6.5 Swede

[Jeff Higgins]

Officially known as the 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser, the old "Swede" is, in my humble opinion, the king of the medium bores. Hugely popular here after WWII, coming into the country by the shipload along with the K98's, SMLE's, Springfields, Garands, and whatnot, the little M96 Swedish Mauser was the creme of the crop. The best made, the best finish, and a sweetheart of a caliber. I've had several over the years, and a couple of other rifles so chambered. My oldest son killed his first big game animals with a M70 Featherweight so chambered.

You folks are probably aware by now of my affinity for single shots and lever guns. The best (readily available) modern single shot, in my opinion, is the Ruger #1. Well, after years of looking, I was finally able to marry up one of my favorite calibers in one of my favorite rifles - I found a NIB #1A Light Sporter in 6.5 x 55. Ruger made a run of 200 of these about eight to ten years ago, and I missed getting one then. Well, I finally fixed that.



The reason I believe the 6.5 x 55 is the "king of the medium bores" can be summed up in two words: sectional density. The "standard" original military bullet weight was 160 grains. In such a small bore, that makes for one hell of a long bullet, which translates to very, very high sectional density. While many modern shooters have sought to "update" the ballistics of the old warhorse by dropping bullet weight to 120 to 140 grains and increasing velocity proportionately, I believe that is a mistake. It earned its stellar reputation in the field through straight, deep penetration, achieved with its 160 grain bullets at moderate velocity.

By way of comparison, here is the 160 grain 6.5 bullet flanked by a standard 50 grain .223 and 180 grain .30 caliber. Note the length of that 6.5:



Loaded rounds with the same bullets:



With a modern action like my son's M70 Featherweight, we can push these bullets a bit faster than the old rear-locking M96 Mausers would tolerate. Still nowhere near modern "magnum" velocities, but an honest 2450-2500 fps is well within the safe limits of a #1 or a M70. That's really all one needs to cleanly take deer, and even elk, if one chooses shots carefully - pretty much a prerequisite with a single shot anyway.

Anyway, I'm a happy guy. This is the ultimate rough terrain "mountain" rifle, or just general "woods bumming" rifle for me. It will never wear a scope, as such an appendage would ruin its balance, aesthetic, and ethos. I might put a peep on it, in deference to my aging eyes, but that's about as far as that will ever go.

[porsche4life]

.22 would take an elf pretty easily jeff....


Nice spoon!

[RPKESQ]

Great combination Jeff.

For a North American hunter this is enough gun for elk, moose or bear easily. One of my 5 favorite rifle calibers.

.22 long rifle

6.5 x 55

7 x 57

.300 H&H magnum

.416 Rigby

These will do anything in the world effortlessly. In fact, you could cut it down to 3.

.22 long rifle

6.5 x 55 or 7 x 57

.416 Rigby

[Jeff Higgins]

I'll add the .375 H&H to your list, Richard. I've hunted everything from pronghorn to elk with one with complete satisfaction. I currently have a M70 and a #1 so chambered and, if stuck with one rifle, it would be one of those two. Probably the #1.

The .416 Rigby represents a glaring hole in my battery. I kind of skipped over it and went up to the .458 Winchester, again in a #1. The beauty of my #1 so chambered is that it has a very deep throat, so I can seat bullets out to almost .458 Lott lengths. I'm not after more velocity in doing so, just lower pressures. It still pushes either 500 grain Hornady (solid or soft) to 2,200 fps with ease. But, still, I do "need" a proper .416 - this one will have to be a bolt gun, just because Mr. Selby had one...

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

.22 would take an elf pretty easily jeff....


Nice spoon!

Those little fellers are tougher than they look...

[azasadny]

Very cool!

[Skytrooper]

I also have a Swedish Mauser. It is one of my favorite rifles

[emcon5]

Big fan of the Swede.



Actually, I am a big fan of the 6.5mm. The excellent selection of quality bullets available in .264 make it very versatile. Everything from 85-95 grain varmint bullets to 160 grain for elk. There are also a bunch of excellent, high ballistic coefficient match bullets available, they make an outstanding long range target rifle.

[Henry Schmidt]

This is my M52 6.5 Schultz & Larsen. Mid sixties Palma rifle. When I got the rifle it was a lefty but with a little wood work I modified the stock for ambidextrous use.
Check out the set trigger.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

"straight, deep penetration..." heh, heh, heh...

Nice guns - seriously. I'd love to pick one up at some point.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by RPKESQ

Great combination Jeff.

For a North American hunter this is enough gun for elk, moose or bear easily. One of my 5 favorite rifle calibers.

.22 long rifle

6.5 x 55

7 x 57

.300 H&H magnum

.416 Rigby

These will do anything in the world effortlessly. In fact, you could cut it down to 3.

.22 long rifle

6.5 x 55 or 7 x 57

.416 Rigby

Need a shotgun or two in there... 12ga pump, 20ga o/u

[BRPORSCHE]

Jeff,

That's a great looking rifle. I have been looking at a Remington 700 in 8x57 that I have been meaning to pick up for a dedicated game rifle that I could put optics on. I have always heard that the Swedish Mauser was always the finest, and hearing those words from you only verfies these claims.

[targa911S]

Here is a totally custom 6.5 x55 swedish mauser I just finished for a friend.....

[Jeff Higgins]

Hit a bit of a bump in the road today. I figured I would take the easy route, and see if I could get lucky, so I grabbed some of my son's loads we put up for his Featherweight. They are too long to chamber in my #1. Rats.

I was hoping we could hit the field with the same ammo. Maybe we still can, if I can work up a load with a bit shorter OAL than we found optimal in his M70. We have been using the Sierra 160 grain semi-pointed bullet loaded out to 3.125", which is actually about .125" longer than Sierra shows. But what do they know? All rifles set their own rules, and Chris's M70 has a particularly long throat and gradual leade, so it likes 'em seated out loooong. Hell, we can't even seat 120 grain bullets in the case and have them anywhere near the origin of the rifling when chambered. Fortunately, the rifle also has a long, unbaffled, full .30-'06 length magazine, so it will accept these long rounds.

Not so with my #1A. It has a very short throat and abrupt leade. I had to seat the Sierras down to 2.96" to get them to fully chamber without camming them in with the rising breechblock. That's a significant difference, so I dropped the charge of Reloder 22 by eight grains to start, and I'll work up from there. Taking it to the range tomorrow...

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Those little fellers are tougher than they look...

And fast, too. I had a tag this year and saw several, but couldn't get a shot off.

[craigster59]

Wow, very cool! I knew there was a model 70 in 6.5 but not a Ruger No.1. I have a Mauser, carbine and Krag in 6.5. Would love to get a sniper rifle (M-42B?) but they don't come up very often.

[livi]

Yup, Sweden is one of the largest exporters of weapon in the world per capita. Not sure if I am proud of that fact or not.

[C ANDERSON]

Love the Rifles especially the manlicher style. 6.5 is by far my favorite round .

[Jeff Higgins]

Some good news, and some bad news on the 6.5 Swede front.

The good news is that my XS Sight Systems "ghost ring" aperture rear and white line front sights arrived a couple of days ago. I spent an afternoon at the range to get them zeroed for 150 yards, and found out this little rifle wants to shoot. Even with these coarse sights, it's already shooting 1.5 M.O.A. with no load development beyond pressure and velocity work. Here is a shot of what the sights look like:



The bad news is, the world is out of 160 grain .264" diameter bullets. Sierra has discontinued theirs. Hornady still lists them, but no one has them. I'm told they are still playing catch-up on bullet production, which means they are cranking out the .308", .270", .284", .224", and other such mundane, everyday stuff at full capacity. The oddball stuff is going to be awhile. .264" 160 grainers are about as "oddball" as they get...

I did find some Lapua 155 grain round nose, and ordered a couple of boxes, so hopefully those will shoot well. There are plenty of match bullets out there, as the 6.5 Creedmoor is the new Highpower darling, and there are plenty of 120 and 140 grain spitzers for hunting. I expressed my thoughts on those in my opening post. I'll shoot 140's as an absolute last resort, but if these Lapuas shoot, I won't have to. We'll see.

[Joeaksa]

Hard to beat a #1 Ruger. Very nice spoon!