Ag42b

You have to work up the load for your da's rifle. No two rifles will shoot the same ammo the same way.
Don't load 6.5 x 55, but I'd be thinking IMR4064, IMR or H 4895(close but not the same) or Varget with a 140 grain bullet. These are typical M1 Rifle powders.
As it's a semi-auto, you must FL resize every time, watch the case lengths(trim, chamfer and deburr as required) and OAL. Primary OAL thing is fitting in the mag.
 
Keep your powders on the faster side, nothing slower than H-4895. Slower powders increase the pressure at the gas port and that causes the action to open rather violently. You could end up with cracked or completely torn case heads.

Anyhoo... Now that we have that tidbit out of the way, I personally use IMR 4064 in mine. I use loads close to starting, as they're accurate and don't throw the brass into the next quarter-section.
 
i can't remember off hand how much powder i used , BUT i did use imr 4064 and hornady 140 spire point bullets with great success .

with this rifle you also need to use military spec primers . just manually cycling rounds through the rifle will cause the firing pin to dent regular primers .

off hand i want to say the milliary spec primers are cci #34

some people will tell you regular primers are fine ....... i happen to like my rifle and my fingers , this is one short cut i won't take .


word of warning .... KEEP YOUR FINGERS OUT OF THE ACTION AT ALL TIMES !!!!!!

these rifles bite worse than a rabid , pissed off , beaver on steroids .

also if this is a rifle your friend is going to keep , putting a adjustable screw in the gas block to control the amont of gas used to cycle the action is a good idea . this also allows a person to use much slower burning powders without risking putting too much gas pressure into the action . it will also keep your brass within a feww feet of you instead of several miles away .
 
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