on cases but past looking at max pressure I'm not sure how to measure that...
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I can't comment on the models you mention as never held one. I had a Voere in 6.5x55 and sold it. Very sloppy bolt and it couldn't take the pressure of modern loaded ammo. Bought some Nosler (?) Trophy Grade and the Hornady high performance stuff and both produced very stiff bolt lift, not locked up but close. I reload too but bought the ammo to get shooting and collect brass. Decided that I would rather have a Swede in a modern action instead.
 
I own a number of Swede m96 and sporters made from them - I also thought I was sometimes getting "good deals" on boxes of parts - so I have assembled a few. I have the book "Crown Jewels" as a reference. I have proper barrel vice, about three action wrenches for that action, etc. I discovered when trying to replace barrels - turns out Sweden regimental armourer gauges - like used at their primary maker Carl Gustaf Armoury - have GO gauge that is LONGER than SAAMI NOGO specification - so you can get a brand new rifle from CG and it will "fail" a headspace check using SAAMI gauges (the bolt will likely close on a SAAMI FIELD gauge). Swedes (and Norwegians) were making and using 6.5x55 ammo and rifles for like 30 years before SAAMI existed - I have no clue why SAAMI did what they did - except it likely created a lot of USA "gunsmith work" to "fix" brand new Swede rifles. So current factory made North American ammo is likely made to SAAMI standard - might be some merit to have your chamber match to that. I have never bought factory ammo for 6.5x55 - all I used is "hand loaded" - so is why there is multiple batches of brass - dedicated to each rifle only - that brass fits those chambers and may not fit into another chamber. But I also have a number of boxes of Norma Match ammo - that happens to be for 7.62 NATO - appears to be very good stuff - not sure that I can replicate results by "hand loading" - is for sure, for me, a good "standard" for what "good enough" looks like. I have only fired it in one target type rifle - a Parker Hale 1200 TX - but it does chamber into most other 308 Win rifles here.

Back to 6.5x55 - From Sellers of the rifles that I have here - most of them are former mil-surp conversions - one is a CG63 rifle - they had been just buying factory ammo and firing it - it went bang, and hole appeared in target or deer eventually fell down - based on that, was "good enough" - as likely a dozen or more cartridges / rifles would be. Depends a lot on what you are after - many experienced guys know that you do not need tremendously "precise" rifle to kill a deer - but at same time, 30 years ago, some people were getting .025" or less center-to-center 5 shot groups at 100 yards - read the Houston Warehouse Experiment - that was not likely being done with hunting rifles from a store, but as I recall was exclusively with hand-loaded ammo. Differing expectations about what "good enough" looks like.
 
flyinlead said:
OP, did you end up deciding on a rifle?
I agree, these vintage wood and steel rifles are something special. I don’t mind owning all kinds of different guns, modern and old, for different purposes.. however for big game hunting these husqvarna rifles just feel right.
The price vs quality it what got me into them in the first place.
I have a couple m96 sporters, a 9.3x57 and a 6.5x55
As was mentioned earlier, get a sporter that is already drilled and tapped, has good modified bolt handle, and safety to allow scope.
If you have to do this work you are up to the price of a 1640 anyways.
This is the mistake I made on my first one, paid a gunsmith to do bolt handle and bought an aftermarket trigger with safety.
The second one (6.5x55) already had a nicely done bolt handle, d&t, and side safety. The original trigger is actually fairly decent. All for something like $275 I believe. It doesn’t have any sights, the finish is fairly worn, but man does it shoot. Right around 1 MOA and I really didn’t even do much load development. For offhand shooting I do better with this gun than any of my other center fire rifles. The balance and handling are just sweet and the recoil so low that scope bite isn’t on my mind in the least.
If I did it again I’d get 1640’s with the stronger actions, faster lock time and hinged floor plates.
However I’d still never sell these old m96’s, it would feel like betraying them if that makes any sense? They feel like they’re worth more than the couple hundred I’d get for them.
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I haven't found one I've liked enough to purchase yet since I started the thread, also finances tightened up so right now it's not in the budget to get another rifle.

I definitely have been combing the classifieds on the EE and checking auctions. There have been a couple that came up, made bids/ offers but in the end didn't get them. I really would like one with good character in the would, not just a plainer stock.

With the insight on the m96 I definitely won't be getting one, I want more modern, like a Husqvarna 1640 or Husqvarna 1900, CG 2000/3000, Steyr or Steyr Mannlicher Schoenauer sporter 1950s+, Krico, Tikka m55 maybe... they border on being too heavy.
 
Meroh said:
I own 3 6.5 x 55 rifles. Two are original military, a 1900 M64 Obendorf (which has one of the most amazing military triggers I have ever used), and a M38 built in 1943, Both are accurate and a lot of fun to shoot.

The other rifle is a modern Zastava M70 in 6.5 x 55 SE Mauser 98 type action) so rated for higher pressure. These rifles were a great deal when they were available; got this one brand new for < $700; mirror bluing, highly figured wood, fully adjustable trigger, good iron sights (Although I have a Riton Varmint Scope on it. All shoot better than I do.

I run 85 gr Sierra varmint bullets for ground hogs and 158 gr PPU in the military rifles.

I also have a Husqvarna Commercial Mauser 98 built on a FN Commercial Action (no thumb cut) that I bought from Intersurplus in 9.3 x 62; cleaned up with little effort, beautiful bluing at about 90%, nice beech stock with no cracks, and a German Side Mount scope mount that is easy to remove and replace, holds zero, and allows iron sights to be used with the scope on the rifle. Very accurate shooting, but substantial recoil (It hurts so good)lol; got it for just under $500,00

I love all 4 of these rifles and will never part with them as long as I can shoot.
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Nice.

I've been curious on Zastava. Alway wondered what they were like. 9.3 x 62 has always been another euro round I've had my eye on, I would need a substantial muzzle brake to take that one. Even with a brake and good pad on my 300wsm I'm having challenges with recoil on my body unfortunately:(
 
D.Pagenkopf said:
I've been sold on the cartridge for years now too, ever since I heard about it. Love hearing about peoples enthusiasm towards it. My only concern really I guess it boils down to safety of the m96s when reloading, I don't want to take my face off. I found a beautiful m96 sporter, and a few nice 1640s/1600s. Having a hard time deciding between them. I love Husqvarna and the look of those vintage guns. The other sporter has a beautiful stock and is light enough that I can haul it around in the woods/mountains hunting potentially with no issue. I've been reloading 10+ years, can do it safely, just I don't want a horror story. I heard don't load past 45,000 psi in these rifles- I'm always looking for signs of pressure on cases but past looking at max pressure I'm not sure how to measure that...
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Some will argue, but those were made into 30-06 and 9.3 x 62; they are just fine in 6.5 x 55.
 
D.Pagenkopf said:
Nice.

I've been curious on Zastava. Alway wondered what they were like. 9.3 x 62 has always been another euro round I've had my eye on, I would need a substantial muzzle brake to take that one. Even with a brake and good pad on my 300wsm I'm having challenges with recoil on my body unfortunately:(
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For me and my cousin, 5 shots without the recoil pad or 10 with is a days shooting with that rifle. LOL I love it!!! LOL

Zastavas were the absolute best value in sporting rifles ever. I saw one new in the box at Tavistock in 7 X 57; another great cartridge, guy was asking $900 I think.
 
D.Pagenkopf said:
That sounds like a small nightmare to find a gun made during one year. Who manufactured that rifle?
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Remington. Their "Classic" was always a special run rifle. You see them occasionally. Functionally and Model 700 from that era will be essentially the same (the ADL had a blind mag and most BDLs had sights which are essentially the only real differences between them and a Classic) so you could easily swap out a BDL for the Classic and have a much easier time finding one. The Classics are just nicer finished rifles than the others, in my opinion. Someone who likes ebony forends and white line spacers will likely disagree.
 
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