Just got my 6.5x55 Swede Sporter!!! How'd I do? **Updated With Range Report**

mlehtovaara

mlehtovaara

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So I was on the hunt for a new deer/bear gun and originally had my mind set on a 270 wsm.

I contacted a seller about a Leupold VX II 2-7x33 he had for sale, thinking that would be perfect for the 270 wsm I was probably buying. Seemed like a great scope for a good price, and a good enough guy, so I made an offer on the scope and he accepted.

In the meantime however the deal with the 270 wsm was looking worse and worse as I explored ammo availability and cost, and I started to actually look into ballistic comparisons at the same time to see what all the hype was about. In the end I decided that the 270 wsm wasn't gonna be for me as I didn't need a rifle in my safe I couldn't afford to shoot, and that a .270 or possibly a 6.5x55 would be a good option.

So I went back the the seller of the Leupold and explained my predicament and low and behold he had a few guns he waas gonna put up on the EE in the next while. He sent me some pics, and I was sold! I had been on Tradex looking for something cheap for a long time but it wasn't gonna compare to what I got.

So here she is. Carl Gustav Swedish Mauser in 6.5x55 with a Leupold VXII 2-7x33. All in with Leupold bases and mounts, as well as a sling I paid $525 to my door! Chopped barrel with a target crown, and new front sight were just a couple added touches.

What do ya think? Did I do alright? ;)

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Thats a nice clean looking rifle chambered for a mild mannered, accurate, flat shooting, general purpose cartridge. What's not to like!! That stock has nice grain to boot; many of the Swedes have wood that could charitably be referred to as plain.

If you find yourself rubber necking to acquire a full sight picture, a set of lower rings would help, if at the cost of your rear sight. Without QD rings, the irons aren't critical, (IMHO) so in this case the rear sight is expendable provided its removal makes the rifle more shootable. I don't think you want the scope mounted any further behind the cocking piece, which would be the case if you attempted to mount the scope lower and still clear the rear sight.

Hope to see a range report shortly.
 
Before you do anything with the scope bases, check clearance.
Those bolt handles have a way of getting in the way of things.
I agree on lowering the scope if it can be done.
Nice set up.
If she shoots as good as she looks, you have a winner.
 
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You did all right. I like the 6.5x55 cartridge for it's accuracy and effectiveness. For Deer and the smaller Black Bears it should work well. You might think of a low swing safety lever to make it easier to put the safety on and off. This also has a bearing on the height of your scope, as the original lever sits fairly tall and will interfere with a low mounted scope, and also have limited area under the scope to turn the safety lever.

At the risk of starting another "Bear Defence" thread, I will say that when I was in the Mountains walking along with a Family Member, I had taken a .22 rimfire single shot along to shoot Grouse. That little .22 rimfire saved my life on that occasion because we ran across a Bear. The Bear was very close and agressive, but I stood my ground, cooly took careful aim, shot my Mother-in-Law in the leg, and then I ran like Hell.:D
 
Looks good but i agree with kamlooky about bolt clearance. It may just be the pic but it appears the scope is high for the stock. If she fits you your good to go and got a good deal. Hope it shoot as well as it looks.
 
I considered the height of the scope when discussing all of this with the seller. I almost went with a 1-4x20 which he also had for sale, which would have allowed for mounting lower without the sights interfering.

I chose not to as the 2-7 is just a little more versatile, and compared scope position to my former Enfield, and this seemed lower.

With the scope on 2x's the VXII provides ample eyer relief, and feels just fine. When I crank it up to 7x's I have to lean into it a little more for the eye relief but eye positioning is not an issue.

The other issue is the safety just barely clears the eye piece right now, and in all honesty I don't want to mess with the irons.

Where I hunt Irons might come in handy, and if anything ever did go wrong with the scope I would want em there.

Thanks Guys.
 
Sporter Swede Mauser...

Looks very, very nice.

I think you did very well on it, all considered.

If it prints pretty targets then it upgrades to an excellent deal. :D

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NAA.
 
I would agree, remove the site and get lower rings.
Click to expand...

The front sight is not the limiting factor. The saftey needs to clear the scope as does the bolt handle.
You might not like operating the saftey under that scope.

On the plus side at least it is not one of the sporters with low rings and the saftey trapped on the fire side that used to show up in the EE occassionally .

You cannot lower the scope with out changing one or likely both. On the plus side there is nothing wrong with heads up shooting. You might want to put a removable leather/nylon riser on the butt stock so you can have your face on the stock. Having your head straight up and not canted over is a benefit especially on running game.

If you do try and make it into something it is not you will find that, like I suggested before, your total cost will be equal to or greater then a tikka t3 in 6.5 or 270.

I'd peel the scope off it and have the best little rifle ever. Load it with 160 hornady RN bullets at 2450 fps and it will be beyond accurate and kill anything in the woods.
 
When I made the suggestion to lower the scope, I dismissed the over the top safety and the bolt handle hitting the bell of the scope. The safety to me is a non-issue because I habitually carry with the magazine full and chamber empty, When I chamber a round my finger is off the trigger until my sight is on the target, so I almost never use a safety, though exceptions apply to every rule. I get that not everyone does it this way though. As for the bolt handle, that is neither a difficult nor expensive alteration if it means having a more shootable rifle. Any change departing from the original design should be made only after careful consideration of the pros and cons of such a change, and should not be made simply from a picture on or recommendation from the internet. When I bring a rifle to my shoulder, I want my cheek to meet the stock and have the sight right there without the need of embarking on a quest to find it. To me that rifle has the appearance of a rifle that would be a natural shooter and a fine carry rifle, and it would be a shame if its "shootability" was unnecessarily compromised by either neglecting to make a simple change, or by making an unnecessary change.
 
I think the safety is in the 90 degree position when you want to take the bolt out for cleaning though. Does it clear the scope bell at that height?
 
All you need to do now is pick up some 140-grain bullets and a can of H4831SC (along with some brass and large rifle primers) and you are good to start.

If you don't get adequate cheek support on the stock when looking through that scope, take some pieces of semi-stiff foam (like the kind used under sleeping bags when camping, or the back foam pipe insulation you can get at hardware stores) and pile them onto the comb, adding pieces until you get a comfortable, supported sight picture. Then tape the whole thing down with making tape or duct tape for accurate shooting on the range.

Later, when you are home, you can build up a piece of wood or even black foam to the exact height you settled on with those foam pieces, and make it look good (and permanent) for hunting.

Let us know how this rifle shoots.
 
So today was range day, and a nice one at that.

The stock, and eye relief situation is not bad at all. On 2x's I don't see any issues, and really don't notice till it gets up to 5x's and up that I have to lean into the scope a bit to get proper eye relief. Standing it really wasn't an issue, but on the bench I had to adjust a little.

Not really a big deal as I will likely have this set on 2x's indefinitely unless I am up in a stand for bear season, and then there is really no issues adjusting and taking my time.

Anyways, the scope is a Leupold VXII 2-7x33. The reticle on this scope is new to me. It is a 1 MOA dot I believe, so not really ideal for any precision shooting, but that really isn't it's purpose. I thought about putting a higher magnification scope on it to test the accuracy, but with the crappy ammo I had there was really no reason, or so I thought.

Here is a pic of the reticle in case anyone is wondering.

reticle.jpg


Now I have two more excuses I was ready to use had things gone badly. One, it was very windy today, and two, I don't have any vice, or proper bag setup to actually show the true accuracy capabilities of the rifle. So I ended up shooting off of a wooden block, and using my sweater as a rear rest.(Which made me cold as it was so windy. ;)) I guess I will take some of the credit for my shooting ability then. ;)

Rifle functioned fine, but really takes a good solid pull on the bolt for it to eject reliably.

Great gun, and for the price I got this thing for I am very pleased.

It was pretty busy and I only had a box of ammo, half of which was wasted getting her sighted in. I don't have a spotting scope so it was I was using my .22's 12x scope to try and spot hits, but on these red targets those little holes are hard to see. Didn't get a chance to get down and get pics of the last couple groups, or the couple 100m groups I shot with the Savage MKII, as it was so busy I just didn't want to wait for a target change, but I got the worst and best from what I could tell.

Gun - Carl Gustav M38 Swedish Mauser - 6.5x55
Ammo - PPU 139 grain FMJ
Scope - Leupold VXII 2-7x33
Distance - 100m - 3 shot groups

I should also note that those squares on the targets are actually smaller then an inch! ;)

Worst group of the day:

Sede-Worst.jpg


Best group of the day:

Measures 1.145 edge to edge, minus the .264 bullet diameter leaves it at 0.881 inches! :D

SwedeBest.jpg


All in all I am pretty damn happy with this gun. It will be interesting to test some other ammo, but the factory soft points are pretty expensive, although PPU does make some in the same grain weight. I am not sure I am gonna start loading for this round, as it isn't gonna be a bench gun by any means, and I am not sure with the scope setup that I am gonna be shooting it all too often, but we will see.
 
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