6.5x55 mm

[edwin41]

found out another thing this evening when i was rolling some for try outs next week.

in house i had somewhere a perforator , that is used for punching holes in paper.
turns out that the paper "disks"in the reservoir is the same size as the bottom of my bullet , so i took some , wet them in water and sticked them to the bullets base.
then i patched the bullet the same as the first ones i did.
i think it would be a nice protection of the base , and i can even put in a carton or
maby some thicker , stronger paper.

so , another thing i have to experiment with....

i patched 20 bullets this evening , 10 of them with the core sized at 6.45 mm,
and 10 of them with the core at 6.50 mm , the difference is like 0.016 ".
lets see how this works out.

[edwin41]

so , now i load me up a new batch of 20 cartridges.
the cores were of different size this time , glad i made some sizers !
the primer was again federal no 210 , the powder being lovex d060 [ acurrate 5477].
i made bullets that i marked A : 19.0 gr core 6.45 mm
B : 19.5 gr core 6.45 mm
C : 19.0 gr core 6.50 mm
D : 19.5 gr core 6.50 mm
the results are in the foto , its shot at 100 mtr , prone position and i didnt touch the sights.

at home i found there is still some leading in the bore , i dont know if its from my reloads, or the bore isnt properly dressed for paperpatch yet , as by now only 40 of them have been shot
well see how this will be after some while , for now im not worrying about it.
i was gonna tryout the other core diameter , but i havent enough comparrising yet.
best grouping i had tonight was with the bullet marked "b"i think , wich was the core at 6.45.
this core size has me puzzled a bit , when i take one of the 6.45 sized ones i can easly
put them in my barrel with some pressure of my thumb , when recovered i dont see much engraving of the lands.
however , when i put one sized 6.50 mm in my barrel i have to tap it in , and when i recover this one i can definitly see some engravings.
after reading pdawgs post again i think the 6.50 mm has the best specification .
maby the bullet of 6.45 mm bumps up a little under the pressure?
i also noticed that the nose of my castings is smaller then boresize , so maby i can set the patch further down the bullet , lets say to the first driving band , and it can enter the throat
a little further... hmm must look in to this next week.
all in all i have a great time experimenting in paperpatched boolit shooting !

[edwin41]

the new results :

[edwin41]

i took some quick measurements :
with the bullet patched like i ve done so far , i have an overall cartridge lenght of
69.90 mm [ 2.72 "].
this is with the cartridge in the chamber and the bold closed.
when i now do the same , but cut the patch back to the first drivingband, i have
an overall cartridge lenght of 74 mm [ 2.91 "].
and still no sign of engraving on the patch i might add .

cutting down on the patch lets my bullet 4 mm [ 0.157"] closer to the lands .

i think i ll have my next thing to try right here...

[edwin41]

done some further testing today.
for now i have a load that i intend to use for some time , it seems to work just fine for me.
accuracy seems to be fine now , im not a great shot , but the holes in the paper
are close together.
my load for now is a bullet , 140 gr, with a paperpatch that leaves the nose bare.
in fact , the patch starts at the first driving band.
the coresize is 6.45 mm , two wraps of bar printingpaper , final sizing at .264'.
lubed lightly with a beeswax/vaseline mix.
the primer is a federal 210 , powder is 19.5 gr of aa 5477 [ called lovex d060 here].

seems to work just fine for me !

[edwin41]

still improving.
19.5 gr lovex do6o powder , coresize 6.45 mm.
funny thing is that the first five shots were at the center , and the following shots
are sliding down , but as a group.
found out that my backsight is a little loose , will try to fasten it up a bit.
100 mtr , off hand prone position.

[edwin41]

i think i have the rearsight looseness tackeled now.
it appeared to be some play in the metal to metal contact on the sliding part.
i slided off the upper part and cleaned the bearing surface , then with a tip of a screwdriver i tipped some molycote 3402 C LF antifriction coating on to it.
left it to dry for ten minutes and put it back together again.
i still can adjust my rearsight now , but the play is gone.
the coating takes up the play like a cushion.

i really like this stuff !

[edwin41]

so , now with the rearsight thight fitting the groups shrink a lot !
im not posting the results cause i removed the rearsight , and had to readjust
shooting the rifle , but i can definitly see improvemend.

the previous mentioned "perforator discs "work great , i had some in thicker magazine glossy paper .
i wet them and stick them to the bullets base , then i wrap my soaking wet paper.
i start the wrapping at the point were the first driving band begins.
my patches are to long , and when rolled on to the bullet i tear of the end , wich is easy cause there wet , and the ends i tap with my finger to the base.
it will leave the paper disk covered at the ends but the middle exposed.

these disc i find about five yards or so from the muzzle , and they are intact.

[edwin41]

wow ,
3874 times vieuwed... im impressed !

[Linstrum]

As of 10-26-12 it's up to 4024 views! Yeah, that is impressive, and about the only thing I can conclude is your subject is pretty dear to a lot of us. The original Swedish Military 6.5x55 with its fast rate of twist can be a challenge to load cast projectiles for, but cast is pretty much all I shoot in my two m96 Swedes. I already listed my load elsewhere, but I'll do it again, I use the 140 grain SAECO 0.264 lapped out to 0.267" for one Swede and 0.269" for the other and no more than 46 grains IMR5010 with 140 grain boolits. At around 47 grains IMR5010 the boolits just disappear and don't make it 100 yards to the target. Don't know where they go.

[Nobade]

Haha, I resemble that remark! I had boolits break in half and hit my truck, which was at 90 degrees and barely in front of the firing line about 50 yards away. That fast twist does interesting things to lead boolits if they're not wrapped in paper first.

[edwin41]

i just made me a batch of 40 cartridges for my first match on saturday...

i bet i will be the only one with paperpatched bullets !

[Linstrum]

Hey, edwin41, good luck! If you do well you will have to change your name from ed-WIN to ed-WON!

rl 1,154

[edwin41]

thanks lindstrom,
the competition is at high level , but my carl gustav is up for the challenge.

so is my ammunition..... paperpatched 140 gr loverin style bullet in a norma casing,
powered by my trusted 19.5 gr explosia d060 powder [aa5477].
had to change my frontside insert to a post , according to rules for this match though , lets see how this turns out.
the match will be in prone position , off hand and at 100 mtrs indoors.

[edwin41]

hmmm , i didnt do that well this first match.
of the maximum of 300 points i only took ...... 171 points.

i did my necksizing a little different , and this turned out to be a real handicap.
i make my cartridges to long , and then let the bold do the final O.A.L. , but this time the bullets were to thight in the brass.
i couldn t close the bold without using a lot of strength or knocking it with the palm.

the load itself seems to be accurat enough , maby some finetuning , but im very satisfied with it , paperpatching is the way to go for me !

i need some more triggertime with my swede , but we will get there , one step at a time !

greetings from holland !

[edwin41]

hello,
time for a little update , still trying to improve my cartridge.
first off all , i bought me a rcbs necksizer , i rather had the lyman , but it was not in stock over here in holland.
bought me a lyman "m"expander at the same time .
i did this for a more uniform necksize , dont wanna make the mistake i did at my first match again , sizing is under control now.

now for a very , very stupid mistake on my part..... get ready for it.
i never did any weighing off my bullets , i casted them , put them in a plastic container and just took out the amount i needed.

i never even thought twice about it neither , untill i was talking to a guy who told me he had a 5 gr difference in weight in his store bought bullets.. i overlooked the obvios completly.
yes , by now i took some measuremends and yes , the weight differs from bullet to bullet , so i have to make some matching batches.
ill bet that will shrink my groupings !

[edwin41]

now another nice thing i found out,
at the range last week there was a guy who brought a piece of hardwood , about 5x5" wich he hang in the place of the normal papertarget, on a steel rod, it was for some ammotesting i think , distance 100 meters.
he shot an AR type of gun in the caliber of 7.62 mm. [nato cal].

the shots he fired at it went clean through , the block would swivel back and forward somewhat.
i told him i could get the block in one shot , and we made a bed... i won me a beverage in the cantine.
my bullet also went clean through , but took the block right of his rod too , the block was found in the sandstop.
i couldn t believe this , but i did this another two times , taken the block clean of its hanging.
he also took some shots at it , the block would swivel every time he hit it.

i learned this much from it....
my load may appear to be a sissy load with its low recoil , soft lead and lowered velocity , but its
one heck of a stopper !
my bullets put a lot more energie in the block , and the damage was far greater than the nato cal.
mind you , they still went straight through.

im not a hunter , if i was i would know my hunting load now.

[edwin41]

i counted my primers and came to the conclusion i fired 285 shots with my paperpatched bullets.
i started with a badge of 25 casings , and they are reloaded about ten times now. [40 shot at the match were another badge].
the badge of 25 are the cheaper prvi partizan casings too , but still no sign of wear on them.
i had them full lenght resized 2 times , and i heated the necks with a propane torch to anneal them 5 times. [so every other time].
i started out with a 500 grams cannister of powder , and its not empty yet , it will take me over 300 shots.

so , all in all it is a economical load , and easy on the brass.

[edwin41]

now , since i know that my bullets vary in weight i have to find a way to get them more equal.
took a long look at my case trimmer and this is what i came up with...
made me a holder for my casted bullets , roughly the shape of a .357 magnum casing, with a hole in it that supports the bullet , and in this bore i put in a tiny o - ring to protect the nose and cause some friction so that the bullet would not simply rotate with the cutter.
when i took out the original case cutter of the trimmer i noticed that the internal threads are the same of cuttingtools [millingmachine] with a "clarkson"type of toolhead. i have some of these so i went ahead and tried it.
it actually works , with the turn of the handle bulletmaterial gets cut of and trues up the bulletbase to a flat straight surface.

have to do some experiments with this , but it looks promissing .

[edwin41]