Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by T.FOYE » 31 Mar 2021, 8:05 pm

Any of you fellas load for the swede at all? Interested to hear of you fav target loads / hunting loads etc. Anything you've had success with

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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by No1Mk3 » 31 Mar 2021, 11:50 pm

G'day Tim from my former hometown!
My Mrs & I shoot Combined Services, her with an m/38 and me with a K31 and m/96 as well as an m/41. My favourite load for comps in all rifles & carbines (I use an M/94 sometimes) is 43.0g of AR2209 behing a 139g Lapua Scenar and either WLR or Rem 9 1/2 primers. I don't hunt much anymore and only used the Swede once to hunt deer near Rangataiki using Norma 156g factory which worked fine on reds, Cheers.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 01 Apr 2021, 4:57 am

Reloder 22 is a great accuracy powder in the Swede. 46.5 gn in Norma brass with 140sst’s or 140 partitions for 2820fps out of my rifle . The sst’s were great at all ranges on goats, bit slow on energy transfer on pigs but will put them down none the less. 140 Speer sp’s shot very well, but never got to see the results on game
120 nosler bt’s were silly accurate with 49gn re22 @2950fps. But savage on meat though

These loads worked great in MY rifle , be sure and work up to these loads

Cheers
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by SCJ429 » 01 Apr 2021, 6:58 am

bigrich wrote:Reloder 22 is a great accuracy powder in the Swede. 46.5 gn in Norma brass with 140sst’s or 140 partitions for 2820fps out of my rifle . The sst’s were great at all ranges on goats, bit slow on energy transfer on pigs but will put them down none the less. 140 Speer sp’s shot very well, but never got to see the results on game
120 nosler bt’s were silly accurate with 49gn re22 @2950fps. But savage on meat though

These loads worked great in MY rifle , be sure and work up to these loads

Cheers

Very true, the load data for the Swede is very conservative because of the old actions that cannot handle the pressure. It should be like the 45/70 where you have two sets of data, one being for modern actions. Some loads you may find you are nearly 20% over.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by SCJ429 » 01 Apr 2021, 7:20 am

I can get 2938 fps from a 143 ELDX using 2209. Excellent long range hunting bullet.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by T.FOYE » 01 Apr 2021, 7:51 am

Cant seem to get any reloader (RL) powder atm. Got some ADI 2213sc which does fine just short of 46.7gn with a 140 target berger. Not ideal but cant get the 147gn hornadys. Or the 143s. Still a fun target cal eh. It holds its own at 800y with all the rest
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 01 Apr 2021, 10:47 am

SCJ429 wrote:
bigrich wrote:Reloder 22 is a great accuracy powder in the Swede. 46.5 gn in Norma brass with 140sst’s or 140 partitions for 2820fps out of my rifle . The sst’s were great at all ranges on goats, bit slow on energy transfer on pigs but will put them down none the less. 140 Speer sp’s shot very well, but never got to see the results on game
120 nosler bt’s were silly accurate with 49gn re22 @2950fps. But savage on meat though

These loads worked great in MY rifle , be sure and work up to these loads

Cheers

Very true, the load data for the Swede is very conservative because of the old actions that cannot handle the pressure. It should be like the 45/70 where you have two sets of data, one being for modern actions. Some loads you may find you are nearly 20% over.


Yeah, should’ve mentioned my loads were in a modern action, not a hundred year old Mauser
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by T.FOYE » 01 Apr 2021, 5:05 pm

Tbh i reckon planet earth needs to consign 'the old action' 6.5x55s to the graveyard. Its such a shame for this dark horse cal to be handycapped in all the reloading manuals. Thats largely the reason i used Quickload and GRT heavily as i explored the cal.
I get just under 2900fts with a 140gn and a fair bit of barrel/brass life. I just back off if i see pressure signs particularly on the face. Button marks or any shine.

If you guys havent used the 'gordan reloading tool' or GRT its free online. Well worth a look i feel
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 23 Aug 2021, 5:06 pm

T.FOYE wrote:Tbh i reckon planet earth needs to consign 'the old action' 6.5x55s to the graveyard

wash your mouth out
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 23 Aug 2021, 5:47 pm

northdude wrote:
T.FOYE wrote:Tbh i reckon planet earth needs to consign 'the old action' 6.5x55s to the graveyard

wash your mouth out


the old swedes are some of the nicest , well made old mausers of all :thumbsup: ya just gotta treat them with respect . i don't think anyone would junk a trapdoor springfield or martini henry just cause their old :unknown:
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bladeracer » 23 Aug 2021, 6:59 pm

T.FOYE wrote:Tbh i reckon planet earth needs to consign 'the old action' 6.5x55s to the graveyard. Its such a shame for this dark horse cal to be handycapped in all the reloading manuals. Thats largely the reason i used Quickload and GRT heavily as i explored the cal.
I get just under 2900fts with a 140gn and a fair bit of barrel/brass life. I just back off if i see pressure signs particularly on the face. Button marks or any shine.

If you guys havent used the 'gordan reloading tool' or GRT its free online. Well worth a look i feel


It's only a handicap if you load to what the manuals say, if you load to what the rifle wants it's no handicap at all.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by LawrenceA » 23 Aug 2021, 8:07 pm

I use AR2208.
I know, I know it is supposed to be the worst but with the Nosler competition I get 0.22 inch at 100.
It ain't broke so I don't fix.
Had a 120gn hunting load that shot about 0.25" but I forget what it is :-(
One well placed shot is all it takes.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 10 Dec 2022, 9:21 am

Hey fellas, old topic. What’s been your personal experience with the Swede on pigs and red deer and such . I’ve got some good hand loads, 140sst at around 2750 FPS. I’ve got a couple of trips coming up , and am thinking of just taking my T3 6.5x55 instead of my 30-06 . I’ve got past experience with this caliber, just looking for other opinions :thumbsup:
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 10 Dec 2022, 11:07 am

Fine on deer as long as you do your bit
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 10 Dec 2022, 12:06 pm

northdude wrote:Fine on deer as long as you do your bit


yeah , i thought i might get a response from you ND. i remember your a 6.5 enthusiast :D
i was talking to a kiwi guide up in the territory , he was telling me the 6.5 manbun is pretty popular in enzed and gets used on lots of bigger stuff with proper shot placement
my tikka shoots 140 sst's , 140 nosler bt's pretty good . speer 140 hot cores are barely MOA in my rifle . just doesn't like 'em .
got some 140 partitions to try to load for yesterday . special occasion load , their not cheap ;)

you got any insight into projectile performance ?
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigpete » 10 Dec 2022, 12:47 pm

Barely moa is more than good enough for pigs and deer
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bigrich » 10 Dec 2022, 3:29 pm

bigpete wrote:Barely moa is more than good enough for pigs and deer


yeah, i like really good accuracy though pete . it means the guns accuracy is spot on. even waaaay out . this eliminates things down to one variable . me :D
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 10 Dec 2022, 3:39 pm

In my military ones any 140gr shoots well. From memory I think the nickle plated or what ever they were in the military ammo were 147gr and ai think earlier round nosed pills were 160gr. My t3 seems to prefer 120gr stuff. Some will say i shouldnt use them for hunting but I use sierra 120gr match kings and they work for me. Im not a long range shooter when it comes to animals 150m is my max ill shoot an animal at. Have shot the odd goat further out but its not something I make a practice of. Yea the 6.5 manbun is pretty fashionable at the moment basicaly a rebadged 260 as far as I can figure out. Been playing with a grendel as well but the lighter pills have dried up
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by bladeracer » 10 Dec 2022, 3:53 pm

northdude wrote:In my military ones any 140gr shoots well. From memory I think the nickle plated or what ever they were in the military ammo were 147gr and ai think earlier round nosed pills were 160gr. My t3 seems to prefer 120gr stuff. Some will say i shouldnt use them for hunting but I use sierra 120gr match kings and they work for me. Im not a long range shooter when it comes to animals 150m is my max ill shoot an animal at. Have shot the odd goat further out but its not something I make a practice of. Yea the 6.5 manbun is pretty fashionable at the moment basicaly a rebadged 260 as far as I can figure out. Been playing with a grendel as well but the lighter pills have dried up


139gn for the FMJ stuff. Pretty sure the earlier RN was 160gn. Don't think I've found any bullets in mine yet that don't shoot great.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 10 Dec 2022, 4:00 pm

The 140 amax shot the best in mine
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by SCJ429 » 10 Dec 2022, 6:22 pm

northdude wrote:The 140 amax shot the best in mine

Bit of a moot point, you cannot get them anymore.
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 10 Dec 2022, 6:47 pm

Well he asked about projectile performance..
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by northdude » 10 Dec 2022, 6:48 pm

Well he asked about projectile performance..
22 hornets and most things 6.5
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Re: Any of you lads load for 6.5x55?

Post by phill55phill » 14 Dec 2022, 8:25 am

I am 3 grns above the adi manual with 2209 and 140 grain nosler in a m98 would try that in a m96
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