6.5x55 squirrel loads

[DonMountain]

We have been having problems with squirrels chewing off wires on our cars here on the farm, and I want to develop a "squirrel load" for a Swedish Mauser M38 carbine. I have a bag of new Winchester brass I bought several years ago along with a bunch of projectiles I cast using a Lyman 266469 RNGC mold of 140 grains. These have not been sized or lubed yet, which I will do using a LAM-II with 2500+ lube. Generally I use Winchester Large Rifle Primers since I bought a case of them. So, does anybody have some suggested loads for this sort of application? Otherwise I will have to start with whats presented in the Lyman Cast Bullet Manuals #3 or #4.

[DIRT Farmer]

What distance, mine shoots high but light loads like 4 grains of Green dot are not much more than a puff ans shoot close to the sights at 20 yards. No gas check needed and as far as lube Im guessing butter would work at those speeds

[DonMountain]

What distance, mine shoots high but light loads like 4 grains of Green dot are not much more than a puff ans shoot close to the sights at 20 yards. No gas check needed and as far as lube Im guessing butter would work at those speeds

I will probably continue to use the 12 gauge shotgun loads using #5 shot for the close-in shots to 30 or 40 yards. So I am going to use the 6.5x55 Mauser for the longer shots, if I can hit them at that range. So, maybe 40 to 80 yards will be my maximum range. I am using the original open sights so that is kind of a limit for me too. I want to switch to a rifle so maybe we can start saving them to eat. I've got my cases all sized and primed, and a bunch of the projectiles sized to 0.266" that the rifle likes. So now I am looking at loads. Maybe I could use some of that SR-4759 I bought a few years ago when they suggested they were going to stop making it.

[DonMountain]

I tried 14.0 grains of SR-4759 with the Lyman 140 grain gas checked bullet and I think I can hit squirrels out to 60 or 70 yards, so that looks promising with 5 rounds fired.

[DIRT Farmer]

Ah my load is IMR 4198, would have to look but I know it is the 1.9 Lee dipper, been using that load with the lyman 140 grain bullit gas checked and it is the Lovern style 4 groves lubed. Clay targets at 100 was easy when I could see

[DonMountain]

Ah my load is IMR 4198, would have to look but I know it is the 1.9 Lee dipper, been using that load with the lyman 140 grain bullit gas checked and it is the Lovern style 4 groves lubed. Clay targets at 100 was easy when I could see

I believe thats the same bullet mold I have. I would like to know how many grains that 1.9 Lee dipper holds of IMR 4198, as I have a couple pounds of that too. I used a 1 grain dacron fluff ball also with the SR-4759.

[DIRT Farmer]

Per the lee chart the 1.9 dipper holds 24 grains of IMR 4198. Please double check, YMMV

[robinsroost]

If you are still loading shotgun shells, use the same powder, about 4 or 5 grains will work nicely. I load 4 grains of Clays in my .243 under an 85 grain rngc………...robin

[james23]

I have a lyman 266305 that drops about 105 grain bullet gas checked that shoots very well with 8 grains of red dot. It is a very light round.

[DonMountain]

What kind of velocities are you-all getting with these really light loads of Red Dot and Clays? I am looking for accurate loads that I can hit with from 40 to 80 yards and the varying distances may cause me some distance guessing causing misses? But of course that will mean that I need to do more target shooting to find out where it hits at different ranges. And get better at guessing what my target squirrel ranges are? I only have about 600 of these 140 grain Lyman bullets cast up.

[white eagle]

must have big squirrels
around here we use 22's :bigsmyl2:

[Streetwalker]

I use that same cast bullet (Lyman 266469) with 10.5 grains of Unique and that combination is very, very accurate in my three Swede's. Another combination to try is that same bullet with 8 grains of Green Dot. I use Winchester cases as well and prime them with any standard large rifle primer I have on hand.

[DonMountain]

must have big squirrels
around here we use 22's :bigsmyl2:

Well, when I was a kid I used a 22 Long Rifle and did pretty well with it. But now that I am middle aged I can't use such a low-powered kid round anymore. Here we use a 45-70 with 520 grain bullets for deer hunting. So, for a big squirrel I need at least a 140 grain bullet don't I? Although one year I used only a 320 grain bullet from a 44 Mag to kill a small deer. And the other problem always pops up after some elections. So, I have to "save" those 5000 rounds of 22 Long Rifle ammo I have stashed in case of an emergency?