Swedish Mauser question

6.5x55 is one of the most underrated rounds of all time better start reloading you are going to be shooting alot more Cheers
 
fat tony said:
It was a pussycat to shoot, the recoil was sort of like a .22. :D
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If that was factory ammo, it is very soft. Noth American commercial ammo is loaded down to be safe in the older Krag models. You can handload much hotter than factory and get excellent performance, but recoil will never be much of a bother no matter what you do.

Despite the light recoil, all the deer I have shot with my 6.5x55 died without a complaint.


Mark
 
I've lit up a few factory 6.5 X 55 Norma rds, LOL.
Decidedly not like a pussycat,I sent them out to my Dad to knock the bullets out and install his favorite magic load.
The Norma's were breathtakingly expensive too, but they were the only on the shelf option.
 
Load your own ammo, friend, and stay with a load just UNDER the milspec loadng, under by about 100 ft/sec.

Recoil will be soft and gentle and the rifle will shoot groups that the other guys just will NOT believe.

I see no reason for ANY cartridge, whether it be 6.5x55 or 308W or .30-06 or whatever, to be loaded to 200 or 300 ft/sec over the military loading. All you're doing i burning powder, wrecking a barrel you can't replace, ruining brass, hurting yourself and taking silly chances with a rifle that was built 100 years ago.

You are doing it the right way now, friend. Keep it up and you will have a LOT of fun.

And you're quite right about looking for a Carcano. They are a FAR better rifle than generally supposed and their weak, insignificant cartridge is actually 100 ft/sec faster than the world-famous elephant-stomping 6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenauer. And they can be darned accurate if you feed them what they want. Trade-Ex has brass and slugs, everybody makes dies. And they are cheap on powder, too! Original Italian military ammo was loaded with Ballistite: double-base powder, quite fast. Closest commercial equivalent likely would be Hercules RL-12 (Oops! Par'm me! ALLIANT RL-12!)

Most important point of all: have fun!

Hope this helps.
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Swedish Mauser rear sights

fat tony said:
Edit: I am embarrassed to say that I had the sight on the 600 m setting. :redface: the 'ski slope' is the reverse on these rifles apparently. :redface:
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If you do not count the Carbine or the special rear sights, you will generally run across three types of rear sights,

The original m96 long rifle sights designed for the 160 grain m/94 round nose cartridge was marked 3 to 6, with the 3 being nearer the muzzle end of the barrel, and the 6 toward the rear. It was adjusted for elevation by sliding the cross bar to the rear for greater elevation,

There were two sights designed for the m38 short rifle. Both had the lower numbers at the rear of the sight, and adjusted for more more elevation by sliding the cross bar forward.

One was designed for the 160 grain m/94 round nosed cartridge. It was marked 1 to 6 with the 1 at the rear and the 6 toward the front.

The second type was designed for the 139 grain m/41 spitzer load. It is numbered 2 to 6, with the 2 at the rear, and the 6 toward the front. It can easily be identified by the letter "T" stamped on the front near the hinge.
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Despite the light recoil, all the deer I have shot with my 6.5x55 died without a complaint.


Mark[/QUOTE]

I plan on using my Norwegian Krag carbine (in 6.5 x55) as a truck gun for deer hunting season this year. I have heard that the cartridge is ideal for deer: hard hitting, but doesn't do a whole lot of damage to the meat.
 
collector67 said:
I plan on using my Norwegian Krag carbine (in 6.5 x55) as a truck gun for deer hunting season this year. I have heard that the cartridge is ideal for deer: hard hitting, but doesn't do a whole lot of damage to the meat.
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I have shot two deer with mine using Federal blue box 140gr SP ammo. On both you could pretty much eat up to the bullet hole. The moderate velocity keeps the meat damage down and the high sectional density means that penetration is very good.


Mark
 
buffdog said:
If you do not count the Carbine or the special rear sights, you will generally run across three types of rear sights,

The original m96 long rifle sights designed for the 160 grain m/94 round nose cartridge was marked 3 to 6, with the 3 being nearer the muzzle end of the barrel, and the 6 toward the rear. It was adjusted for elevation by sliding the cross bar to the rear for greater elevation,

There were two sights designed for the m38 short rifle. Both had the lower numbers at the rear of the sight, and adjusted for more more elevation by sliding the cross bar forward.

One was designed for the 160 grain m/94 round nosed cartridge. It was marked 1 to 6 with the 1 at the rear and the 6 toward the front.

The second type was designed for the 139 grain m/41 spitzer load. It is numbered 2 to 6, with the 2 at the rear, and the 6 toward the front. It can easily be identified by the letter "T" stamped on the front near the hinge.
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Interesting, thanks buffdog! :) I guess my rear sight is actually for the old cartridge. I don't think it will matter, but I will know for sure the next time I am out at the range.
 
i've been a fan of the sweds since my first m38 husky. the m96 ramp sight starts at 3oo meters which is way to far with these old eyes. i do have a scope on my husky but haven't modified my C.G yet. these rifles shoot far better than i do. i do reload which is dang handy with this caliber. am leaning towards getting a win270 to try out. i think it's as close to the swed as you can get that you can find ammo for anywhere.
 
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Federal, Winchester, Remington, Lapua, Norma, Bell, Prvi Partizan, Hirtenberger Patronenfabrik, Rhenisch-Westfalische Sprengstoffsfabriken, Sellier & Bellot and a whole phone-book more make the 6.5x55 these days, and most of it is reloadable.

If you can't find any, scream at the dealer. There are a LOT of these rifles around these days.

Yes, it's about as close as you can ask for for a single-calibre do-it-all for most of North America. It's great for Pronghorn loaded with 120s. Deer go down to 140s like they were hit by Mjolnir.

Loaded with Sierra 139 HPBTM, it has done quite amazing things at the CFB Shilo 1100-metre sniper match, scoring first-round hits on the farthest plate twice in a row (2 separate matches) and taking down all the farthest plates. Really ticked the AI demo team off; they had actually flown a shooter in from England for the match, then they got snookered by a team of farmers, using handloaded ammo provided by a carpenter. RCMP SWAT team instructors scored 4th or 5th in the shoot, sold all their rifles at the next Brandon Gun Show. The Carpenter from above bought one of the rifles, tweaked it a bit and loaded the ammo for it, put it in the same match a year later.... with the Farmer shooting the thing..... and it came in top place.... again. The lesson? Handloaded ammunition can be made to give ultimate performance in ONE PARTICULAR rifle; that was the "farm team"'s advantage.

The AI guys did very well BUT they were shooting out-of-the-factory-box ammo. They didn't have the advantage of CUSTOMIZED ammunition. To be fair, though, their rifles will perform very darned well indeed with ANY decent factory fodder. That's why the things cost so much: because they don't really NEED custom ammo.

But it is fun to see a 60-year-old $160 Mauser trounce a brand-new $7,000 AI!

And the 6.5x55 is a VERY easy cartridge to customise to your rifle.....

Hope this helps.
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