I just bought Lee Dies, 20 rounds of Brass and Hornady 140 grain bullets to load for my 6.5x55 Swede. I checked the loads in my Hornady book and the only powder I had available was IMR 3031. I did not want to set up the powder measure for 20 rounds so I dipped them using a Old Lee dipper set I have. the loads started out at 30.9 grains for a vel of 2300 the next one up was 32.6 grains for a vel of 2400 and on up to a max load of 36 grains for a vel of 2600. For a starting point I decided on the 32.6 grain load only I am using a load of 32.3 grains because the closest I could come using dippers was using a dipper that dropped 28 grains and one that droped 4.3 grains for the 32.3 total. Any one here use a load simular to that and how did it perform for you? Gun is a 96 Mauser made into a Scout rifle with a shorter barrel than the standard 29 inches I settled for a just over 20 inch barrel. Jim

Buy some Reloader 22.

Some one butchered that rifle. It was worth $250-$400 , now it aint worth 50 bucks.

Will try the reloader at a later date. As far as the butchering goes yea a collector would say that. I wanted a hunting rifle out of it and a 29 inch barrel in the woods sucks. yea I know it is worth that origional but you know what? I paid for it and I do not plan on selling it and if I like it that way that is all that matters as far as I am concerned. What I know now about the Swedes I know it should not have been done but too late now except to enjoy it and shoot it as it is.

IMR 3031 is way to fast for a swede with 140gr bullets I use H4350 with 120gr and 140gr bullets it gets good velocity and great accurracy in most of the swedes I have seen (they are the most common rifle used in our local military rifle competition) with 4350 start with 41gn and work up to 44gn max
in my swede hunting rifle 44gns delivers 2750fps with 140gr bullets the 6.5 likes slower powders 3031 may give good accuracy but your velocity would be way down (if you are getting speeds over 2450fps with 3031 you have gone well into high preesures) case life would be short to I would imagine

According to the Hornady book these should be under 2400 FPS.

Well it was 40 degrees out to day and sunny and not too windy. Took my Swede scout out With a couple of other milsurps. I just shot at 25 yards as I bore sighted the guns in looking through the barrel and only had a box each of ammo. I box of 6.5x55 reloads using Remington Brass, 140 grain Hornady bullet, CCI 200 Primers and 32.3 grains of 3031. One 5 shot group measured 0.698 center to center and the other group 5 shot group was one hole that measured from edge to edge 0.410. :grin: Needless to say I was satisfied with the reload and cannot wait to load more and shoot it at 100. I do need a different scope though on this one as the one I have mounted is a old Phantom pistol scope that as you can see works ok but it blacks out easy unless you stay really centered and it has a real small FOV only about 10 feet at a 100 yards. So it has to go. At least on this gun. Got to get more swede brass and load up more than 20 and shoot it at a 100. I might wait though until I get a easier to use scope on it. Jim

You won't go wrong with this little sweetie. I have 3 of the M96 Swedish Mausers, and all shoot very well. Admittedly cutting the barrel back to 20" may be a bit short, but then again the original 29" barrel was a bit long! They had barrel twists of 1 in 7 1/2", and that's ideal for this caliber. Mine tend to do their best with 140gr bullets, and also the Sierra 160gr. SPSP (round nose to me). Even though these rifles have but two locking lugs instead of the more traditional three, they are relatively strong. Our ammo tends to be very much underloaded. I also have a Remington Classic in 6.5x55 (very strong action) and load it
and my mausers to the same level. I've never had a problem with this. I find most of the older M96s to be just as accurate as the commercial rifles we're buying today. Just one mans opinion. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

A load for a Swede?.....
Well Aquavit is always welcome, like Skåne aquavit or Herrgårds aquavite, but the best is Bäska droppar -"Bitter drops" made from wormwood.

Coming to beer, I prefer Czech Pilsner like Baron Trenk or Staropramen. British Ale is always fine!

Whisky? yes please! Ardbegh makes me happy almost a day!

that's all folks

Husky

Thanks Cal. Yea 20 is kinda short but for the scout concept it works well and considering the groups I got with it just to sight it in, it may slow up the velocity a bit but sure did not hurt the accuracy any. Jim