hello everyone - My father has come to visit for Christmas, and has brought dies and brass with him for his custom '98 mauser in 6.5 x 55. We have 140 grain hornady spbt and Sierra 120 grain SP on hand as well. Was looking for suggestions for powder and minimum/maximum charge weights for these two bullets, as I don't have the Sierra or Hornady manuals on hand. Dad isn't a handloader, and has only used factory ammo so far in this rifle, but it will group both 140 grain federal soft points and hornady light magnum 129 grainers under an inch, and it has accounted for several Wisconsin whitetails. Thanks in advance for any advice, and a very Merry Christmas to you all!
Dawg

I'm a lover of the 120 grain bullets in the 6.5 caliber and H-4350. (Hodgden shows a max load of 46 grains and CUP of 45,800 for 2792 FPS)

I'm loading over that and getting over 3,000 FPS so be your own judge. I'd prefer to not say how much over it however.

You can also use IMR-4831 48.5 gains (compressed) for 2913 FPS at 46,200 CUP and this is direct from the Hodgdon website.

The 6.5 X 55 has quickly become one of my favorite rifles. It's a VZ-24 and works beautifully.

varget for the 120's and H4350 for the 140's. that's how i do it at least.

I prefer the 140 gr. From a 1972 "Rifle" magazine,this of course pre 'wimp' loads !
139 Norma and 4350 with 24" barrel.
4350- 45 gr ,2778 fps
46 2850
47 2933
The 46 gr load chronos at 2733 out of my custom M98 [ throated for the long 160 gr].Results very of course but for reasonable pressures you should be able to get 2750 and perhaps 2850 but it's not a magnum .The 2750 will give excellent performance without problems.

Both of my 6.5 X 55s like powders in the 4350s to H4831s burning rates.
As previously mentioned, the 140 gr. driven by 4350 at just under 2800 FPS seems to be a winner in both mine, but the Dp 85, DP 86 and the 4831s are really not far behind if at all. I have never had the inclination to drive the 140s over 2800 FPS.
If I wanted to use a 120 gr. bullet for deer I'd go to a 25 caliber, and have. Just one man's thinking I guess. roger

Aaah! A classic caliber & the perfect deer cartridge. I had 2 rifles - a Sako Hunter & a Winchester mod 70 XTR Sporter - in this caliber & had years of great shooting hunting with them. Part of the experience was the agony of developing the optimum loads when adequate data was not available for the modern rifles.

My best loads were

120 Nosler BT - VV N160 - 3000 fps - My rilfes took 50 gr max.
125 gr Nosler Part - VV N160 - 2950 fps - My rilfes took 49 gr max. A great load for most deer & I am sure it will handle Elk.

139 gr Hornady PSP - VV N160 - 2750 fps - max 48 gr in my rifles
139 gr Hornady PSP - IMR 4831 - 2800 fps - max 49 - 50 gr in my rifles

160 gr Hornady RN - VV N160 - 2600 fps - max 45 - 46 gr in my rifles - I am sure this would be perfect for Elk out to 200 yards.

H4530 will also give similar results as will Re19.

I used VV N160 basically because we get it easily here in NZ & it is very consistent with very low SD / variation in velocity at different temperatures. IMR powders do fluctuate a lot.

I suspect that your Mauser action might take a bit more powder as the chambers were traditionally more "forgiving".

Good luck

I have a 1966 Speer Manual I picked up at a used book store for like $3.00..

Some of its load data for the 6.5 x 55 is considered H O T ! ! ! by today's load data that Lawyers have poured all over....

however the data doesn't seem to hurt modern firearms any nor does it seem to bother my 1920 built Mauser....

the Speer Manual was using an 18 inch barrel Mauser in their tests.. the same load data used in my 29 inch barrel Mauser, yields 3250 fps with a 120 grain ballistic tip... this using IMR 4350 powder...

traditionally tho, I use the mid rate powders, such as IMR 4064, 4895, 3031, RL 15, W 748, BLc2 .. with both 120 and 140 grain bullets, with a charge of 40 grains of any one of those powders, with any bullet weight from 120 to 140..nice round number... more than adequate velocity, and certainly lethal on anything I have pointed it at...

While I typically load the 129 grain Hornady, I have loaded both 120 and 140 grain bullets using IMR4350 and RL-22. Ican get similar velocity with either powder. My rifle tends to shoot slightly better with RL-22, but your results may vary.

+1 120 NBTs and RL19 or H4350.

Lou

120 grain Sierra and the 120 grain Remington group very well out of my 6.5s with 46 grains of Rl 22.