Dear 6.5x55 Users, can I solicit your opinion on this one, please.

A dear friend of mine maintains that 6.5x55 cases stretch very badly - that they'll need trimming after every firing if you load towards max loads.

What is your experience in this area, do you find the 6.5x55 worse for case lengthening than other bottle necked cartridges??

I was hoping to use Lapua brass and neck size with a Lee Collet die - until I eventually need to FL size (every so often). I'm "used" to have to trim after a FL size, but normally I can avoid trimming most of my brass if I neck size - at least in the non-magnum calibers I load (.30-06, .270 Win etc). My experience in that past has been that case shoulder configuration has an impact on case stretching (e.g. improved cartridges stretch less), and the Swede has a pretty steep shoulder as far as I'm aware, yes??

- mike

MHO
not enough infos to answer, by my opinion.
I never had problems like this in my guns.
I have a Sabatti (modern) and a Husqvarna (milsurp) and I work normally neck sizing only.
bye

Your friend is somewhat right. I've had a lot of case stretching when loading max (and max + !) loads. However, not so much that I had to trim every reloading. Furthermore, it was variable based on case manufacturer.

The 6.5x55 is a well designed cartridge for smooth feeding, which means sloped sidewalls and moderate shoulder angle (25 degrees). This tends to cause more case stretching than sharp shouldered "improved" type cartridges. This shouldn't give you problems with normal loading. Keep an eye on the brass (as you should anyway) and load as normal.
Have fun, John

He either has longish headspace or his dies are mismatched to his brass/chamber.

Martindog

I shoot a lot of 6.5x55 and cases vary in quality and 'shootability'. As for stretching the worst seem to be PMC. This is because the head size is not to spec for the cartridge 0.473, and head separations occurr after 3-4 firings. Norma brass or military brass have heads of 0.476 and are better brass requiring trimming only every 5-6 reloads which is normal usage.
Another brand with "C.A." headstamp are also desirable but I don't see these around any more.
You can pick the difference in PMC brass as they use a #3 RCBS shell holder whereas the correct one is a #2.

Thanks for the feedback thus far guys. Much appreciated.
- mike

It has been a long time since but I messed around with 6.5x55 a fair bit in the late 70's and I don't recall case stretching being a problem. derF