Everything kills!
Looking for 6.5x55 Swede pet loads
- Thread starter Dark Alley Dan
- Start date
Everything kills!
DaveMachine
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- That one place with a cowboy complex
46.4gr RL22 with a 142gr SMK
I have traditionally used the 156 Alaskan and 160 Seirras with 4831 in my Swedes and my 6.5x54 Mannlichers with excellent success on deer, moose and bears at both point blanks and out past 250 yards, depending on the sighting system
Cat
Cat
Thats quite a testament as well!
Having trouble deciding on 7x57 and 6.5x55 for the next rifle, but I guess either/or right? Nice to hear the heavier bullets in the moderate 6.5s are that decisive even if I'll probably be launching Hornady 140 ECX or some kind of Barnes bullet
International Firearms out of Montreal had a deal going with Tom Higginson on that stuff, and they also offered a package when delivered came from Higginson's.
6.5 "anything" was next to impossible to find in Canada after Dominion quit making components and sold their machines off to a manufacturer in the US.
6.5 was not a popular caliber in the US, so they chose to sell it all in Canada.
The components and ammunition they acquired were all from one large sale out of Sweden.
There was ammunition loaded with copper jacket, 140 grain fmj, SBT, and Cupro Nickel jacket,160 grain, fmj, round nose, all with exposed lead bases, wood tipped practice rounds. All of it with Berdan, corrosive primers.
When you bought the "special" component package, you received 1000 wood tipped cartridges in 100ct, gray paper pressboard boxes, with one 5cm wide strip of "brown" cellophane tape around it to keep it together during shipment, 1000 160 grain, RN, fmj bullets, and enough surplus #44 Bofors powder (5% slower than 3031) to reload from the recipes included from Higginson's. I helped to make up those recipes. I miss Tom a lot.
The powder inside the wood tipped cartridges was a very fast "flake" type, so it would generate enough pressure to operate their semi auto rifles.
It was a great powder for reloading pistol cartridges, such as 455 Webley and shot shells, where I used a lot of it for reloading Trap rounds. It was very close in burn rate to 700X. I was given 50 pounds of this powder from Tom because nobody wanted to buy it at the time. Trap shooters weren't interested in surplus powders.
As mbogo mentions, there were other components available, all from Sako, Berdan primers, #44 and several other powders, bullets, both soft point and fmj, ranging in weight from 90 grain, up to 160 grain, and the more you bought, the cheaper they were.
The M96/94/38 and Agb42 type rifles had a twist rate of 1-7.9, which just stabilized the 160 grain round nose bullets.
One thing people need to be careful with some surplus lots of 6.5x55. In the late sixties and early seventies, both components and loaded ammunition were offered. It came from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and I believe at least one other nation, likely the UK, which had a huge supply on hand, for some reason.
They all manufactured their ammunition according to the strength of the firearms they issued. Sweden and Finland's ammo was interchangeable, but considered HOT for Norwegian and Danish firearms, and only to be used under emergency conditions. The 96 and later type 98 Mausers used in Sweden/Finland were strong enough to use all of it.
The component materials, including cases, powders, bullets were different as well.
The Danes used jackets for their bullets made from very soft "rolled copper."
I believe this refers to the process of cutting discs from rolled copper sheets to form cups, just like any other cup and core bullet.
The issue with the Danish bullet jackets were so soft, they could be easily scored/dented.
They also left extreme amounts of fouling in the bores if they were pushed too fast. They were fine at Danish velocities.
These were offered in the early to mid sixties, right about the time Sweden/Finland started selling off surplus M94, M41 rifles, and Norway/Denmark were selling off surplus Krags in the US.
I won't go into the knowledge base or information available to hand loaders of that era, but like today, they wanted to get as much velocity as possible from their components.
I don't remember much about it, but those soft copper jacket bullets, along with the issues created, drew enough attention at the time for several negative articles to be written in magazines and a few books.
It fueled a distrust of anything 6.5mm that lasted for a couple of decades.
Barne's suffered a similar fate when they first started production of their premium lines of bullets. The jacket metallurgy was best suited to lower velocities than some hand loaders were willing to accept, and serious fouling issues occurred. They've fixed all of that now, but a lot of people wouldn't use their bullets because of it.
Lots still available in 9.3 x 57 and 9.3 x 62; the later being a stout sledge-hammer.
I have stock military M96, M38, a new Zastava M70, all in 6.5 x 55. The M70 is designated SE for higher pressures, but my loads for the two older rifles are already compressed loads, so why go higher.
I do also have a HVA 98 FN Mauser in 9.3 x 62, and it's recoil feels about 50% heavier than the 6.5 x 55. The 96 is up to the job.
I think it would be the Zastava 6.5. Back in the day we had sporterized 96s and more than a few deer were taken. Both it and the 7 are very accurate, but the 6.5 shoots flatter. Now, I have been loading 85 gr flat base Sierra hollow points for ground hogs. I would have to look up the load data. Sierra quit making the 85 and their lightest now is 90 gr. Ground hogs, in the words of John Candy, "they blowed up reeel good! I think we used to use 120 gr for coyotes. One rifle does all. I would not hesitate to use it on moose, but with the 9.3 x 62, if I were 20 years younger, it would be my choice just because I have one. For the military rifles I am loading 160 gr PPU RNSPs and even those big buggers shoot flat out to 150-200 yards. They do kick a bit. LOL
I'm sure they do haha.
Dunno if they'd compete with the 85 and 90gr loads but I had some 95gr Vmax and 100gr ELD-VT around here for the 6.5 Creedmoor, bet they'd be pretty fast in the ol Swedes, safely?
Figured I'd ask since I know you're a big proponent of the cartridge. Is your Zastava in its original stock? The idea of putting one in something nicer/slimmer comes up from time to time
