Both my Swedes shoot bad groups (4 inches). I have tried the 120gr Nosler and the 140gr Sierra.....not much difference. Should I be using a heavier bullet? These little rifles have a reputation for excellent accuracy, however, you couldn't prove it with my rifles. Regards, Rick.

Rick, that sounds strange, especially with the 140 gr. bullets. Did you measure the groove diameter? Lyman says there is a lot of diffrence in some of them. My Carl Gustafs measures .266 and it is nearly new. I haven't shot it yet as I have no .266 bullets............Paul H

Quote from: Paul Hoskins;63172Rick, that sounds strange, especially with the 140 gr. bullets. Did you measure the groove diameter? Lyman says there is a lot of diffrence in some of them. My Carl Gustafs measures .266 and it is nearly new. I haven't shot it yet as I have no .266 bullets............Paul H

Hello Paul H. The condition discs both are 3 but close to 6.5. Maybe I should try a different powder although that seems unlikely. Regards, Rick.

Rick, from what I've read the Swede surprisingly likes slower powders like RL-22 so you might give that a shot with the 140gr bullet.
 
Paul, Hornady makes a .267" 160gr RN for the Carcano that might be just the ticket in your Swede.

Try some 160gr RN Hornady or Sierra 160SMP (discontinued, but some still out there).
 
I gather from your post about bore condition that you have milsurp Mausers? They had very deep throats for the heavy military bullets, so try seating the bullets out as far as you can without hitting the rifling.
 
My gun is a CZ550, and it liked 160SMP Sierras over around 45gr of H4831SC enough to group under 1/2MOA. I have not had as good luck with the 120 or 140gr bullets, but they still all shot under 1.5" with many different charges of H4895, H4831SC and RE22.
 
The only bullets I had "bad" luck with were the 160gr spitzers made by Woodleigh, and that was simply because my gun did not have enough twist for thier length.

You might try the Lapua 155Mega too...

Rick, have you tried any factory ammo? My Swedes shoot it (140s) well, so I know that if I find the proper handload they have the ability to shoot it. Of course if they don't shoot factory ammo well it doesn't prove that a handload can't be found that will, but on the other hand, if they do, you know a handload can be found.
 
Paul

Quote from: gitano;63205Rick, have you tried any factory ammo? My Swedes shoot it (140s) well, so I know that if I find the proper handload they have the ability to shoot it. Of course if they don't shoot factory ammo well it doesn't prove that a handload can't be found that will, but on the other hand, if they do, you know a handload can be found.
 
Paul

Nope, never tried factory stuff....kind of goes against my grain. I'll keep fiddling. Regards, Rick.

Quote from: sakorick;63298Nope, never tried factory stuff....kind of goes against my grain.

I hear ya. I wouldn't have had any except that it came with something I bought.
 
Paul

Rick,

My M-38 Husky likes 41.5 grains of IMR4350 or 46.0 grains of RL22 with the 140 Sierra.  Like what's been said above, it's usually quite a reach to seat the bullets out far enough to hit the lands.  You might also want to check for copper fouling.  When I got this Husky the barrel looked clean as a whistle but after some sessions with Wipeout I removed a suprising amount of copper from it.

My Swede sporter on a M98 action is a whole 'nother ballgame. 9 twist and a much shorter throat, it shines best with the 120 grainers.

Nels

Quote from: Nelsdou;63382Rick,

My M-38 Husky likes 41.5 grains of IMR4350 or 46.0 grains of RL22 with the 140 Sierra. Like what's been said above, it's usually quite a reach to seat the bullets out far enough to hit the lands. You might also want to check for copper fouling. When I got this Husky the barrel looked clean as a whistle but after some sessions with Wipeout I removed a suprising amount of copper from it.

My Swede sporter on a M98 action is a whole 'nother ballgame. 9 twist and a much shorter throat, it shines best with the 120 grainers.

Nels

Hello Nels. Thanks for the load....I'll try RL22. No copper....used Wipeout and Butch's for 2 days on both barrels. I'll try to test later today. Regards, Rick.

Quote from: sakorick;63160Both my Swedes shoot bad groups (4 inches). I have tried the 120gr Nosler and the 140gr Sierra.....not much difference. Should I be using a heavier bullet? These little rifles have a reputation for excellent accuracy, however, you couldn't prove it with my rifles. Regards, Rick.

I too have suffered with a less than accurate 6.5x55, a Howa 1500 Lightning which I even went so far as to replace the tupperware stock with a Boyds Laminated JRS and glass bed the recoil lug. Still, it only shoots okay groups with Hornady 129 gr and 140 gr SP's. I had read a couple of posts on other boards of shooters who had really good improvements in the accuracy of their long throated 6.5x55's by crimping their bullets with a Lee factory crimp die (available for less than $10 US from Midway). I thought, why not try one? Well, I did this morning and the results were surprising. My first group was 4 shots with a Nosler 120 gr Ballistic Tip that shot so poorly previously, that I am not even sure what powder I had loaded in there. The crimped load put 4 shots into 1.52" at 100 yards. Interesting. Then I tried a Sierra 120 gr BTMK loaded over 47.5 gr of Accurate Data 86 (similar to 3100) seated to an overall length of 3.00". (I usually seat to 3.15" if the bullet has enough left in the neck to support it) and proceeded to put 3 shots into 1.59". Now I realize this is not "tack driving" accuracy, but these and similar loads have shot way too many 3" plus groups, sO I was pretty happy. I capped off the experiment by putting 5 shots of the same load but seated out to 3.15" and crimped into 1.18" with 3 of them touching. NO guarantee, but it might be worth trying to see if it helps. I am going to crimp a bunch more of my existing loads to see it offers consistent improvement. Thougt I would share.
Chuck

Good stuff Chuck. Thanks.
 
Paul

Quote from: gitano;64276Good stuff Chuck. Thanks.
 
Paul

Ditto. Regards, Rick.

I friend and I each customized/sporterized 96 carl Gustav's  in 6.5 Swede. I have been very plesed w/ the results. We had the barrels cut to 22" installed Bold triggers w/ safety aand used a Richard's Microfit Stock. I used a "Clasic" design on mine. I glass bedded the action and barrel. Then topped it w/ A leupold VX 1 3x9. I was extremely pleased w/ the results. On the first trip to the range I tried 7 different loads 120 - 160 gr bullets from 3 companies, All hand loads w/ IMR 4350.  All but one shot at or under 1"!!  I was thrilled. To top it off I was able to take a nice mule derr @ 246 yds w/ 120 gr nosler B.T. Great performance on a steep quartering toward shot. I then shot a Cow elk @ 311 paces. probably just shy of 300 yds. w/ the 160 gr hornaday Round nose. complete pass through.
According to books, this round is to small for elk. I think that a person should be very careful w/ their shot selection and limit their range, but this round is VERy capable. I finished off w/ a coyote @ 200 yds. 3 Shots on game. 3 animals down quickly and humanely.  can't ask for much more. It doesn't even have much recoil!  Givens