making 6.5 x 55 brass, what cas did you use
- Thread starter roscoe69
- Start date
I agree many things are doable depending on the reloader's ability and understanding of cartridges and pressure. I've done WAY more involved conversions then this but mostly on low pressure absentee black powder cartridges and things like that.
Back in the late sixties 6.5x55 brass was almost unobtainable. If you were lucky and came across Dominion or Imperial loaded cartridges or empties it was like finding gold for hand loaders. Not a lot of hand loaders around in those days where I live. I had a neighbor that mentored me and allowed me to hand load his practice and hunting ammo. That was a big deal back then. Most nimrods of the time were totally unschooled and were terrified that "all" handloaders were crazies and stretched the limits of safety every time they built up a round. Literature on the subject was very difficult to come by and expensive when it was found. The closest gun/sporting goods shop we had around was OK but carried very little as far as reloading components went. It even got worse when the fellow decided to retire and only worked part time for another store after selling off his stock. Everything had to be ordered and would take two weeks to two months to come in. It was only after Del Selin moved into his first shop with a would you believe it "wood stove" in the middle right down town. Try that now. Del still has a very interesting "old time" shop with a bit of everything and a very decent component selection.
At first, I used 308Win brass and lived with the very short necks. I figured if you could get away with a short neck on a 300 Savage there was no reason I couldn't get away with a short neck 6.5x55. It worked very well at the low pressures encountered in those days when loading for the M96 and M38 Swede rifles. Then, I got very lucky indeed. I managed to get my hands on a couple of five gallon buckets of CIL fired 7.62x51 Nato blanks. These were a Godsend to me as far as I was concerned.
The petals on the blank were easily cut off and luckily all were shiny and as new other than being fired. Many of them even had the petals in place with only some black powder marks around the cracks. Once they were cut off at the proper length it was only a matter of sizing and trimming them to fit the chambers. I never had to turn down any of the necks for thickness. Maybe because the chambers were on the generous side of spec. I should look into my old brass stock. I think I still have a couple of hundred of those around. About that time International Firearms in Montreal started bringing in surplus training rounds with a wonderful flake powder and wooden bullets. They were unbelievably cheap but had corrosive primers which took a lot of newbies by surprise and came with a bunch of Bofors #44 powder which was as close to IMR 3031 as you could get as well as your choice of which bullet weights you preferred. 160gr, cupro/nickle metal jacket round nose with exposed lead bases that allowed the jackets to obdurate into the lands for superb accuracy no matter how bad the bore was worn. 90 grain thin jacket hollow point varmint bullets and 140 grain flat based bullets that looked like Speer had made them. It was a fantastic package. I bought enough components to make up 10,000 rounds. I still have some of the bullets and wooden loaded cartridges around. As for the flake powder it is ideal for large capacity pistol cartridges like the .455 Webly and .45 Colt. I still have a few pounds of it left and will miss it when it is gone. As for the #44 powder, about 8 canisters of it proved to be unstable after 20 years and it broke down. I had some 257Rob rounds loaded with it along with 85grn bullets and after shooting a few hundred rounds on a groundhog hunt the accuracy went south. I thought it only needed to be cleaned but the bore looked like someone had taken a ball peen hammer to it. I packed up and went home. Checked the powder and the inside of the paper canisters was covered in rusty dust as were the inside of the metal tops and bottoms. The metal shelves they were on had corroded from the acidic fumes and were growing rusticles.
OK way to much information.
There are lots of ways to make cartridge conversions on just about any case. There are rather large thick books written on the subject and I have a couple of different ones that I use regularly to make up obscure and forgotten cartridge cases for different rifles. It is a whole different aspect and at the same time same ole, same ole. It shows how not much has really changed in the last hundred years. Grandpa had some seriously powerful magnums in the old days and some were loaded with black powder as well as the early smokeless powders. Many of the Brit cartridges as well as others used cordite and formed their cases around the strands which were counted individually by hand. Things have changed a lot but stayed the same. I am really surprised that the militaries of the world don't use a solid compressed propellant today. Cheaper/handier/etc.
At first, I used 308Win brass and lived with the very short necks. I figured if you could get away with a short neck on a 300 Savage there was no reason I couldn't get away with a short neck 6.5x55. It worked very well at the low pressures encountered in those days when loading for the M96 and M38 Swede rifles. Then, I got very lucky indeed. I managed to get my hands on a couple of five gallon buckets of CIL fired 7.62x51 Nato blanks. These were a Godsend to me as far as I was concerned.
The petals on the blank were easily cut off and luckily all were shiny and as new other than being fired. Many of them even had the petals in place with only some black powder marks around the cracks. Once they were cut off at the proper length it was only a matter of sizing and trimming them to fit the chambers. I never had to turn down any of the necks for thickness. Maybe because the chambers were on the generous side of spec. I should look into my old brass stock. I think I still have a couple of hundred of those around. About that time International Firearms in Montreal started bringing in surplus training rounds with a wonderful flake powder and wooden bullets. They were unbelievably cheap but had corrosive primers which took a lot of newbies by surprise and came with a bunch of Bofors #44 powder which was as close to IMR 3031 as you could get as well as your choice of which bullet weights you preferred. 160gr, cupro/nickle metal jacket round nose with exposed lead bases that allowed the jackets to obdurate into the lands for superb accuracy no matter how bad the bore was worn. 90 grain thin jacket hollow point varmint bullets and 140 grain flat based bullets that looked like Speer had made them. It was a fantastic package. I bought enough components to make up 10,000 rounds. I still have some of the bullets and wooden loaded cartridges around. As for the flake powder it is ideal for large capacity pistol cartridges like the .455 Webly and .45 Colt. I still have a few pounds of it left and will miss it when it is gone. As for the #44 powder, about 8 canisters of it proved to be unstable after 20 years and it broke down. I had some 257Rob rounds loaded with it along with 85grn bullets and after shooting a few hundred rounds on a groundhog hunt the accuracy went south. I thought it only needed to be cleaned but the bore looked like someone had taken a ball peen hammer to it. I packed up and went home. Checked the powder and the inside of the paper canisters was covered in rusty dust as were the inside of the metal tops and bottoms. The metal shelves they were on had corroded from the acidic fumes and were growing rusticles.
OK way to much information.
There are lots of ways to make cartridge conversions on just about any case. There are rather large thick books written on the subject and I have a couple of different ones that I use regularly to make up obscure and forgotten cartridge cases for different rifles. It is a whole different aspect and at the same time same ole, same ole. It shows how not much has really changed in the last hundred years. Grandpa had some seriously powerful magnums in the old days and some were loaded with black powder as well as the early smokeless powders. Many of the Brit cartridges as well as others used cordite and formed their cases around the strands which were counted individually by hand. Things have changed a lot but stayed the same. I am really surprised that the militaries of the world don't use a solid compressed propellant today. Cheaper/handier/etc.
Last edited:
I was all ready to call BS on you...
Then I got the calipers.
New unfired 6.5x55 cases:
Remington = .475"
Winchester = .472"
So time to call Peter...
