A friend loads for his Sweede. He loads 48gns Rl22 and 140 Sierras, it shoots 2850fps. This is near max for modern guns, but seems, to me, hot for his 38. It shows no obvious pressure signs. I worked up to it in my Tweede and it shoots 2900fps with the longer,28" barrel. For those ARs I had it shortened 1.5". I also show no pressure signs. You may comment on this if you wish. I'll Ask another Question:
I know that each gun is different and pressure will probably vary, but is there someplace that you can send a loaded cartridge to have it pressure tested? thanks, capt david

Captdavid,
Even if you load was tested in a pressure barrel, the pressure in YOUR barrel might be different, especially in the case of milsurp guns that have oversize throats and barrels.

The strain gauge units are accurate and affordable ...... see the other threads on pressure measurement ..... something to think about.

Capt. David,
You can send ammo to HP White laboratories to have it tested. It is an expensive proposition; $48.00 per individual cartridge. They will test it in a SAAMI speciified pressure barrel (tight bore, tighter chamber).

That load is too hot, IMO. Back off the powder until you are getting 2750 fps and you will be in much safer territory.

lawndart

Edited for punctuation.

For reference, my 29" Swede gets 2800 fps out of a 140, using a book load of H4350 or RL22. If he's shooting an M38, that sounds like a pretty hot load.

A little more reference, My 29" Swede gets a little under 2600fps with Swede ~140gr surp ammo. Spec pressures should be in the 44-46K CUP range.

quote:

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Originally posted by captdavid:
A friend loads for his Sweede. He loads 48gns Rl22 and 140 Sierras, it shoots 2850fps. This is near max for modern guns, but seems, to me, hot for his 38. It shows no obvious pressure signs. I worked up to it in my Tweede and it shoots 2900fps with the longer,28" barrel. For those ARs I had it shortened 1.5". I also show no pressure signs. You may comment on this if you wish. I'll Ask another Question:
I know that each gun is different and pressure will probably vary, but is there someplace that you can send a loaded cartridge to have it pressure tested? thanks, capt david

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You can bet that the pressures shown in a lab test using a pressure gun will indeed be quite different from that produced in the gun in which the load was developed. I'd be willing to wager it will test higher than what it produces in that Swede! In all liklihood, a LOT higher.

"It seems very difficult to impress most reloaders with the fact that every rifle is an individual, and what proves to be a maximum load in one may be quite mild in another, and vice versa." Bob Hagel, GAME LOADS AND "PRACTICAL BALLISTICS FOR THE AMERICAN HUNTER, 1977

Husqvarna is a very good company, and they have made a 270 Win [65,000 psi which is close to the limit of brass strength with the Mauser case head]

Here they have made a .270 with a 96 action.
Just how much pressure a 6.5 Swede can take in a 96 action will never be resolved with the nattering nabobs, but it is clear for me.



http://www.sarcoinc.com/guns3-special2c.html


Husqvarna M96 Sporter



* Win. 270
* Very good bore,
* blue worn near muzzle
* finish about 85%

(K1028) $400.00

The 96 is one of those less well known but strong actions. I like it. Clark really likes it and he usually praises safety of the 98 action and rightly so. I don't recommend hot loads or chasing speed but when I can, with H4350, go one grain over Hodgon's max and flirt with 2900fps, it is hard to resist. Denton's Trace probably already know's but I'm guessing these vels represent pressures in the mid 50K(lower for CUP/higher for PSI). That's a whole lot less powder than a magnum would use.

My milsurp isn't instrumented. I just settled for the best load I could find in the reload books.

Clark raises a very valid question. If the action is OK for a full-tilt 270, shouldn't you be able to do the same thing in 6.5x55? I don't know. That old Swedish steel was a naturally occurring alloy that was dang good... not as good as modern chrome moly, but better than the Germans knew how to make at the time.

I know that in a modern, commercial action, and a 24" bbl, I get just shy of 3100 fps with a 120 grain bullet, and with a good safety margin. It compares very favorably with the 25-06. In the milsurp, I get 2800 with a lighter load, 140 grainer, and a 29" bbl. That's enough, and I'm sure that my rifle and components will last a very long time.

My mind wants to go back to the log strain/log number of strains thing. The last 10% of performance tends to dramatically reduce the life of an item. Where is the "knee" of the curve? Heckifino. I do know that at 65 KPSI and above, brass wears out fast, and that at 80 KPSI, you pop primers, and that neither one is close to the point where the gun will catastrophically fail on a single cartridge.

I don't worry about eating a 96 bolt or loosing digits.

I just like the 98 gas diverting system.
I shot these three idenical loads [with increasing copper fouling] in a 1938 type Turkish Mauser. I could have done it without eye protection!!!!!

I hate to derail your argument Clark, but the rifle in the picture is not a sporterized 96. It actually uses the Husqvarna "Improved Mauser Action", also known as the HVA action in the US or 1640 action in Sweden. It is a thoroughly modern post WW II design (basically a small ring '98) that was introduced in the mid-1950's. It was chambered in cartridges from the .243 up to and including the .358 Norma Mag. It is one of the strongest mauser type actions ever built. In about 1960, a gun magazine did a strength test of a number of sporting rifls by packing the barrels with wet sand and them firing them. The Husqvarna was the only one to survive this test. In fact, once the sand was removed, it functioned just fine with no ill effects.

Husqvarna did produce factory sporters using the 96 action, but chamberings were limited to 6.5x55; 9.3x57; and even a few 9.3x62's.

I'll quote from one of my favorite books "Introduction to Modern Gunsmithing" by McFarland

"the first thing to remember is that there were no modern strong mausers before the model of '98"

This will be debated till the cows come home and in the end we all have to make our own choices. Mine is clear.....there are no mausers here made of a model prior to the '98. Be your own judge.

I have a 2900 fps load for my Gustaf, I used to shoot it quite a bit. But now, I'm getting hard bolt lift, and the throat appears to be eroding. I figure I just don't need that hot a load anymore. The rifle still shoots MOA or a bit more.