6.5x55 short barrel, high velocity

[Oropi]

Sharing my experience with the 6.5x55 swede.

I have a tikka t3 I bought in 2016 and originally ran factory ammo with poor results. Slow and didn’t have my preference of projectiles. Rifle was all original apart from stock and Supressor.

I started reloading with RL 26 and was getting 2900+ fps with 143gr

Rifle was heavy and hard to lug around the mountains so I went down a path to shorten it. Before I shortened the barrel I was told I needed atleast 20” of barrel for the Swede.

Current load was 2830 fps with 140gr using H4350.

I swapped it to the factory plastic stock and cut the barrel to 15.5”

Same load and velocity dropped to 2610 fps, had to get a stainless steel first baffle as the aluminium wasn’t going to handle the muzzle blast with the extra unburnt powder.

Still shoots well under an inch for 5 shots and is a lot nicer to lug around in my opinion

 

[Huntinmechanic]

Interesting setup! It looks super handy and very packable. What is the carry weight? I love the Swede. I've been loading mine really light. I'm only getting 2700fps with 127 LRX out of a 22" barrel on a Kimber 84L action. I'm sure I can turn that up quite a bit, but it shoots well and kills well. Hunted with it the first time this year and result were DRT.

 

[WI-Carcosa]

2900 fps is impressive! Thanks for the insight on the RL26. I have a Swede T3 cut to 19” and getting around 2700fps with a hot load of n560. The shorter barrel is intriguing!

 

[Ozarkansas]

As someone who dropped off their tikka 6.5x55 to get cut to 18” this week, this is great to read. That velocity is smoking, is it a compressed load? What brass are you using?

I tried to get some Barnes LRX bullets going as fast as possible with R26 a few years ago and hit pressure signs at about 3100 FPS, so I guess 2900 FPS with a bullet that’s probably the same length and only slightly heavier makes sense.

 

[Ozarkansas]

I got out and tested some hotter loads today in my newly chopped/threaded tikka. Just single shot pressure checks for the most part. Here’s the notes I took:

“18” barrel 6.5x55 single shot pressure check w/ 140 Gold Dot & Staball 6.5:
Gr. : FPS
47.5: 2640 (3x shots)
48.5: 2662
49.0: 2744
49.5: 2771
50.0: 2782
-primers started flattening on 49.0 and up, no ejector marks or visible damage to brass”.

Disregard the bullet at 12 o clock from the middle bullseye, that’s a .243. The 47.5 gr loads were all aimed at the middle bullseye and the ladder was aimed at the left bull. Obviously I need to adjust the scope and shoot some bigger groups but this is a great start.

 

[farmerlifter]

Sharing my experience with the 6.5x55 swede.

I have a tikka t3 I bought in 2016 and originally ran factory ammo with poor results. Slow and didn’t have my preference of projectiles. Rifle was all original apart from stock and Supressor.

I started reloading with RL 26 and was getting 2900+ fps with 143gr

Rifle was heavy and hard to lug around the mountains so I went down a path to shorten it. Before I shortened the barrel I was told I needed atleast 20” of barrel for the Swede.

Current load was 2830 fps with 140gr using H4350.

I swapped it to the factory plastic stock and cut the barrel to 15.5”

Same load and velocity dropped to 2610 fps, had to get a stainless steel first baffle as the aluminium wasn’t going to handle the muzzle blast with the extra unburnt powder.

Still shoots well under an inch for 5 shots and is a lot nicer to lug around in my opinion

How many grains of 4350 were ya running, Ive been playing around with imr4831 as its pretty versatile, but I have a good supply of 4350 now

 

[Oropi]

How many grains of 4350 were ya running, Ive been playing around with imr4831 as its pretty versatile, but I have a good supply of 4350 now

My final load was 47.2gr H4350 with the 140s.

Was getting pressure signs around 49gr.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NWBLKTAIL]

My final load was 47.2gr H4350 with the 140s.

Was getting pressure signs around 49gr.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s a much higher ceiling than I would have expected.

I ran up to 47gr. With a 130tmk in a t3 Swede and never got any pressure signs, but with limited data and experience on my end I played it safe and went down to 46.5gr. It shot awesome. 2860fps avg. 22” barrel. Accuracy was great.
Norma brass
CCI 200.

I’m glad to see the results you got with a modern action, thanks for sharing.