Gentlemen:

Will either a Swede M38 [Husqvarna manufacture] or M96 handle the 6.55 x 55 Improved cartridge? Improving this great cartridge gives quite a nice performance increase, but I'd like some authoritative opinons on whether the action is up to the challenge.

Thanks,


Jordan

Well, this isn't any kind of definitive answer and I'm no gunsmith, but here in Sweden those rifles are as common as sleazy politicians.

The steel in these rifles is topnotch, and there are many of these rifles made into .308 Win and other high-pressure cartridges.

In fact, a popular rechamber is the 6.5-284 Norma which would be the one I'd consider. In any case, improved 6.5x55's are common as well.

John

quote:

Originally posted by jpb:
Well, this isn't any kind of definitive answer and I'm no gunsmith, but here in Sweden those rifles are as common as sleazy politicians.

The steel in these rifles is topnotch, and there are many of these rifles made into .308 Win and other high-pressure cartridges.

In fact, a popular rechamber is the 6.5-284 Norma which would be the one I'd consider. In any case, improved 6.5x55's are common as well.

John

Thank you John for the information. The fact that the 6.5 x 55 Improved is common in Sweden gives me considerable comfort. I was also looking at Jerry Kuhnhausen's Mauser shop manual and he says the steel and metalsmithing on the Swede 96 is first rate.

Jordan

Theese actions actually have very good steel. It has been an unwritten rule that they are weaker than m98's, but preassure-tests done by very competent people have shown that they are mostly as good and even better than most 98's. Some handeled .460Wea'by without problems.

6.5x55 is peace of cake, have no worries.

Another thing is that your action is more than 100 years old, and what use/abuse it have seen over the years is unknown. If you are worried, have it crack-checked by a competent gunsmith.

One of the Swede sites shows some specs for proof cartridges as 4000 to 4500 bar or, I believe that works out to, about 59-65K CUP.Best-o-Luck