Danish Manufacture 6.5x55
- Thread starter diopter
- Start date
I have seen articles warning against the use of the V146 marked 6.5 X 55 ammo due to fouling of the rifle barrel due to the bullet jacket material. I am not sure if the tale was true but the story has been around for a long time.
B.
B.
I've shot thousands of those rounds. The cupro nickel jackets do foul slightly more than copper jackets. Not enough to worry about though. It's easy to remove with Wipe Out or if push comes to shove JB Bore paste.
The primers are corrosive in nature and I don't know what their powder contained but together they are worse for causing corrosion than any other surplus cartridge I've used.
The bores need to be cleaned within a few hours or rust starts to show.
The bullets are 160 grain, round nose, with an exposed lead base.
International was selling that stuff as components back in the early eighties. They sold #44 powder (appx 3031) and pulled bullets as a bundle. You had to purchase them in 5000 count lots.
They shot very well out of the M38/94/96 type rifles from Sweden.
At the end of WW-2, Denmark was left with a pile of weapons, predominantly German with the addition of British and some American pieces, as well as homemade things, notably garage-built Stens. Most of the Danish Krags and their ammo had disappeared during the war.
In an effort to help their neighbours, Sweden contributed a number of 6.5x55 rifles, Mausers and a few AG-42s, As well, Britain gave them more .303 equipment to augment their small supply of Number 4s (known as the "Canadian rifle"). Ammunition for most of these was available either from captured German stocks or gifts from the Allies.
This held for all except the Swedish Mausers and AG-42s, which used the unavailable 6.5x55. So the Haerens Ammunitionsarsenalets (HA) manufactured a quantity of the 6.5x55, a cartridge with which they had no previous experience.
6.5mm, .303 and most of the rest did not last long in Danish Service, being overtaken hugely by US largesse of M-1 rifles and huge masses of .30-'06 ammunition. In the end, Denmark became a member of NATO and adopted the US rifle, then had their own series of Garands made by Beretta and Breda. Everything else went into war reserve or was sold off as surplus.
I was in Denmark the summer of 1976 and got a look at the rifles being carried by the Royal Bodyguards: absolutely the prettiest M-1 Garands you ever laid eyes on!
Bearhunter: that Number 44 powder is magic in the .303 if you keep your loads down just a bit. Right now, I WISH I could locate 5 pounds of the stuff!
In an effort to help their neighbours, Sweden contributed a number of 6.5x55 rifles, Mausers and a few AG-42s, As well, Britain gave them more .303 equipment to augment their small supply of Number 4s (known as the "Canadian rifle"). Ammunition for most of these was available either from captured German stocks or gifts from the Allies.
This held for all except the Swedish Mausers and AG-42s, which used the unavailable 6.5x55. So the Haerens Ammunitionsarsenalets (HA) manufactured a quantity of the 6.5x55, a cartridge with which they had no previous experience.
6.5mm, .303 and most of the rest did not last long in Danish Service, being overtaken hugely by US largesse of M-1 rifles and huge masses of .30-'06 ammunition. In the end, Denmark became a member of NATO and adopted the US rifle, then had their own series of Garands made by Beretta and Breda. Everything else went into war reserve or was sold off as surplus.
I was in Denmark the summer of 1976 and got a look at the rifles being carried by the Royal Bodyguards: absolutely the prettiest M-1 Garands you ever laid eyes on!
Bearhunter: that Number 44 powder is magic in the .303 if you keep your loads down just a bit. Right now, I WISH I could locate 5 pounds of the stuff!
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
A friend of a friend in NS was in the Canadian Coast Guard. They did an exchange with Danish Coast Guard.
Apparently they used 6.5 Swede. This ammo looks very familiar to me. 50 rounds in cardboard box with brown paper separating each 10. All stored in wooden box metal liner. 156 grain corrosive cupro nickel fmj. Maybe 900-1000 rds per crate.
Apparently they used 6.5 Swede. This ammo looks very familiar to me. 50 rounds in cardboard box with brown paper separating each 10. All stored in wooden box metal liner. 156 grain corrosive cupro nickel fmj. Maybe 900-1000 rds per crate.
Smellie, if I had any left I would mail it to you. However, I lost over 20 pounds of it when it went bad on me about ten years ago. I really liked it as well. When I bought the powder Tom Higginson told me some of it was unstable and sold it cheap. $4 per pound, shipped free, if you ordered 27 pounds. I bought 50 pounds and sold 15 pounds to buds that were only interested in a pound at a time and thought the supply would never run out.
I used it in 303 Brit/6.5x55/8x57/308/30-06/7x57/257Rob. Basically it was 3031 but a bit slower.
Hi Bearhunter, I had a bunch of the Number 44 powder go bad on me as well. I had it stored properly, but as you indicated, some of it was unstable. I still have some 6.5 X 55 rounds I loaded with this powder, but these will be dismantled because the powder is likely bad. I know of at least one other person who had the same trouble with that powder.
I remember it being a bargain at the time and being very similar to 3031. As they say....."If it is too good to be true......"
Cheers
B
I remember it being a bargain at the time and being very similar to 3031. As they say....."If it is too good to be true......"
Cheers
B
From Doug Bowser's book on Swedish military rifles:
"WARNING!!!! Do not shoot Danish manufactured 6.5 x 55mm military ammunition in a Swedish Mauser. The combination of soft jacket material and sharp edges on the lands and grooves of the rifling contributes to heavy fouling, which may cause high chamber pressures. There have been reports of several Swedish Mauser Rifles being blown up by this ammunition. The first reference I have seen on this problem was in The Book of Rifles by Smith & Smith. (The ammunition is also mercuric primed!!!)", page 86.
"WARNING!!!! Do not shoot Danish manufactured 6.5 x 55mm military ammunition in a Swedish Mauser. The combination of soft jacket material and sharp edges on the lands and grooves of the rifling contributes to heavy fouling, which may cause high chamber pressures. There have been reports of several Swedish Mauser Rifles being blown up by this ammunition. The first reference I have seen on this problem was in The Book of Rifles by Smith & Smith. (The ammunition is also mercuric primed!!!)", page 86.
Like I said, I've shot thousands of rounds of this ammunition. Maybe close to twenty thousand. All through four different rifles. No signs of extreme jacket fouling build up.
I didn't find it any more difficult to clean than any other smmo loaded with cupro nickle jacketed bullets.
I shot the pulled bullets that were sourced out in 5k bulk lots as well as cases of loaded ammunition.
I cleaned the rifles back to the metal of the bore, every 50-60 rounds, on that same evening, after the shooting session. I'm very fussy about cleaning. Maybe that's why I didn't have any issues.
At the time, all of the brass I had was Berdan primed and started out with corrosive primers. Tony at International sent me a 5000K count of proper primers for reloading. I don't know where he got them, they were corrosive as well. Maybe that's why he didn't charge me for them???
I'm not trying to contradict Doug Bowser. I'm just giving you my personal experience with thousands of rounds of this ammo.
Danish and Swede troops/civilian shooters were well versed in proper cleaning procedures for corrosive ammo.
I've seen M96/38 rifles with their receiver rings blown off. In every case, it was due to HOT loads or failure to clean the rust out of bores, before shooting. When these rifles and the ammo, from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland was surplussed, most shooters had no idea the ammo was corrosive and didn't clean appropriately.
I still see a lot of people today that just give a blank stare when corrosive primers are mentioned. Lots don't even know the difference between Berdan and Boxer primers.
