I got around to shooting my 93 Spanish small ring Mauser in the 6.5x55 Swede.

[DalesCarpentry]

I have had this rifle a year now and just got around to shooting it. Here is the back ground on this rifle.
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,187217.30.html
http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,195087.0.html
 I just started hand loading this past spring and have just started working up some loads for it. I started out with IMR 4064 powder and Speer 120 grain Hot Cor soft point bullets. The best groups I could get out of it with that powder and bullet combo was about 2'' at 100 yards. To say I was disapointed would be an understatement. I loaded some of the same bullets last night with Varget and some with 120 grain Hornady A-Max I had laying around to see what they would do. Well even with the Varget the Speer bullets still did not group well although they were a little better than with the IMR 4064. Then I shot the Hornady 120 grain A-Max bullets. They shot an inch or less at 100 yards. I have found that this rifle likes them a lot. What do you think?









These bullets will not be any good hunting White Tail Deer so I need to find a very simular deer hunting bullet. I am thinking maybe a Nosler Ballistic tip bullet with a boat tail that weighs 120 grains. I think that bullet would be pretty close to the boat tail A-Max. What do you think? Do you have any sugestions? I think it shoots pretty well for a rifle that is almost 100 years old but have to admit I was a little worried about how it shot with the Speer bullets and the 4064 powder. Take care Dale

[Mikey]

Well, let's see now....2" at 100 yds with a 100 yr old Mauser...I think that is pretty dang good Dale, you shouldn't get hard on yourself with that kind of performance. 

If this is in the 6.5 Swedish Mauser caliber I would try some Sellier and Bellot ammo - 131 gn soft points.  They shoot very accurately in my M38. 

If you have a Swedish mil-spec barrel on that Mauser (looks like it)  it should shoot very, very well with the right loads (as it does with the Hornadys). 

[DalesCarpentry]

Well, let's see now....2" at 100 yds with a 100 yr old Mauser...I think that is pretty dang good Dale, you shouldn't get hard on yourself with that kind of performance. 

If this is in the 6.5 Swedish Mauser caliber I would try some Sellier and Bellot ammo - 131 gn soft points.  They shoot very accurately in my M38. 

If you have a Swedish mil-spec barrel on that Mauser (looks like it)  it should shoot very, very well with the right loads (as it does with the Hornadys). 

The Hornady were shooting an inch or less. Dale

[zoner]

good job on the load workups. I reload also and we try to wring all the accuracy we can from our rifles, and i recall you intend to use this rifle for deer hunting. 2inches at 100 yds with a good hunting bullet will do the job fine,buddy. Hit em in the front shoulder,probly get a pass thru(exit hole) and you'll get your deer........good huntin

[Mikey]

Dale - Nosler might have the boat tail you're looking for, maybe Sierra too. 

[billy_56081]

Looking good Dale, don't beafraid to try the 120 grain Btips as well at the 140s. I think hornady makes a 129 that should be a winner too.

[Brithunter]

I have a sporterised Swedish Mauser with a military barrel and found that it shot the Speer 120 grain bullets very well using H4350 powder and they worked superbly on deer.

[Mikey]

Dale:  in a pinch you could probably use the Sellier and Bellot factory ammo with a 131 gn boat tail soft point.  This ammo is soooo accurate in my sporterized M38 that I don't reload for the 6.5; mine shoots to the same hole at 150m and last year I took a 6 pt buck at 175m, placing the bullet exactly where I wanted it to go.

[Larry Gibson]

Dale

I've 2 spoterized 6.5x55s; one is still the original M38 action and the other is a new M38 barrel on a Mexican SR M98.  I could never get the Speer 120s to shoot any better either.  The Sierra 120s shoot very, very well in both rifles, sub moa.  Most 6.5 Swede barrels have groove depths of .266 - .268 so some commercial .264 bullets just don't like to shoot in them.  I've pretty much setteled on Sieera 100 HPs at 3200 fps for varmints, Sierra 120 SP at 2900 fps for combo varmint/antelope/small deer and the Hornady 140 at 2750 fps for deer/bear/elk.  I use varget for the 100 and 120 gr bullets and H4831SC for the 140s. 

I also have converted several COC SR Mausers to cock on opening.  I currently have a Spanish M1916, a Chilean M95 and the Swedish M38 converted to cock on opening.  It give a bolt lift and lock time similar to a M70.  Some don't care one way or the other but for me it was a worthwhile conversion to the sporters.

Larry Gibson

[usherj]

In original miltary configuration, the Swedes can generally be counted on to group 5 shots into 2" or less with the open sights. So trying for 1 MOA or less is entirely reasonable with a scope. Of course they paid very careful attention to bedding and other details of assembly when they were built back then. When sporterized it is possible for those features to be lost. Anyway, I had a sporterized M96 with a worn barrel that wouldn't shoot boat tails. The inexpensive Hornady 160g round noses with RL22 grouped very well, and that bullet is very effective on deer, even with the lower velocity. I would say that they are good out to 200 yards with less meat damage. The long bullet can be seated closer to the lands, which helps. Those lighter bullets have a pretty long jump. Good luck

[1911crazy]

My swede shoots great using the bullet weights between 139gr to 140gr it seems to be the sweet spot for the 6,5mm swede caliber.

[shot1]

Get one of the 4350 powders, I like Accurate 4350 and some 120 Nosler ballistic tips or Sierra 120 SP for the average Whitetail deer and 130 Nosler Accubond for everything else. With the long 29" barrel of a model 96 Swede you can reach 3000 fps with the 120's and 2850 fps with the 130 gr bullets and stay under 46,000 CUP pressure which is the max for these actions. The 6.5X55 Swede is a real killer and a flat shooter. In the deer department I have whacked and stacked them with my sporter 96. And I have taken home many a prize from the vintage military rifle matches with my full dress military 96's and 38. I shoot 140 Sierra Match Kings with IMR 4895 for target work. All my rifles will shoot 5 shots well under 1" at 100 yards if I do my part.

[Brithunter]

Have just changed the scope on my Swedish mauser, it's a 1905ish Gustav with 22" barrel sporterised (by some company in US, or so I was told). I took off the 7x50 Meopta and replaced it with a no name 8x56 scope with duplex recticle adusting the scope to the reading from the 7x50 with a collimeter and then shooting to confirm and set zero. The shots were from prone using a sand bag as a front rest. Only did it quickly at 60 paces but once the small adjustment that was required was made it put the last two shots through the same hole. The previous shot was a bit to the right, about 1/4" the next shot cut the central line so the third was fired to confirm the adjustment and it hit shot number two all three measure 0.33" with POI 1 1/2" high from point of aim the load was:-

Hornady 129 Gr SP over 46.5gr of Reloader 19 with Rem 9 1/2 primer in aNorma brass with a COL of 3.010"

Whilst it's safe in my rifle use this data/information at your own risk