I have a nice little all-matching Model 94 Swede made in 1917 with serial numbers in the 91,XXX range, all matching numbers and the whole bit. Some SOB cut about seven inches of the end of the stock off, got rid of the nosecap, shaped the fore end and painted it black like a chunk of ebony and generally ruined what could have been a fine little rifle. Ah hell, it still is a fine little rifle. Anyway, a buddy gave me some Sellier & Bellot 6.5x55 SE cartridges, 131 grain bullet No 2923. Do you all think this may be too hot of a cartridge to fire in this rifle? Thanks for any input. Tom Purdom

It's such a shame some Bubba got to that rifle before you (or I LOL) did. Anyway, when I buy ammo to feed in my Swedes, it is S&B so you should be perfect with that ammo. Also, as a bonus, it is good brass in the proper dimensions so it works well to reload too.

Yes, too hot. S&B ammo is particular notorious for running hot - back when I was foolish enough to use their crappy ammo I frequently had ejector marks, stiff bolt, and in some pierced and/or blown primers. My advice would be to throw it in the garbage and buy some nice, lame Rem/Fed/Win load.

Good luck.

My advise is ditch the S & B and instead of Rem, winchester, federal,... handload.

I am going out to load some 6.5 x 55 right now as a matter of fact. 100 grain partition at 3300 fps. Long range deer load.

Cheers and Good shooting
seafire

Interesting, in the literally hundreds of boxes of 6.5x55 S&B ammo I put downrange, I have had exactly zero problems. That's in a variety of M96 and M 38 Swedes (if you don't get over pressure in a 29" barrel you won't in a 17") and in an AG42b Ljungman. I cannot speak to their other calibers except .303 Brit though. I do stand by my recommendation of that ammo though, for a couple reasons: First, American loaded ammo uses a standard 30'06 case head size, while true Swede ammo is .002 larger. The European ammo makers (S&B, Lapua, Norma) use correct size brass (as an aside, I handload almost everything now and swear by Lapua brass) and second, the american loads tend to be underloaded by comparison to even the military Swede ammo, which is what the rifle is designed to shoot.

Well, the casehead is a bit of random variable. The thing is that most brass that is supposed to be 473 is actually smaller, and so too with 6.5x55 brass. I just measured some Rem 6.5x55 cases - the rims are all about 473-475. However, I also measured assorted brass for numerous supposed 473 cases (including some Norma), which came in at 466-468. Now the 6.5x55 brass is supposed to 480, but is actually 473-475. However, what is supposed to be 473 is actually 466-468. Thus, American 6.5x55 are not the same size as American '06 cases. Moreover the undersizing of each is by the same margin. I don't have any Norma or Lapua 6.5x55 cases laying around here just now, so I can't measure them.

Putting S&B brass in the same sentence as Norma and Lapua is blasphemy. I've used (hundreds of rounds) of S&B in 6.5x57, 7x57, 8x57, 9.3x62, and assorted others. (I bought a whole bunch at one time - foolish me.) The worst offenders, by far, were the 6.5x57 and the 8x57 - both resulted in heavy ejector marks, blown primers, pierced primers, and/or seperated cases. (And no, headspacing and firing pin are fine - it was undoubtedly the ammo). Moreover, trying to reload this stuff - they have incredibly short case life, thick rims (won't fit in the shellholder thick), and undersized primer pockets. I've never used a product that performed so poorly.

Anyway, welcome to the forum - I'm really not usually like this, but S&B is the one topic that really gets me going.

U R right !!! American made 6.5X 55 brass has a terribly under size head diameter. The only good stuff that I ever got was from Yugoslavenia.Hansen and some nny Brass. With reasonably moderately loading the American brass has given me no problem.If U have no problem with S&B use it and enjoy as I do the crap that Winchester and Remington put out as 6.5X55 brass. roger

Kind of takes me back to making 7.7 Jap ammo from 06 cases.Talk about the battle of the bulge. roger

Yeah, the Hansen was awesome ammo, and the Privi Partizan (NNY headstamp) too. Before I started loading, and before the Swede got popular, I had to buy any and all ammo I could find. PMC was the worst, with some of it *in* 6.5x55 loaded way too hot. I was thrilled when some Hansen showed up, and still have brass left if I want to reload it again.
It may well be blasphemy to mention Laupua and S&B in the same sentence LOL. However, from a practical point of view, for the non-reloader or not-yet-reloader, the S&B in 6.5x55 is the best choice, given costs. Norma makes great ammo I hear, but I am not going to the bank for a mortgage to buy a case to try. Lapua ammo is very very good, and the brass excellent, it's all I use in my match rifles, and what the others I know who shoot match Swedes use too.

Yes I did, the Lapua matched the S&B and the NNY brass. I think I dumped all the Rem brass I had, but if I find one, I'll mic it too.

Eric

I have 3 M96 Swedish mausers and a Remington Classic all in 6.5x55 so I get both sides of the coin. I prefer Lapua brass and bullets, and VihtaVouri powders for them. There's about .002" difference in size at the case head betwen American and European brass. Also the standard large rifle shell holder as used in the .308 and .30-06 does not fit the European cases well. Forster makes an ideal shell holder called the MU-4 that does nicely for the 6.5x55. I neck size only so once the case is fired in my rifle it fits the chamber perfectly. Sweet little cartridge the 6.5x55. I thoroughly enjoy it. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

My RP brass measures a hair over .470"

CBC brass measures .475 "

nny brass measures .477"

All my Norma is in Colorado and I never bought Lapua.

As I said ,I use the American made brass but it seems to me they should do better. My not too humble opinion. roger

That crap S +B 6.5 x 55 131 gr loads shot so well in a Sako of mine that I spent a couple of years shooting for money with it. Dam stuff or that lot, I bought two cases because it was cheap. It would put bullets under a dime and then some. I guess you take your chances. It should be safe enough in a 94 unless you have a headspace problem. I don't reload the brass. I seen no indication that you could not, but I never bothered, since I have some 2000 W-W cases I bought some years back. Brass for the most part is pretty cheap, no matter what brand you like, since you can get at least 10 shots out of a case with reasonable handloads.