At least not as well as I'd like it too.

I have a '96 Swede that I had a Shilen 24" 1:8 twist medium weight barrel installed on, two-piece scope mounts, a Timney trigger, and I glass-bedded it into a Fajen thumbhole walnut stock. It's topped with a 6.5-20X Simmons AO scope. The 1:8 twist barrel is supposed to be ideal for 140-160 grain bullets, but I cannot find a load that will group better than 2-3" at 100 yards. I've tried Hornady 140gr A-Max, Sierra 142gr BTHP Match, Lapua 139gr BTHP, and Sierra 155gr BTHP Match. I've tried several 120 grain bullets too, which seem to work better, but nothing shoots sub-MOA off the bench.

I've seated to magazine length, and I've seated out to the lands (it's got a pretty deep throat) to no avail. I've tried various permutations of all of the above bullets with half a dozen powders. I've shot rapid fire and very slowly. Nothing seems to make a difference. I check the action screws religiously for tightness.

I built this rifle for Siluetas Metallicas, which involves shooting life-sized steel rams at 500m offhand w/o a sling. If I can't get a sub-MOA load in this rifle, it's going to be pretty much useless for that. I've been fighting with this thing for over two years now, off and on.

Any ideas?

Have you tried going out to 200 yards? sometimes the long 6.5 bullets wont settle down until then.
Has the bedding cracked?
Crown alright? No dings?
Did you square the action? Lap the lugs?
Hows your case's?
Is the barrel free floated? Not touching anywere?
Have your actions screws been over tightened?
No offence intended but did you do the bedding or someone else? Perhaps the beddings not right?
I have a M96 sporter with a military barrel. The twist is (I belive) 1 in 7.5. It shoots 1.5moa with factory stuff (139gr PMC), perhaps your barrel twist isn't fast enough?

Just some ideas

Bakes

I use a 6.5x55 scoped Swede for silhouettes with 120gn, 129gn and 140gn pills. Could not get the 120/129gn pills to group under 1.5" @ 100 with the reccomended slow powders even though the 140gn grouped 1". A friend suggested AR2206 (IMR3031) and Hey Presto, 3/4" groups. The 120s are iffy on rams so thats what the 140s are for.I use Varget for the 140s.

The best 120 gr load I have for my 6.5 Swedes is the 120 gr Nosler BT over 46.5 gr of H414. Cloverleafs in one rifle, sub moa in the other two. - Dan

I tried 120gr. B-tip, 125gr. and 140gr. Partition, 140gr. GameKing and 129gr. and 140gr. Interlock and the best shooting I've ever used was the 129gr. Interlock in my Swede at little over 2600fps. Not exactly a screamer (milsurp rifle) but 1/2" groups at 100 yards without breaking a sweat.

First of all check for any small things that might explain the rotten accuracy, ie. loose screws and stuff. If everything is ok, get away from the A-Max and the other exotic bullets. I have tested all kinds of bullets in 6,5 and all the exotic ones got their asses kicked by regular huntingbullets. I guess it has something to doo with the inherent difficulties of stabilizing a long projectile. Go for a 140 grain Sierra SpBt and load it to a velocity well under maximum and make sure you have a powder that doesnt burn too quickly. Seat it a millimeter short of the lands. Take it easy wile fireing and make sure the barrel cools down to an even temperature between shots, -if this doesn�t work, sell the rifle to some unlucky bastard who don�t know how bad it shoots.
Good luck!!

Have you tried some factory ammo in the rifle? While it can be costly thats what I have done in the past to check on accuracy.

Norma's ammo is usually very accurate, and then Federal made some Gold Metal target ammo that shoots scary groups out of my rifle. It is built around 120 sierra matchkings, which I thought my rifle would hate, original military barrel, but of the two groups I shot both were under half an inch.

Has anyone else shot the rifle with the same results?

No intention to offend with the above statement, just some ideas. If you can't find any of the Federal match ammo let me know and I will ship you a couple of rounds to try out.

Another idea, I talk to Kevin Thomas of Sierra quite a bit last summer at Camp Perry and he had a rather unlikely sounding load that he said performed very well in every rifle he tried. Involved 120 Matchking and Reloader 15. I questioned him on such a fast powder and he said he didn't know what it was but that combo worked in every rifle he tried. Might just be whats hiding under those Federal factory rounds.

[ 04-22-2003, 16:37: Message edited by: Biathlonman ]

This my medicine in a 1.9 twist barrel:
Case Lapua
primer Federal 210LR GM
Powder VithaVuori Oy N160 46grs
Bullet Lapua Scenar 139grs
OAL 79mm

bye

My M96 mausers like the 140gr. bullets, but that certainly doesn't extend to my Remingtin 700 Classic. It's a different animal alltogether. My best load is 43.0gr. of VihtaVouri 550 pushing the Lapua 123gr. Scenar. It prints .485" groups (5 shots) at 100yds. It also shoots the 108gr. Scenar well. I have a 1 in 9" twist. I load the 123gr. out to 3.080". The rifle is a long throated rascal. I find the Scandanavian components perform best. VihtaVouri is quite the good performing powder. I went through the same thing as you until I gave up on the 140 and 142gr. bullets. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

Try folding a dollar bill and placing it under the barrel near the end of the stock for a pressure pad.

My Swede dotes on 142gr MatchKings and RL-22

I get 1.5" groups at 100 with the iron sights..

2,700 fps
WW Brass
CCI primers

Mike

khbaker,

When everything is mechanically sound and many loads have been tried but to no avail, it could be parallax---DO NOT trust the numbers they stamped on the front bell of your AO scope, adjust it until you can detect no movement between crosshair and target. My Tasco 6-24X44 AO is parallax free at 100 when adjusted to 200, parallax free at 200 when adjusted slightly past 300. I learned the lesson the hard way, wasted a lot of handloaded ammo(I had the same problem you have, 2~3" no matter how much love I put into the gun) before I smart up to check parallax regardless of the number on the AO bell. NEVER trust the numbers on your AO.

Constant cheekweld helps too, if you didn't already know.

Pyrotek

I [phrased my reply poorly. Actually there is a 140gr. bullet that shoots well in my Remington 700 Classic and that's the 139gr. Lapua Scenar, pushed along by 45.5gr, VihtaVpouri 560 to a speed of 2550fps. I load it single shot out to 3.126" and still haven't reached the lands. For what it's worth I also use Lapua brass. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal