____ case fireformed into 6.5x55?

[444ttd]

its hard to find 6.5x55 brass, so i would like to fire form it. i have a mini cut off saw and 6.5x55 lee dies. i was going to use 30-06 or 270 brass but the rim diameter is different(.473" to .480"). is that ok or do i have to find a different case?

[zarrinvz24]

6.5x55 is one of the unique animals that isn’t a good candidate for case conversions as the cartridge base is not the same size(.480”) as .308 (.473”).

[444ttd]

6.5x55 is one of the unique animals that isn’t a good candidate for case conversions as the cartridge base is not the same size(.480”) as .308 (.473”).

i noticed!!!!!![smilie=l:

[Budzilla 19]

I’ve done it before, and other than a bulge on a few cases, they worked ok, for sure! It was a time in my life where I head ZERO cash for factory cases! I have plenty now, so those cases are relegated to the scrap barrel now.

[Budzilla 19]

Pm sent to you, 444ttd

[zarrinvz24]

i noticed!!!!!![smilie=l:

Sorry, its been awhile since I've looked into it, but it was generally a "don't do it." At one time I avoided nearly all the domestic produced 6.5x55 factory ammo because there isn't a suitable cartridge for conversion, it is unique to the 6.5x55. With that being said, it would seem that the practice wasn't a safety issue. I'd imagine it severely limits case life though.

Perhaps make a post in the classifieds? I've been pretty successful finding what I'm looking for here amongst the membership.

[444ttd]

Budzilla 19 pm sent back. :-D

[444ttd]

Sorry, its been awhile since I've looked into it, but it was generally a "don't do it." At one time I avoided nearly all the domestic produced 6.5x55 factory ammo because there isn't a suitable cartridge for conversion, it is unique to the 6.5x55. With that being said, it would seem that the practice wasn't a safety issue. I'd imagine it severely limits case life though.

Perhaps make a post in the classifieds? I've been pretty successful finding what I'm looking for here amongst the membership.

i'm going to do that next.

[15meter]

For cast loads, I have used 270 Winchester for years with zero problems. I have some factory 6.5x55 and the rim/head has measured at .473. If the factories can do it with full house loads, I suspect I'm not going to blow myself up with 14 or 15 grains of 2400.

I choose 270 Win because I don't own a 270. If I see a 270 headstamp I know it's for "something" that's not a 270. I have not had any issues with having to turn necks on them. I suspect it is the military chamber that was probably cut on the maximum size.

That was a number of years ago when both the wallet and the supply of 6.5x55 were pretty thin. I have since acquired a fair supply of 6.5 brass but still shoot the reformed brass also.

Case life on cast loads has not been an issue, anneal the necks regularly and they keep on shooting. I have also fired some standard velocity hunting jacketed reloads with the reformed brass and haven't blown myself up yet. Total of those loads is probably less than 5% of what I have fired out of the rifle.

Accuracy is adequate with the military sights and my eyes and stock trigger.


YMMV

[15meter]

And a more appropriate donor case would probably be the 7x57. Only .020 to reduce in diameter and .080 to cut off in length.

7x57 isn't the most common, but it is much more available that 6.5x55.

I don't use it because I load for a half a dozen 7x57's.

The 6.5's would chamber in the 7x57's and fire with no problems, just ruin the case and have crappy accuracy.

Buddy tried it(by accident) with a 6.5x54 in a 7x57. Blew the shoulder forward, split the neck and was whimpy sounding but it did indeed hit the target.

Mauser fed from the magazine picked up the round and held it by the extractor well enough to go off.

Dang controlled round feeding.

[nicholst55]

Years ago, RCBS used to say DON'T DO IT! when questioned about converting any common .473" diameter .30-06 family of brass to 6.5X55 brass. Then when the influx of M96 Swede Mausers hit the US, Winchester and Remington began making 6.5 brass and ammo with the common .473" case head size, and everybody thought that was just fine. I used some of it when I had an M96 Mauser and didn't experience the catastrophic failures that RCBS had predicted. European brass and ammo still uses the .480" case head. So, who's right? Both, is my guess. I would expect that if you try to make your 6.5X55 into a .264 Win Mag, the case heads will expand to the point where the sized brass won't chamber - right before the primer pockets become so loose that new primers fall out. I sold my M96 Mauser and built a 6.5-06; brass for conversion isn't an issue with it.

[Stewbaby]

One option is to buy the wooden blank rounds, pull the bullet, dump the blank powder and then neck size and reload with your preferred load and bullet. Link below. Expensive shipping due to weight but still works out to less that $0.06/primed case (Berdan though so no reuse typically). Definitely a great deal today given how hard primers are to find.

It’s about all I use.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20211119/fe1cc9c026ede5cd0123337b0c7d8070.jpg


https://www.jgsales.com/6.5x55-swedish-m14-blank,-wooden-projectile,-4800rds.-p-92711.html

[toot]

now, what I have done to make them for 46 yrs with out any problem is to take / use 220 SWIFT as a base case. I lube them and run them through a 6.5 JAPANESE good set of dies, RCBS or LYMAN, trim, fire form, shoot it in your rifle and VIOLA, you will have 6.5 JAPANESE. cartridge. so simple a cave man can do it!!! this is what I do, you may find another way. I used 220 SWIFT, because I had many of the cases, and was never going to acquire one.

[AntiqueSledMan]

Hello 444ttd,

I've been loading & shooting the 6.5x55 Swede for 25 years.
I was completely unaware that the U.S. companies were using .473" diameter brass.
I went & measured some of my reloads, base measured .476".
Then I found some Remington never fired, they measured .475".
All my brass is headstamped "6.5x55 Swede R-P"
I guess if I had nothing else, I'd go for it.

AntiqueSledMan.

[zarrinvz24]

I'm not sure if this is applicable, but I will say that one of the reasons I was so concerned about the differences in cartridge base design is that many of my 6.5x55 reloads were fired through an AG-42B Ljungmann. If you aren't familiar with this platform, it is an interesting one, and like all semi-automatics it is especially sensitive to brass. That was why I avoided the domestic manufacture smaller base casings, but if I were firing in only bolt actions (of Mauser design) I would probably be much less concerned about the 7-thousandths difference between them. If one possesses the rare-bird Krag in 6.5x55 (which are beautiful in their own right), it may need to be reexamined as the 6.5x55 is a fairly high pressure cartridge, and that action is not as strong as the small-ring Mauser.

[444ttd]

I'm not sure if this is applicable, but I will say that one of the reasons I was so concerned about the differences in cartridge base design is that many of my 6.5x55 reloads were fired through an AG-42B Ljungmann. If you aren't familiar with this platform, it is an interesting one, and like all semi-automatics it is especially sensitive to brass. That was why I avoided the domestic manufacture smaller base casings, but if I were firing in only bolt actions (of Mauser design) I would probably be much less concerned about the 7-thousandths difference between them. If one possesses the rare-bird Krag in 6.5x55 (which are beautiful in their own right), it may need to be reexamined as the 6.5x55 is a fairly high pressure cartridge, and that action is not as strong as the small-ring Mauser.


i'm (well, my son's rifle) going use a 1916 spanish mauser bolt rebarreled to 6.5 swede. i'm going to try a 270 and a '06 case first.

[zarrinvz24]

IIRC, the 1916 Spanish Mauser is based on the 1898 large ring action, in which case is even stronger than the small ring actions normally associated with this caliber, with probably another 1/4" of steel surrounding the case head. I would proceed with a clear mind.

[junkbug]

No, I'm pretty sure the Model 1916 Spanish Mauser is based on the 1893/95 action.

https://www.libertytreecollectors.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=8212

[Texas by God]

The LA Corona 1943 Spanish Mauser is a 98 action. The Oviedo 1916 Spanish Mauser is a 93 action. Both are suitable for the 6.5x55 Swedish cartridge.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[deltaenterprizes]

According to my 4th edition Handloaders Manual of Cartridge Conversions it tells you to use 270 Win brass!
Run it into a 6.5x 55 die and trim to length!
30’06 should work also!

[deltaenterprizes]

Duplicate post

[muskeg13]

Group sizes were cut in half when I switched to properly sized Lapua, Norma and Norwegian brass. I had been loading 6.5x55 U.S. and Korean PMC brass with -06 sized bases for several years, and getting OK, but not exceptional accuracy. On using Norwegian military, and then later purchasing fairly expensive Lapua and Norma brass, without making other load changes, group sizes shrunk dramatically for all the loads I tried in several M-96 and M98 rifles chambered for 6.5x55. The accuracy improvement was worth the extra expense.