CB for 6.5x52 Carcano

[Nora]

I've had an M91 Cavalry Carbine given to me as a kid to hang on the wall in my room next to my Red Rider and Springfield Mod15. My dad bought a box of Norma ammo for me to shoot. The only way that I can describe the out come is to say it was abysmal. Tin cans at 25 yards with the .22 was a norm. 25 yards with the 6.5 yielded 3 hits out of 18 on a paper plate. I never asked for any more ammo for it again. The $20 he spent could have bought a lot of (Win) Wildcats instead. It was cleaned and went back on the wall as a decoration. It came from the odds and ends section of my grandfathers guns and would not be parted with.

Fast Forward 30 some years later to last month. I saw Hornady listing ammo for it with the interned .268 instead of the .264 on the Norma. I bought a box and was pleased with it's performance enough to shell out for 200 rnds of brass a set of dies and 500 160gr rnsp. The old Beretta is now giving 1.5" @50 ydrs and 2.75 @100 yrds driven at 2150 fps.

Ok now to my point. I'd like to try making some CB's for it. I've been looking at the Lyman 6.5cal 150g #266673 mold. Tech support told me this mold will cast #2 to .265-.266". I want to shoot it as cast and not resized, but with a GS. Is it possible to add a GC without a sizing die?

Also though the chamber and barrel are in excellent shape when seated to length, the bullet sits .230" off the rifling. I'm not able to seat it any less or it won't fit in the magazine well. Will this have any potential problem with that kind of jump with a CB?

(for those who aren't familiar with them) The Carcano uses an en bloc style clip that if you don't put enough force into closing the bolt to grab the round out of the clip and send it into the chamber, it will end up in the top lug area instead. How well is a long nosed lead round going to handle this?

Lastly. I've never played with any thing in an alloy before. Doesn't seem to be rocket science, I've just stuck with straight WW, and water quenched and GC any that I intend to feed to a rifle. How much, if any size difference will there be between this and a #2 as cast?

Thanks in advance

Nora

[jonk]

As cast might be a touch softer than #2 but for mild velocity is fine.

I'd recommend the 6.5 'cruise missle' as available from midsouthshootersupply.com as it drops at about .268".

The jump isn't ideal but shouldn't hurt anything either. You just won't get ideal accuracy.

Best suggestion is to slug your bore. If it measures (as I would wager) at .266 or larger, the lyman might not be fat enough as it sits to do you any good. Cast should be 1/1000 an inch larger at least over bore diameter... hence the suggestion for the Lee mold from midsouth.

Since you are new here, welcome! And I'll also add- the loads for jacketed probably won't work too great for cast. Try to keep your velocity under 1800 fps for water quenched WW.

[Nelsdou44]

As jonk has recommended I've shot the cruise missiles (sized .268) from wheel weights through my M38 Short Rifle. Boolit seat out is limited by the length of the magazine. Feeding out of the clips is no problem. 10 grains of Unique achieves good accuracy despite having a bore that's pretty rough. I'd also recommend getting any residual copper out of the bore before going to cast.

Nels

[Nora]

Thanks guys for the input. could you post the link for the mold you are talking about? I found the sight but not the boolit.

Nora

[dabsond]

I've had that mold on backorder since October. I called yesterday, they still do not have an estimated date of delivery.

[swheeler]

Nora; see if you can find a Lee C277-125-r, I use that mold which drops a .278-9 bullet and run it through a .270 push through sizer, have used .272 sized also. I have also used the cruise missle and the 7mm soup can bullet/.272.

Edit- depending on your rifle the cruse missle may not cast large enough. The first I had,single cavity cast .270, but I decided to fly cut enough off to make it a PB 140 grain mold-then sold it on EBay, ordered a new 2 cavity frim Mid south, it casts .268/9- OOPS!

[jonk]

Here is the mold: http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=000066.5SWED

It is a special order. They take orders until they have enough (I don't know, 100 or so?) to waive the set up fee and then it goes through. Could be next week, could be 6 months.

[Nora]

I slugged the bore today. I'm impressed!! It's as close to perfect as could be expected. As per spec the bore was to be cut to .255 and grooves to .268. The slug came out with a .2550 bore, and .2675 across one set of grooves and .2680 across the other. (jonk gets paid for wager)

I called midsouth too. They said they have been ordered already, not waiting for a set quantity. Lee just hasn't made and went them yet.

Put one on back order, so I'll be playing the waiting game as well.

[jonk]

Lee also makes an oversized expander that works well with this mold. You have to call them directly though.

You could also 'beagle' your lyman mold. Just search and you'll find the instructions here somewhere.

[Leftoverdj]

You pretty much have to have a sizer to use modern GCs. You can use a slightly oversized die to crimp the GC without sizing the bullet. I've noted a couple of times that the oversized GC seemed to make up for a bullet that was a thou or two smaller than desireable.

The exception is old style Lyman GCs (plain cardboard box). They can be slipped onto the shank and are not intended to be crimped. Unfortunately, they also tend to slip off in flight with erratic results.

[johnly]

I have a lyman mold that drops at .268" and maybe a touch more. Want to borrow it? I even have a 6.5 Carcano clip I send your way.

John

[corvette8n]

Buckshot made me a .268 push thru sizer for my Carcano.
I shot some Privi 6.5 Carcano but couldn't hit the paper at 25 yards, it was ok cause I just wanted the brass, next time I get some I will pull the bullets dump the powder and used the primed brass.

My Carcano will swallow a .269 bullet with ease.

[Andy_P]

Not much original to add, but I'll add my voice to some of what has already been written.

I use the RCBS 270 cal 150gr GC and size it down to 0.270" using a custom sizer made by Buckshot. I used it without the GC, but kept MV low - to less than 1500 fps. Accuracy was good.

[Buckshot]

.............Most 6.5 Carcanos want a fat (compared to the Swede) boolit. My little M91/38 TS has a .256" bore and a .268" groove. I use slugs sized .269".

http://www.fototime.com/B55472729A707A9/standard.jpg

Left is the 6.5 Kurtz, which was a 6 cav group buy done a couple years ago. Depending on alloy it runs .268 - .271" and 128 to 132 grs. The one on the right was a group by here also but is still carried by Mid-South. The original design was fat enough but it's been done and re-done by Lee. Last report from a purchaser was that he could barely get .268". Dunno about alloys tried or what.

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