Hello All,

I recently acquired an Imman Meffert Single Shot Bolt Action rifle in 6.5x48R Sauer caliber. Rifle has superb double-set triggers and weighs 6 pounds 5 ounces. The octagon-to-round barrel is 22-1/2" long and has a full-length rib with a 2-leaf rear site marked "80" and "160".

Here are the markings on the left side of the barrel.

Its stamped "30504" - "Crown/N" - "1,3 gG,B,P, / St.m.G" - "48-6,6" - The bottom of the barrel is stamped "Eagle" "Crown/B" "318."

There is also a copper plate in the stock stamped "No. 23".

According to Axel E., a very knowledgeable expert from the German Gun Collectors Forum, re writes;

"... 30504 is the seial number. Crown/N = nitro proof. 1,3 gGBP /St.m.G is the pre-1912 service marking of the load the rifle was proofed for, 1.3 gramm Gewehrblättchenpulver / Stahlmantelgeschoss = 20.1 gr rifle flake powder/steel jacket bullet. 313 is a gauge number for a bore/land diameter of 6.25 – 6.49 mm, as used pre-1912. 48-6,6 is a pre-1925 name of the 6.5x48R. Eagle, crown/B are part the usual proof marks. As the rifle is marked with a pre-1912 gauge number and pre-1912 service load info, the rifle was proofed 1895 - 1912, most likely 1910-11. No.23 is an inventory number from a collection/museum/gun room. ..."

" ... 6.5x48R load from the 1934 DWM handbook: .260", 8.2g = 126.5 gr jacketed bullet, 1.50 g = 23 gr Rottweil #5 powder (an obsolete smokeless powder, burning rate about between 3031 and 4064) for mv 657 m/s = 2155 fps, 26" barrel.



As always, your comments are welcome.







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Because 6.5x48R Sauer brass and dies are impossible to find, I'm going to re-chamber the rifle to a variation of a 6.5x48Rx30/30 cartridge. I already have brass and dies in hand, and a rental reamer coming tomorrow. See the comparison of the 2 cartridges below. I estimate that I can load a 120g bullet to about 2500 ft/sec. This will provide muzzle energy of 1650 ft/lbs and fairly flat shooting out to 200 yards with only a 4" variation over that entire range. At 200 yards it will still retain about 1200 ft/lbs energy. This will e a fun gun for small to mid-size game here in Wisconsin - from groundhogs to whitetail deer.

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Hello All,

Well, everything went well this afternoon. The rifle now has a new chamber. I loaded 10 cartridges and went to the range for a test run. I'm very pleased with the results. And it only took 5 minutes to resize and reload the 10 fired cases. The picture shows the 10 reloaded 6.5x48R-30/30 cartridges ready for another run tomorrow, alongside an original 6x48R Sauer cartridge. Average velocity was measured at 2255 fps with a 120g Sierra SP. SD was 15 fps. And most important, no signs of excessive pressure; easy bolt-lift after firing. I think I'll leave this as my load for the rifle. Its a little less than I estimated, but it should still be good for small game and deer out to about 200 yds. Besides, that's about the best my old eyes can do with iron sights.

That is a nice rifle. How do you rechamber? Do you remove the barrel?

Hello richj

Thanks for the reply.

You don't have to remove the barrel. You only have to remove the bolt, and attach the finishing reamer to an extended "T-handle" and hand turn the reamer until the new chamber is finished.

It took about half an hour to complete the reaming.

Beautiful little rifle.

When you complete the hand-reaming, is the chamber in shootable condition? Or is there any final finishing or polishing that is required? This sounds like an appealing project.

What a great little rifle. Thanks for the photos.

Hello jwm,

Hello Brian Canada,

Thanks for the reply.

When you are done hand reaming, its ready to shoot. No additional polishing required. Here's another hand reaming project from last month.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...4711043/m/8701029832

Very nice and a great old rifle brought back to life

Nice old classic single rides again

Hello p dog shooter

Hello wildmansix

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, I got tired of seeing this one sitting in the back of the safe.

Every time I would take out a rifle to go shooting, it would cry; "take me". But without ammo it only got oiled. Now its having fun with its brothers and sisters.

I like the way you think out of the box there, Buckstix. No doubt an improvement on the original and a nice way to get it out of the closet.

Very interesting. How different from the 30-30 case was the original? Was the rim diameter similar?

Hello 209jones,

Thanks for the reply.

Definately a lot more fun when you can shoot it.

quote:

Originally posted by Fjold:
Very interesting. How different from the 30-30 case was the original? Was the rim diameter similar?

Hello Fjold,

Thanks for the reply.

I found a specification chart on the internet for the 6.5x48R Sauer. I added the specs for the 6.5x48Rx30/30 cartridge.



As you can see, there were some differences. However, measured bore dia on this rifle was .264 dia. not .260 dia. as shown in the chart, and the rim diameter and rim thickness were increased and cleaned-up with the re-chambering. A slight anomaly was left in the the neck area, which was easily polished-out. The case heads of the fired cases were slightly increased to match the slightly larger head area of the chamber that did not clean-up, but not a significant amount. The slightly enlarged heads were left "as-is" and not resized during reloading. The difference is barely visible in the above picture showing the reloaded cartridges, (4 cartridges laying side-by-side) and wouldn't even be noticed unless pointed out.

All in all, I've now fired this rifle several dozen times with the 10 cases that have been reloaded 3 to 4 times each, and I've had very good results.