6.5X54 Männlicher Schoenaur mold availability

[Zouave 58]

For years I wanted a 1903 Mountain Carbine and recently bought a project gun that needed a bolt head and some blue and wood work but the bore was excellent with only a minor cordite frosting. I fitted a bolt head from a 1908 Greek Mannlicher that wasn't too badly pitted that headspaced and polished out. I've selectively touched up the rust blue and repaired the minor cracks in the wood so the rifle is good enough to shoot. I have shot a few rounds of Pri-partizan ammo through it without really shooting for accuracy. Here's the problem, the bore slugs to a nominal .268" and most of contemporary 6.5 160grn molds I see are going to be pretty undersized. Short of shooting a relatively soft bullet in hopes it will slug up to the bore size, any suggestions on who can cut me a 160 bore riding round nose mold?

[JHeath]

Photos please. Little gems.

Can he BeagleTM that far up?

[texassako]

NOE has one .269 163 gr that is currently out of stock. Might ask when they will cut some more. They also have a couple more .269+ molds to choose from. http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.php?cPath=27&osCsid=ab13r8btqegq3l2lreq2l8l1v6

[Baja_Traveler]

Your best bet is to try and get that NOE mold since your bore is oversized. Every NOE mold I own is simply awesome. I've been shooting a BRP 140gr sized to .266 in my dads old rifle with moderate success. You could try the 160gr Cruise Missile mold from MidSouth - they've been mis-cut and are ridiculously oversized - more like .270, but it may actually work for you, and its cheap. I really haven't put the time into load development to really make mine shine. Some day I'll work up a tack driving load for it...
This is the rifle my dad carried across the Brooks Range in Alaska after he got back from WWII - tons of sentimental value, and an awesome rifle to boot...
125598

[Zouave 58]

Thanks for the info- there is nothing quite like the craftsmanship of these rifles, perhaps even to rival the quality of the British gun houses. And there's a lot to be said for these early smokeless calibers, the 6.5 Swede is the pick of the litter, but the 6.5 Mannlicher is in my opinion is badly under rated. I will indeed get in touch with NOE, and I agree about their quality. At some point I may post a segment on the gunsmithing thread about the restoration of this rifle. Thanks