I vaguely remember reading that European 6.5X55 brass was slightly wider at the rim than American made brass and it sometimes posed a problem.
Anybody know if this is true? Also, is the Norma and Lapua brass that is now offered here in the U.S. made to SAAMI or Euro specs.?

It is true. Not really a problem, just have to use a different shell holder. Lee #2 for US brass, #3 for Euro.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
It is true. Not really a problem, just have to use a different shell holder. Lee #2 for US brass, #3 for Euro.

Craigster, I guess could be problems with the rifle's extractor too?

The brass that I have measured that is small is Winchester and Remington.

Norma, Federal, Prvi Partizan (PPU or Hansen), and PMC are the proper size.

I have some of all of the above.
The Rem and Win are small quantities so I do not use them. I would avoid REM and Win them if possible. I would also avoid PMC. They were very heavy walled and hard to resize.

I have never had any Metallverken, Hornady,Herter's, Lapua or German brands to measure. I think I have a few CIL Dominions but never bothered to measure.

I've used all the different types of brass out there. Have never had any issues/problems with the extractor.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
I've used all the different types of brass out there. Have never had any issues/problems with the extractor.

X 2 roger

quote:

Originally posted by bartsche:

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
I've used all the different types of brass out there. Have never had any issues/problems with the extractor.

X 2 roger

+3.....the only issues I've had was shell holders for reloading....but now I use only Remingtoin brass.....and no trouble at all.

Thanks for the replies gentlemen.

Remington 6.5x55 brass is made on the .473" standard case body which is slightly undersized for the cartridge. This is not a problem if you shoot factory ammo.

After several moderate pressure reloads with Remington brass, I started getting a bright ring around the middle of the case about 3/4" above the base. I could take a pair of pliers and sqeeze the case and it would break open at that place. I am sure this was from excessive stretching due to the undersized case.

I now use Norma brass which is the proper size.

quote:

Originally posted by armadillo:
Remington 6.5x55 brass is made on the .473" standard case body which is slightly undersized for the cartridge. This is not a problem if you shoot factory ammo.

After several moderate pressure reloads with Remington brass, I started getting a bright ring around the middle of the case about 3/4" above the base. I could take a pair of pliers and sqeeze the case and it would break open at that place. I am sure this was from excessive stretching due to the undersized case.

I now use Norma brass which is the proper size.

That is a real eye opener! Thank you for the heads up! roger

I recently had the same problem with Euro spec brass for my 7x57. I used the Lee 3 instead of the no.2 which I normally use on PMP brass which is designed for .473 cases. I was using the no.3 on PPU cases and I used very little lube. Moral of the story when I was full length sizing one of the cases was particularly difficult to extract and the bloody shellholder lips snapped clean off! I bought another and apply enough lube now.

6.5 x 55; started with Remington brass and switched to Lapua. There is a difference with shell holders for reload press and for my Lee hand primer. Accuracy improved after the switch to Lapua...Now, all this applies only if you are shooting a mauser, American made rifles in 6.5 are setup for the smaller base size.

Does anyone have a good load for a 6.5x55 140 gr Berger VLD Lapua brass for a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight with a 22" barrel.
Robert

Back in about 1962 when I started loading for my M'94 Swede carbine, I found that .473" head diameter brass was too small to suit that little rifle (mine, anyway).

Norma brass worked just fine even after resizing, so I don't think it was excesive sizing of the head by the Wilson hammer-type dies I was using. (They don't use a shell holder, and so DO size the head as well as the rest of the case.)

Anyway, the .473" head diameter cases bulged so much at the base when fired that I would only reload them twice before chucking them in "le gar-bage".

Never had any break, but I was sure they weren't doing well in there. So I quit using them altogether.

A.C. I've found F. Barne's Cartridges Of The World to be very accurate, and COTW states the same thing about the bulge.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari Specialty Importers:
Does anyone have a good load for a 6.5x55 140 gr Berger VLD Lapua brass for a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight with a 22" barrel.
Robert

Hi there,
I load 44 gr of H4350 behind a 140 gr SMK at 3.1" oal and in my T3 its superb but as the Berger's 9 hundredths longer, I'd aim at 43.5 of H4350 and 3.15" oal but do the usual workup.
I've tried a fair few differet powders in the 6.5x55 but keep coming back to Hodgdons' H4350 - ace powder!

+12 on the IMR powder. US rifles tend to have large chambers to go with the small brass.

I use Norma, Lapua or RWS, do a minimal resize between loads, and anneal every second load.

I normally find Winchester brass to be better than Remington, but not in this case. In 2000 I bought some bulk brass at a big gun store north of Seattle. 500 pieces of Remington brass had an average of .0005" neck runnout. I had a barrel chambered with a tight "test barrel" reamer. Perfect fit, and near eternal case life. I guess that Remington brass shows that
anything can happen on this earth.

Thank you Haggis, I was using R22 45gr. I also realized the dies I was using were not friendly with the Berger VLD.The bullets were not seating true, so if you rolled the shell the bullet would wobble. I now purchased Forster dies and will try your formula.

Robert