What sort of performance would you expect form the old cartridge in a modern firearm?
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What sort of performance would you expect form the old cartridge in a modern firearm?
Same performance as a Creedmoor.
Last time I ran one (one of many over the years) I ran Sierra 130gn TMKs with 48.1 of 2209 for an honest 2900fps. Tikka T3, Lapua brass and shot beautifully. As always work up, this load would be too hot for a '96
Tikka 595 (22 inch barrel), RL22, 139gr Hornady. Most accurate load around 2750ft/sec.
It depends on what you are after? As a "bang flop" cartridge I think a 308 has the edge,for flat shooting and mild recoil/little blast the old Swede is hard to beat. I have a couple and have had a few,they are cheap to reload for,have decent case life and a good choice of projectiles.
Over here they call the 6.5 Creedmore the "6.5 Costmore" as it dosnt do anything the 6.5 cant do except fit in a short action.
The God of chamberings!
On my third factory barrel on my tikka.
I have swapped from the 143eldx to the 147eldm.
2720 and is more accurate than I can shoot.
Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk
Have used mine a bit again recently. A modern Schultz and Larsen. n560 powder and 140 Amax (or gold dot). 21.5" barrel. 2840 fps.
My Tikka loves both 139 Scenar and 143 eldx. Pic shows eldx @ 100.Attachment 231132
And 139 Scenar. I reload using Lapua brass, ADI 2209 powder and Winchester primers (as all I could find at the time)Attachment 231133
Greetings All,
I did quite a bit on this a few years back which I wrote up in a couple of articles in NZ Guns. The Hodgdons data seemed to fit the powder I had well including my older AR2209 but the pressures were low. My current lot of AR2209 gave close to 100 fps more velocity than the older lot, equivalent to 2 more grains of powder. The 129, 130 grain projectiles seem to give decent velocity in the mid 2,800 fps range. Will look out my notes and post more later.
Regards Grandpamac.
Grandfather of the 6.5s
With the CIP max pressure of 55,100psi. ~2750fps with a 23" barrel, 140gr projectile, and single base powders like AR2209.
3" of barrel is ~100fps unless you're shorter than 20".
-10gr of projectile weight is ~+100fps.
Your best bet is to estimate performance with Gordon's Reloading Tool or Quick Load.
Current 2209. My load workup was done with a fully calibrated GRT calculation, running at a calculated 62,000 psi, well within the limits of brass and rifle, even though over "book max" As I mentioned very important to work up and be aware of all factors when going above book max (which I dont make a habit of but the 6.5x55 just cries out for it). A previous modern 6.5x55 (a Heym SR-20) that I ran in the early '80s never got to this velocity with 130 as the tools (GRT) just weren't available then, and the ones we had like the Powley conputer (an internal ballistics calculator like a slide rule, and there was a paper based one too) were not sophisticated enough to fully explore anything above "book max".
140 ELDM 2650fps 19” barrel 45.2gn 2209. 46gn showed ejector stamps.
Greetings,
Found my notes. My aim with working with the 6.5x55 was to make some sense of the highly variable data and develop a decent load rather than a hot one. The base data used was that for the .260 Rem. John Barsness wrote some excellent articles on loads and pressure as well as the relationship between case capacity, velocity and pressure. The one I used was that possible velocity increases at 1/4 of the increase of case capacity. Usable case capacity in the 6.5x55 is around 6% greater than the .260 Rem so an increase in velocity of around 1.5% should be expected. based on that the possible velocities for the 6.5x55 should be:
120 grain 3,000 fps.
129 grain 2,890 fps
140 grain 2,730 fps
These are for the soft cup and core type projectiles with possible velocity being a bit less for the harder projectiles.
My load for the 129 grain SST was worked up to 2,870 fps using later lot AR2209.
It appears that velocity and pressure are more closely linked than either of them and powder charge. The data for most 6.5mm cartridges is quite varied even using the same projectile. The Hodgdons data is a close match to my rifle even if lower in pressure than I wanted. It was also for the older AR2209 rather than the current faster lots. Data for the 6.5-06 is way of for the rifle I have been working with with chronographed velocities being substantially lower than predicted. Working up to velocities makes more sense to me.
Regards Grandpamac.
Three powders have given me 2800 without pressure sighs. R22, imr4831 and n560. I use Norma cases and with the n560 load they are lasting well.
Certainly a great cartridge that gets better the older it gets. It survived the US attempts to emasculate it with wimpy loads and many cartridges that tried to succeed it.
GPM.