I am looking for physical dimensions,Rim and base (head) not the size in the book, got lots of those, and getting more.... Any way, I am getting ready to make an order for brass.. It seems the 6.5x55 Swede has lots of different case dimensions being produced. I am going to make the chamber as tight as possible, but I would like to find out brass dimensions first. Winchester, Remington, PMC, Lapua, etc... This way I know what to expect.

Thanks...

Measured w/ a Mititouyo dial caliper:

Lapua brass; rim = 0.478, base = 0.476

Federal brass; rim = 0.474, base = 0.472

PMC brass; rim = 0.476, base = 0.474

In the 6.5x55, I have found that Lapua brass is head and shoulders above the rest in quality. And for $35/100 (currently at midwayusa.com), the slight extra cost over Remchester is well worth it.

In the Rem & Ww brass, you'll find great variances in weight. And, another plus on the side of Lapua is the fact that the primer flash holes are drilled instead of punched.

Remington brass:

rim: .473"
head: .473"

Hi Mauserkid
Taken from Swedish Military round.

Unfired Round
Rim .478
Base .476
Neck .296
Shoulder .432
Case 2.154
OAL 3.600

Fired Brass (M96)
Base .477
Shoulder .441
Case 2.173

Regards
Deafdog

Stop calling the 6,5x55 for "Swede" for &%%#"#.....it was co-developed by the Norwegian and Swedish armies, and the final dimensions were decided in Norway based upon the Norwegian experimental cartridges with the addition of the Swedes (very sensible) requirement for a rimless head. Sorry, I know no one cares, but as a Norwegian...

I agree with those who prefer Lapua brass, its the best for this caliber. I don�t think its such a good idea to insist on an extremely tight chamber though. The sixandahalf varies wildly in chamber dimensions and if you have a very tight chamber some factory loadings (european, the us loads are mild) can give very high pressures. Accuracy seems to be just as good with a chamber thats "normal", and if you are a speed freak you�d rather look at the 6,5-284.

My rifle had a normal chamber and was very accurate. The cases lasted forever. Just mho.
Tron

I dont recall seeing Winchester dimensions any one?

Well we will just have to add that to the history books....

The 6.5 have a few different designs.
Skan
SE
Norg or KJ
Swedish.

These are off of Clymer�s site. Not saying it is right or wrong, just the names we have available for them.

Reason for brass dimensions.. I am building a 6.5x55 BJ Ackley. I did not want to get false pressure signs. So factory ammo is not an option.
Thanks....for your help all...

trb, having some norwegian blood in me I would never call my6.5x55 a S**** . And they should also know that Norma was originally a norwegian company.And our Krag rifle was designed by a norwegian. Mauserkid , most 6.5x55 s are throated for the 160 gr bullet which means lots of freebore when you use a lighter bullet. But that doesn't seem to be detrimental to accuracy. You might give that a thought.

Winchester Dimensions 6.5 x 55 Virgin Brass

Rim: .474

Base: .472

Shoulder: .432

Neck: .288

Mete, happy to hear that not everybody thinks the 6,5 is a swedish mauser designed cartridge, seems a lot of people have that impression.

As for the different 6,5x55 designs, they are all the same. When Norway and Sweden started using the 6,5 the Swedes used minimum dimensions from the drawings, while Norway used the maximum, when cutting chambers and making ammo.

Sometime around the turn of the century (19th/20th) this was the cause of what became known in our history as the "cartridge incident" A swedish army leutenant had bought Norwegian cartridges for his swedish mauser and found it was difficult to chamber the rounds. He reported it to his superiors and his report spurred an investigation. The swedes thought that the Norwegian army made oversize chambers/cartridges so that in case of a war between the two countries (there has been a few...) the norwegian army could use swedish (captured) ammo, but the norwegian ammo would not work in the swedes mausers. The investigation found that the ammo was within specs. and would work in all 6,5x55 rifles, but as mentioned norway used max. specs and sweden minimum.

Recently, I don�t know exactly, the scandinavian rifle organisations agreed upon a new standardisation to awoid the wildly varying chamber dimensions of this round. The result was the 6,5x55 scan, wich is within the original specs. but with tighter tolerances. So a "scan" chamber will accept any 6,5x55 round and "scan" cartridges should chamber in any 6,5x55 rifle. But if you cut a minimum chamber it could be a very thight fit. I think lapua and norma make cases/cartr. to scan dimensions, but I don�t know for certain. I use "scan" dies from forster for reloading my 6,5, as the rcbs dies I used before had to be significantly backed out from the press to avoid setting the shoulder back more than necessary for easy chambering.

The 6,5x55 "mauser" and 6,5x55 "krag" are exactly the same except for the pressure they are loaded to. Originaly all the ammo was loaded to the same pressure, but the krag cannot take as much pressure as the mauser, so the "krag" is simply ammo kept at low pressure, the same as US factory loaded ammo (except perhaps for the hornady "magnum" loads?), while the "mauser" is ammo that is loaded hotter, like the norma/lapua factory loadings, and must only be used in stronger actions. Kind of like a +p load.

As Mete points out the "standard" 6,5x55 shoots excellently, so there is really no need for an absolute minimum chamber, in my personal opinion.

Tron

Carcano91

I didn�t think the question was so stupid, a minimum (according to cip or saami or whatever) 6,5x55 chamber can, as I have said previously on this thread, be to tight if you want to use certain brands of ammo and cases. So if mauserkid is about to order a chamber job he may want to know what tolerances he needs, right? He wants the tighest chamber that is practical in relation to available components, thats how I understood the question anyway.

Tron

Mauserkid I sent you an e-mail with an image with all the data.
bye

Carcano91

Rats, you got me!! Never heard about that cartridge. If its an original danish Krag Jorgensen I think its called 8x58 RD (Rimmed Danish), if its a wildcat based on the 6,5x55 you simply call it 8x54.... This name-tagging is typically english/us, the rest of us are happy with bulletXcaselength, are we not?
Tron

Thanks Steve, I got your email..

Was not trying to make an argument here, just wanted brass dimensions for a project I am starting. I did not want to purchase brass that would not fit my chamber correctly.
As far as who makes the correct size brass for my needs makes no difference. I am not prejudice.

quote:

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Nobody cares for d***ed arbitrary case dimensions when making a chamber for a common factory round. US ammo manufacturers are anyhow unable to get dimensions right, so why would one conform to their abjectr blunders ?!

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If I were making a factory chamber, you would be correct in this statement. Unless I knew that the actual case sizes were different, then I would want the one that sealed the chamber better. Or maybe I wanted to not get false pressure readings when developing my hand loads.

I thank you all who have given me the information I requested. It has been a great help.

Thanks to all.
Mauserkid

Cartridges of the world lists the 8x58R a danish military round for the danish M89 krag rifle.