6.5x55 Swedish Mausers and reloading

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swampratt

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I recently made time to play with these things and some things I have notice.
My Full length size dies make the cases small and in fact they become the same size as new R-P cases.
Which are too small.

I researched and found the case head diameter on original Swede was .480" and I get .473" after sizing and new R-P or PMC cases measure .473".

I also measured some "gallery ammo" 1942 and 1945 and the case head is .4785"
If I shoot the small case head brass in any of the 3 rifles I am playing with the case head after firing measures .477"
Spring back of course.
I am going to shoot and neck size some cases a few times and get a real chamber dimension.

I mention this because I sized my cases down and knew I was sizing them down quite a bit and in fact the shoulder was getting sized down .008"
This was really working the brass and allowing a lot of growth when fired and that growth not only goes out it goes forward.

My cases were growing .008-.009" for each firing.
6 reloads on one PMC case and I have early witness mark of case head separation.
I would imagine as it has grown .054" longer (Yes I trim) Now on my .308 I get .001 to .0015" of growth for each time fired and full length sized.

European dimensions for the Swede are different than the US version and there lies the problem.
Now I did hone my first die some as I knew it was way small and after hone I was getting the only .008-.009" of growth.
Hate to know what it was before.

But that was still too much and required a lot of force to size the cases.
I honed and polished another die and got it to where I am only sizing the case .002" down anywhere except the neck of course.


I have not shot any cases yet with the new die.

I will say this all 3 of those Swedish 6.5x55 rifles have the same case dimensions after firing.
Impressive.

The bullet that works best for me so far is the Hornady 129gr. flat base.
Groups are staying under 2" at 200 yards scoped.
I have not played with seating depths yet but IMR4064 H4895 and H4350 all work great.


Hope to get these cases to last as long as my .308 R-P cases. 50+ times full length sized reloads.
 

dlbleak

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Jeff, I see you mentioned the new die. Is it a Lee I presume? 6.5x55 gets me more stuck cases than any other caliber. I had to tighten my decapping pin lock nut to the point that I twisted it off the last time I was dealing with a stuck case. I ordered the Hornady precision set. Haven’t had enough experience with it yet to know if the cost was worth it.
 

Hangfire

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If you can find some Reloader 22, it works well in 6.5x55.
Agree.

My Remington 700 Classic in 6.5x55 would darn near stack them in the same hole at 100 yds. with a WLR primer and 41.5 grs. of RL22 under a 129 gr. Hornady #2620.......that's one of the guns that I should have never let go.

My current 15" TC Encore handgun in 6.5x55 absolutely loves 47.0 grs. of H4831SC under a Sierra 120 gr.
 
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swampratt

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Yes Lee dies for both dies.
Yes there is some pressure pulling the case out with the tight die.

But I will say before I use any dies I polish the dies and the expander mandrels so I never had horrible issues.


I will shoot some rounds sized with the new die before I go any farther tweaking.
I will measure case growth and see if it gets less and I will do a few rounds neck sized also.

I guess the next outing I will take my portable press.

Yea I have a lot of powder and this one is under 2" at 200 so that is kill deer accurate for sure.
I do not wish to stock another powder.

I need more primers to go with all my powder.
Right now my powder trumps my primers.

:)
 

osu007

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Agree.

My Remington 700 Classic in 6.5x55 would darn near stack them in the same hole at 100 yds. with a WLR primer and 41.5 grs. of RL22 under a 129 gr. Hornady #2620.......that's one of the guns that I should have never let go.

My current 15" TC Encore handgun in 6.5x55 absolutely loves 47.0 grs. of H4831SC under a Sierra 120 gr.
I second on RL22. Good stuff out of a sportered Carl Gustav.
 

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