Whats better than a 6.5 x 55?

Did anyone even read the original poster's question?

He wants to know if the original 6.5mm barrel on his original m96 action can be "rechambered" to another cartridge. He wants to keep the 6.5mm bore, and limit it to cartridges that will fit within the length and pressure limits of the m96 action.
 
How about a 6.5 Arch? This interesting though obscure wildcat, is based on the 6,5 X 55 Swede. With the Arch, the Swedish cartridge's case body is pushed forward, ending up with a shorter neck and 40-degree shoulder. Years back, a friend of mine had one of his M-38's chamber reamed to this cartridge. He liked it. Maybe not quite as much as his .257 Ackley Improved, but was fond of it, just the same. As I recall, the greater case capacity of the Arch allowed for about another 1-2 grains extra powder; with about an extra 100-150 fps more muzzle velocity, using relatively slow burning powders like H4831 or H1000. Not a whopping performance difference.... inferior to the 6.5 -270, or 6.5-'06 wildcats, but respectable enough to improve the odds of clean, one-shot kills on deer, bear and moose. Especially with 140 grain and heavier bullets. May be worth looking into. I believe he got the cartridge dimensions from one of P.O. Ackley's books.
 
Pretty sure a Mauser 96 action wouldnt take the 6.5x284 pressures. If it did, the loading would be only slightly faster than the 6.5x55. My advice would be get a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 and punch it out to 6.5x284.
 
6.5x55mm said:
Pretty sure a Mauser 96 action wouldnt take the 6.5x284 pressures. If it did, the loading would be only slightly faster than the 6.5x55. My advice would be get a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 and punch it out to 6.5x284.
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My advice is stick to 6.5x55mm in a M96 action, it is a very fine calibre capable of taking out most NA game at reasonable range.

I saw a modern Sako 6.5x55mm rifle that was re-chambered to 6.5-284 and almost blown up by shooting a hot 6.5-284 load that was fine in another 6.5x284 rifle. One had a long throat and the new chambered one a short throat.

The rifle and action held but the extractor disappeared and bolt needed to be opened with a heavy mallet. The brass case was fused to the bolt face and chamber. I would hate to imagine what would have happened to a old Swede M96 action in a re-chambered rifle that fired a round like that one, hand grenade probably with one dead or badly injured shooter.

A Swedish M96 action is only made to safely handle no more than 45,000 psi. and a 6.5-284 is rated at about 65,000 psi. almost a 50% increase in pressure!
 
It seems the only reasonable option would be an AI, but with a M38 in regular 6.5 x 55 in the house It would end up sooner or later a nightmare with getting the shells mixed up between the 2. Looking more like I need to do a swap / sale and find a decent 7x57 to have something different .
Thanks for all the suggestions
Pete
 
6.5x55mm said:
Pretty sure a Mauser 96 action wouldnt take the 6.5x284 pressures. If it did, the loading would be only slightly faster than the 6.5x55. My advice would be get a Tikka T3 in 6.5x55 and punch it out to 6.5x284.
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He thinks his problem is that he has one too many rifles in 6.5x55mm and your solution is to get a third. You think more like me than I do.
 
Swede 96's have been converted to every short and long action cartridge out there....Husky did them in 30'06, 9.3x62, 8x57, etc. 30'06 is a 55,000-60,000 psi cartridge in most factory loadings. You would think there would be dead people all over the world from firing these "bombs". I've seen CG63's converted to 308 (60,000psi) for target shooting that probably shot more rounds in a year then most hunters do in a lifetime.
Swede action, and swede steel is not weak....it doesn't vent gas from a ruptured case very well, but if that concerns you, you can have some '98 style vents milled into the bolt easy enough.
 
Considering the limitation of the action, what other 6.5 can you put in the rifle. Perhaps you are looking at it forwards, not backwards. Instead of spending the time and money getting it rechambered, how about a new caliber. Google bolt face sizes, the 6.5x55 is a .470, check out the calibers in that bolt face size and maybe another will appeal. More money for a barrel than a rechamber, but if money was the issue, then you would be better off selling the rifle and applying the money to what you want.
 
Many gentlemen here are obviously unaware that the 6.5X55 case has a greater diameter base than any 308/06/X57 based cases and none of these will clean up the old chamber, including the Newton (sorry Kevan) without setting back the barrel. The only choices would be an improved version or the 6.5-284 which is an outstanding cartridge. This action, with some more work can also be made to work just fine with a 6.5 RM or 264 Win, again without having to set back and readjust the threads and indexing.

nowarningshot................not sure where you get your data from, but SAAMI puts rim and base dia of the 6.5X55 at .480 not .470 as you indicated.
 
nowarningshot said:
I hit bolt face sizes, and the first post is Long Range Hunting magazine....the poster had them listed as .470. Where is a better source??[/QUOTE]


SAAMI...........or the dimensional drawings in load manuals, CoW, Wikipedia...........all of which take there dimensions from the actual SAAMI drawings where available, or their European manufacturers drawings. I can attest to the fact that the 6.5X55 case will not fit in a standard Rem boltface........however the S1 Vanguard has greater tolerance and will take the X55 case head.

One also must remember we are dealing with military firearms here which do not subscribe to SAAMI nor was SAAMI around when these rifles were made. Everyone I have ever played with has had a very generous chamber, shall we say. Reliability and the ability to chamber any cartridge so marked even with a little dirt on it is of much higher importance to the worlds militaries than chambers reamed to a tight spec. Consequently not only does the 6.5X55 start it's life .007" larger than an '06 or X57 at the base, one must also take into consideration the OP is talking about a turn of the last century military firearm. This is another reason why I would recommend using the 284 case or the Rem mag case because an improved case may still have a significant head bulge due to the notoriously generous military chambers.
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