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Thread: Making Swedish 6.5x55 brass from .308 thoughts.

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
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    I've a box of 6mm Remington that someone converted to 6.5x55. Not that it's common but if you have them it should be just a quick trim to length after sizing.

  2. #22
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    I hadn’t thought about dwell time in the die. Good idea. Been out in my barn casting some Lyman 266469 bullets. A neat looking bullet. Did 80 and am taking a break. With all those lube grooves they shouldn’t lead the barrel.

    Well, been a productive afternoon, I learned that I do not need to thin the necks at all. I had thinned 5, loaded and fired them and had lead on the outside of the case mouth. Never seen lead flow back onto a case before. The case mouths were not sealing so I tried 5 that had not been thinned and had no lead flowback, they looked normal, chambered fine. I’ve loaded those 5 cases three times now and shot them at my steel with no issues other than it hitting low at 40 yds. But one has developed cracks at the neck. They will have to be annealed but not thinned. I’m using my light BAMM load of 10.5 gr of N32C. I use the same load in my krags and ‘03s. I use 193 gr boolits for them.
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 05-09-2022 at 06:43 PM.

  3. #23
    Boolit Master Baltimoreed's Avatar
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    I finally put my Swede on paper today using my Lyman cast boolits and .25/.30-06 brass. Even with the oddball components I got an inch group at 40 yds off my bench. Tried it offhand at my 65 yd M52 preA target and hit it once out of 5 tries. Need to try it off the bench next. Not bad for a 119 year old. Very pleased with it.

    Next project will be a case annealer. One of my 6.5x55 made from commercial ‘06 cracked on the third loading. Got plenty of ‘06 but they should last longer than that plus the annealer will stretch the life of my Krag brass. Looked in my barn and found a good rotisserie motor. Lots of different designs out there to plagiarize.
    Last edited by Baltimoreed; 05-14-2022 at 07:12 PM.

  4. #24
    Boolit Buddy
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    I bought 1,800 of the wooden blanks for $50. I pull the wooden heads and re-use the blank powder. Each case contains 23 grains, which is reloaded with 19-20 grains of the same powder under a 140 grain rcbs cast boolit. Shoots about 5-6 inches at 200 meters which is the best I can see or hold at that distance with the mauser's stock sights. Dirty and needs to be cleaned right away due to the corrosive primers, but the brass, primer and powder are already there. At 7.2 cents per round, it's cheaper than most .22 lr. Just take the brass to the recycler or pitch it and forget about it.

  5. #25
    Boolit Master

    Dutchman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dogmower View Post
    I bought 1,800 of the wooden blanks for $50. I pull the wooden heads and re-use the blank powder. Each case contains 23 grains, which is reloaded with 19-20 grains of the same powder under a 140 grain rcbs cast boolit. Shoots about 5-6 inches at 200 meters which is the best I can see or hold at that distance with the mauser's stock sights. Dirty and needs to be cleaned right away due to the corrosive primers, but the brass, primer and powder are already there. At 7.2 cents per round, it's cheaper than most .22 lr. Just take the brass to the recycler or pitch it and forget about it.
    You're doing it the right way except..... the primers aren't corrosive.

    I load 12-13 grs of the Swede gallery powder but I'm shooting only 50 yds. You're exceeding the velocity of accuracy with 19-20 grs with that fast powder. I'm also shooting 140 gr Ideal 266469 and Lyman 266673 @ 1,500 fps and getting five shots into 1/2" at 50 yds.

    .268" size is mo'better but Lyman molds won't give you that diameter. The older Ideal will give .270" to size to .268".

    Dutch

  6. #26
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Baltimoreed View Post
    Looking some pointers on forming 6.5x55 brass from .308. I assume that .308 would be better than any of the longer ‘06 cartridges. Have 57 pieces of .308. I also have a Hornady neck turning tool that I bought to use for 300 blkout. Found a nice Carl Gustav 1903 Swedish Mauser on my birthday last month. Have dies, Lyman mould, etc ordered.
    Attachment 299825
    You've already been clued in about .308 brass being too short. May I offer a suggestion?

    I've shot and handloaded 6.5x55 since 1969. My first purchased brass was Norma. Bought one box and it was expensive. The next year I sprung for 100 pcs of Norma and I have left about 90 pcs. I don't keep track of how many times they've been loaded. Four or five maybe. I also don't hotdog 6.5x55. The hottest loads I've played with were the Hornady 100 gr softpoint@ 3,000 fps. Really flat shooting for jackrabbit and coyotes and squirrels. I've loaded and shot 77 gr Norma softpoints to Hornady 160 gr RN. I'm very partial to the Hornady 160 gr RN.

    Its a premium rifle. Give it premium brass and you will smile.

    Dutch
    p.s. your 1903 Gustaf has a beech replacement stock and it looks very nice condition. I'd bet the barrel looks new or darn close to being new. I see one hole on the rear bridge so it was prepped for diopter sights but doesn't mean it ever had target sights. They got the approval from the army in case.....

    p.p.s. I also use the pull-down Swede gallery ammo and use the fast powder at a level akin to Unique. I run the case mouth into a .268" neck expander (from NOE) and crimp the cast bullet with a Lee crimp die. Even if you don't use the powder you'll have a primed Swedish once-fired case and it will last for quite a lot of cast bullet shooting.

    How can you have such a topic without Swedish porn? 1905 Carl Gustaf m/96.


  7. #27
    Boolit Grand Master


    GregLaROCHE's Avatar
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    Is 6.5x55 brass that hard to fin these days? Once it was rare and then it became easy to find. In Europe, there’s a lot of once fired brass available. I think it is still used by the Swedish military sometimes.

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy
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    It’s available. No brass is cheap right now. I’d buy 50 pieces of the Prvi and enjoy the rifle.

    https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...ategoryId/704?

  9. #29
    Boolit Master
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    I bought some Prvi when Obongo was president, and you couldn't find anything. I needed 260 rem and could find none so I got 243 and necked up. The primer pockets were not always centered but it shoot just as good as Winchester and Remington. Prvi would be an excellent choice, but if I had one of those fine Swedes Id get some Lapua and be done with it

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check