Good to see this old thread come up again. I don't have any new updates on finding more DMGLM marked rifles. The few folks who responded to me in South Africa shared their numbers. I found it interesting that some of the rifles do share suffix block letters and a few, like mine, have no serial number marked on the receiver, which I have yet to figure out.
As for my loads, I just want to be clear that this is what I have been using and it may or may not work best for your rifle, use are your own discretion.
I have been using reformed and trimmed 270 Winchester brass with regular 6.5 .264 140 gr diameter bullets that you can pick up at Canadian Tire. These do not always feed well as the original 6.5 Portuguese bullet was long, just like the 6.5 Swedish. The reformed brass, every now and then, doesn't feed properly but that is to be expected. The dies are the CH4D dies for 6.5 Portuguese that, thankfully, came with the rifle and they work well with the reformed brass. Last, but not least, I have been using IMR3031 and experimenting with the powder charge a bit, my last recorded charge being about 32.8 grs using a 2.5cc dipper spoon. Overall length was measured as approximately 80mm.
The rounds feed well from a 8x57mm stripper clip and the bolt manipulation was very smooth. At 100 yards, I took aim at the 6 oclock position of the target as the minimum sighting is at 200 m. The front sight blade on my rifle is ever so slightly bent to the left but it didn't seem to affect my accuracy alot. Free standing, and using the sling as support, I was able to get the first five shots on target and in a decent little group. Recoil was light to moderate and cycling of the action was, again, quite smooth.
The rifle was drawing some attention at the range when fellow shooters nearby, who thought it was a simple Mauser, but were perplexed by the action and bolt. All in all, a lovely day at the range with a unique rifle.
Great info, I'm looking for dies and a rifle now, your data will be very useful once I've got it all together.
Is there any reason not to use 6.5x57 brass to make x58 brass? other than it being 1mm shorter that is?
I've never done anything like it but it seems like it would be simpler to use than using 270 win brass?





























































