Custom Throating 6.5x55 barrel?

[ballistim]

Questions for those knowledgeable on the subject of throating/finishing a 6.5x55 Mauser large ring barrel, just bought earlier today here in S&S and am planning a build on a Yugo 48 (intermediate) action I bought when they were cheap several years ago with a future sporter build in mind. I've already built two others sporters on Yugo 48's, one barrel was in brand new condition that is still 8mm, had a Brownell's .308 bbl put on another, and now have the 6.5x55 bbl (1:9 twist) still in the white & short chambered from the description. Active group buy for the 6.5x55 MiHec Cruise Missile is the boolit that would be the choice to shoot in it when finished, so rather than fitting the boolit to the rifle, matching the throat to the boolit would be the plan, and also to use either reformed military '06 brass (preferred) or U.S. manufactured brass with the .308/.30-06 rim. Chamber would be fit to both the brass/boolit combination seated to the ideal depth and brass thickness/length pre-determined.
6.5x55 is my favorite cartridge going back to the sporter my Dad built for my first deer rifle on a Swedish M94 carbine (no "Bubba" jokes, Dad was talented at stock work & hand checkering). I also have the NOE Kurtz mold to try in that one, & I used to be able to use the old discontinued Hornady 140 grained RN seated long (very accurate w/H4831!) so the Cruise Missile may or may not work better for the M94, still to be determined.
Any and all thoughts will be greatly appreciated, this is a project that will take place over time and will include selecting a quality Kevlar stock with an aluminum bedding block, if not to be found then glass & pillar bedded composite, Timney trigger, bolt jeweling, drilling & tapping, etc.
6.5x55 is a build I've thought about since my teens so this will be something I want to do right and am in no hurry to see it through to completion. Gunsmiths who specialize in this work used by any of you here that you'd recommend will be something I'd welcome and appreciate.
Very exited & looking forward to building a custom sporter in 6.5x55 specifically designed to hunt with cast boolits, sort of a lifetime dream come true even if it doesn't make sense to most people.

[leebuilder]

I love my 6.5s. Fine rifle in the field and on the berm.
I have restored a few, rechambered many and built two. I have only worked with the original M96 breech. They are easy to fix.
H4831 is very good and have had much success with Reloader 19 as well.
Never cast for mine, maybe this year i will get a mould and get geared up for casting 6.5.
Very interesting project, not sure how you would change the reamers dimensions and have it still cut effectivly more than once. I assume you would lessen the length and angle of the forcing cone, thinking now it would not be much.
interesting!

[ballistim]

I'm guessing short chambered means that it wasn't completely reamed which is fine if I want to try to have it cut for the thickness/length of brass I'll be using. Sounds like I'll have to wait and have it headspaced after it's put on the Yugo action, and can't do a pound cast until that time either.

[B R Shooter]

The problem with short chambered barrels, you don't know what reamer started the chamber. Never bought a short chambered barrel, but my understanding is they are within a small amount of finish length, only requiring little work to headspace. How will the "finishing" reamer match the first reamer?

You speak of brass size and throat size and length. I know from personal experience 6.5x55 brass varies quite a bit. The chamber could be HUGE to swallow all of them, or a minimum. If you are casting bullets for this gun, the bullet will likely be bigger than a jacketed, meaning the neck diameter may need attention. Cast bullet throating can be all together different from jacketed throats. If were just a matter of a long bullet needing some extra throat lenght, that's easy. Any smith with a throating reamer and a dummy round can do this.

Depending on your accuracy expectations, you may want to have a reamer ground that fits your needs and get a barrel blank the contour you want.

[ballistim]

Thanks BR Shooter, sounds like I might have jumped the gun (no pun intended) buying this barrel, I'll have to do something like a chamber cast to see what I've got to work with. I'd already planned on having it properly throated for a particular cast boolit, so I understand your thoughts on that.

[koger]

I am a 6.5 swede nut! I have built and customized over 100 rifles in this caliber, built them on 98's and Savage long action 110's. If you have done bought the components, I would rent a standard 6.5 x55 reamer, and compare it to a chamber cast. The original swedes, and most custom barrels, have a long, tapered leade in the throat, instead of an abrupt starting rifling. The factory throats on all the 96 swedes I have used, shot cast bullets great, as well as phenomenal accuracy with factory bullets. I shoot 120 Sierra sp's, right at 3000fps, with no pressure signs, with a load that I carefully worked up to. I did load development over 2 years, with 5 primers, 12 powders and about every bullet you can imagine, back in 1985-87. I settled with IMR 3031, for speed, accuracy, and clean burning. I punched the loads in last year, in Qwik Load, and they came up 99% efficient! Pm me if I can be of more help.

[ballistim]

I am a 6.5 swede nut! I have built and customized over 100 rifles in this caliber, built them on 98's and Savage long action 110's. If you have done bought the components, I would rent a standard 6.5 x55 reamer, and compare it to a chamber cast. The original swedes, and most custom barrels, have a long, tapered leade in the throat, instead of an abrupt starting rifling. The factory throats on all the 96 swedes I have used, shot cast bullets great, as well as phenomenal accuracy with factory bullets. I shoot 120 Sierra sp's, right at 3000fps, with no pressure signs, with a load that I carefully worked up to. I did load development over 2 years, with 5 primers, 12 powders and about every bullet you can imagine, back in 1985-87. I settled with IMR 3031, for speed, accuracy, and clean burning. I punched the loads in last year, in Qwik Load, and they came up 99% efficient! Pm me if I can be of more help.

Thanks for all the information, I appreciate hearing your experience with the Swede, and I will PM you when I get going on this.
I've never tried IMR 3031 but I recall seeing Dad's handwriting on on old Norma box listing a load he'd used before he gave me it, have tried H380, H414, H4831, and IMR4831 and found best results with H4831 both old & new with the 140 grain Hornady, H414 with 120 grain Nosler BT, and H380 was extremely accurate with the Sierra 87 grain HP. I was very surprised that I was able to get the accuracy with the Sierra HP given the long throat in the rifle, but on a calm day on the desert range it was easy to get groups under an inch. Best accuracy was with the 140 grain Hornady and H4831.

[Nobade]

If that Mihec cruise missile is anything like my Lee one, 175gr, it's not going to stabilize in a 1:9 twist barrel. I couldn't even get it to shoot in a 1:8, but it does quite well in my '96 Mauser which seems to be closer to 1:7.

-Nobade

[ballistim]

If that Mihec cruise missile is anything like my Lee one, 175gr, it's not going to stabilize in a 1:9 twist barrel. I couldn't even get it to shoot in a 1:8, but it does quite well in my '96 Mauser which seems to be closer to 1:7.

-Nobade

What load did you use, what velocities if you recall?

[B R Shooter]

N160 is my powder choice for the swede. It just turns it on!

[Nobade]

What load did you use, what velocities if you recall?

In the M96 6.5X55, I use Retumbo. Don't remember how much, but it is full to the base of the boolit. Boolits are paper patched, and velocities are in the neighborhood of 2400 - 2500 fps. This load tracks to the sights very well so it's easy to hit things far away with it. That was my goal - try to find a cast load that would duplicate the military ball ammo ballistics. It took quite a few years and a lot of cleaning lead out of the bore, but I finally achieved the goal after I learned how to paper patch.

-Nobade

[gnoahhh]

If that short chambered barrel was reamed to "Americanized" modern 6.5x55 specs, all is not lost. Just finish reaming with a traditional Euro-spec reamer, which you would also use if such a reamer was used for the short chamber.

[largom]

Most short chambered barrels have the chamber .050 short. If the finish reamer has a good pilot you will be fine. PTG makes some very nice throating reamers for custom throating.

Larry

[B R Shooter]

Throating is the easy part, so is dealing with case neck length. The body and shoulder of the chamber may be problematic.

I bought some once fired brass here in 308. My 308 reamer is an Obermyer match. I could not in any way size the base of that brass down enough to use. Whatever chamber that brass was fired in was huge. Lesson learned.