surplus powder in 6.5 x 55 m96?

[charlie45]

Can any one recommand a surplus powder for the 6.5 x 55 mauser. i'll be shooting a 140 or 150 cast ww/tin, hopefully out to 200 meters. :lovebooli

[waksupi]

Can any one recommand a surplus powder for the 6.5 x 55 mauser. i'll be shooting a 140 or 150 cast ww/tin, hopefully out to 200 meters. :lovebooli

I think most of us have settled on 32-34 gr. WC 860 for the load in the Swede.

[Buckshot]

I think most of us have settled on 32-34 gr. WC 860 for the load in the Swede.

Be aware that it is dirty burning. If your rifle takes to it then at $4/lb and very good accuracy you can put up with it. I can and a couple of my buddies do too! We developed what we call 'The 860 Flick'. When you open the bolt you pull it back far enough for the casemouth to clear the front ring. Reach down with your index finger and thumb and grab it by the neck.

Lift it out of the action, rotate neck down and flick it with your ring or middle finger to clear the few unburned grains of powder.

Maven likes WC820 in his Swede sating the reall slow ball powders don't do it for him. I have some WC820 but as yet haven't tried his load. WC820 is like lightening in speed compared to WC860-872.

..................Buckshot

[Ol'Scudder]

I hope ya'll don't mind me butting in here, would you mind giving some advice on 860 in the 444 Marlin lever using WW boolits from 165 to 330 grain - and which end of the weight spectrum would you expect to work best? I sure like the price of it. Thanks

[9.3X62AL]

No 444 Marlin experience, but I do use the WC-860 in the 45-70. It is a mess by itself, a full case loading is about 51.0 grains. It produces low velocity--around 800 FPS with the 405 grain Lee. It leaves all sorts of unburned kernels behind, like old popcorn.

3.0 x 4198 against the primer with 48.0 x 860 atop it cleans things up some, and velocities get close to 1000 FPS.

Recently, I've tried 5.0 x 4198 underneath 46.0 x 860 with the Lee 405's, and both recoil and cleanliness increased markedly. I haven't chrono'ed these loads yet, but the recoil is a lot like factory 45-70 loads--so there might be some use for this combination after all.

860 and 872 are both now at 5 bucks a pound, so do the math to see if such fuels and amounts make sense over 2400 or Unique at far lesser weights enabling like ballistics. The loads are VERY accurate in my #1, so that makes the practice worth it to me. For my next trick, I'm going to be verifying that WC-860 will enable "spec loading" for the 6.5 x 55 and 140 grain j-word bullets.

[Buckshot]

I hope ya'll don't mind me butting in here, would you mind giving some advice on 860 in the 444 Marlin lever using WW boolits from 165 to 330 grain - and which end of the weight spectrum would you expect to work best? I sure like the price of it. Thanks

.................Pretty much forget 860/872 in any straight case unless you do like Deputy Al and get a 'helper' charge in there.

Cost wise, say 18.0grs of 2400 @ $18/lb = 4.62 cents

For WC860 @ $5/lb and a 51.0gr charge it's almost exactly one penny cheaper. So for 137 of those 51gr charges per pound you'd save $1.37 per pound, vs 18.0 grs of 2400.

.................Buckshot

[Ol'Scudder]

Deputy Al and Buckshot, thank both you gentlemen for your input, which I value highly. I sorta suspected the straight walled case might be a problem - knew you-all would have the answer.

Don't know why I should want to complicate things with duplex loads, etc. when at my age ( 71 next week ) I need to keep things simple - but it sure is fun to stoke up the thumpers - nature of the beast I guess, and besides, that black and blue shoulder eventually clears up. I have 30 cals. I could be shooting.

ol'scudder