Thread: An oldy but a goodie - 6.5x55 Swedish

In my teens I first got to shoot a swede when my mate bought an old ex-army Carl Gustav package which back then were being bought in by the hundreds and sold for bugger all, you could get then with either a wooden stock or a plastic stock.

That rifle shot well as he used it emphatically shooting a tonne of goats but I was always captivated by the cartridge itself having a long sleek look to it, so I guess in some ways it left an impression on me.

Fast forward a few years and more recently @buzzman put up a post advertising a swede being sold up north in a gunshop which was a little too tempting for me.





The rifle cost $1250 with postage, I sold off the suppressor and rings so in the end the rifle cost me $850 as I had a spare scope and suppressor at hand.

I managed to get some dies, brass and some tips from @Ingrid 51 re his experience with his 6.5x55 so I figured I'd start off with some 143 gr ELDX projectiles.

Initial loads with AR2209 and AR2213SC with the COAL set at 79 mm wasn't great so I tried again with COAL set at 80 mm and what a difference that made, final load was 47 gr AR2213SC however the 47.5 gr was also a great load but figured I'd stay on the south side of pressure.

Generally, I like to run 4 shot groups but components especially primers are a bit scarce, so I was being tight when it came to loads until I at least got an idea of what the rifle liked where I then retest at least twice with 4 shot groups just to make sure it wasn't a one-off fluke.



After some rounds were loaded my youngest son (16 yrs) started shooting the rifle and likes it a bit more than the Kimber he has and even shot the rifle out to 550 mtrs on some plates which is always a good confidence booster.

Since then, he's been out hunting, shooting a few goats and even the odd fallow where I'm yet to shoot an animal with it. So far, my impressions with the hand full of animals taken with the ELDX's have been great.



I certainly enjoy using that rifle which I'm looking forward to shooting a few animals of my own over the next few months.