6.5x55 Swede recipe needed

[Jo6pak]

After all these years, I'm finally getting down the last of my surplus Swede ammo (I bought a few thousand rounds many years ago when it was cheap and plentiful.)

Anyway, I have a bunch of brass (mostly Privi and Winchester)that I am looking to have reloaded.

I'd like to give the guy a recipe that closely matches the ballistics for the surplus fodder. I don't need ultra high performance or uber accuracy, just something to feed the M96

_I'm sure this has been asked before, but I tried the search function and paged thru posts til I was crosseyed.

[Unclenick]

What were your bullet weights?

I've never used the Prvi brass. The first thing I would do is see how the case water overflow capacity of the two cases compare. They may not want quite the same load. Winchester brass is often a little bigger inside than others.

To get that number, you need a loading scale and to weigh a fired case of each kind, fill it with water level with the mouth (no meniscus; no air bubbles inside; no spilled drops outside) and weigh again. The differences in the two weights in grains is the difference in case water overflow capacity. The differences in charge weights needed, if any, can then be estimated at about .07 grains of powder per grain of water capacity difference.

But you said you wanted to give this load to a guy? Does that mean you are not reloading it yourself and that you don't have a loading scale? In that case about all I could suggest is following Alliant's fixed recipe data. It is for 120 and 140 grain Speer bullets using Remington cases and CCI 200 primers and either Reloader 19 or Reloader 22 powder. The Remington cases may be closer to the Prvi than the Winchester, but you'd still have to find at least one Remington to weigh and check to be sure.

[Adamantium]

What powder are you going to be using?

[fishbones182]

need to know what what weight bullet you plan on using. As mentioned already what powder are you looking at using?

[reynolds357]

140 Sierra game king touching the lands. Fed Std. Br. primer. Imr.4350.

[Dan Newberry]

the M41 "prickskytte" ammo, used in their sniper rifles, used a 143 grain bullet (I pulled some of this stuff down and weighed bullets and charges)...

...and the powder charge was 46.3 grains of what was called NC1220. Fortunately, we have the same formula, now called "Reloder 22"... no kidding, that's it.

Using Sierra 142 grain Matchkings and 46.3 grains of RL22 I've shot some fantastic groups with Swedes (M96's mostly) over the years. I used Norma brass, and even Winchester and Remington with good results.

Here's a copy of an old letter from Alliant that may be of interest...


With 139's or 140's probably go with 46.5 grains of RL22... work up, of course...



the M96's are the most accurate military rifles ever built--beyond any reasonable doubt...


Dan

[Jo6pak]

I guess I shoulda figured it wouldn't be that easy.

The surplus stuff that I have is "prickskytte" and the privi is 140gr I believe. The two loads perform nearly identically to each other out of my rifle

The buddy that is gonna reload it asked for the data to get close to what I have been shooting. Not sure of his choice of powder. I guess that iswhat I am asking...what info do I need to give him to get loads that can acheive the same performance of the surplus stuff.

Most of the brass is Winchester, so maybe I'll give him those to start with.
I'll folrmward some of this info and go from there

I'm not at all versed in the science of reloading, and he asked for a reference point as where to start. I figured since he was doing the handwork, I would try to do the reasearch.

Thanks for the replies.

[Unclenick]

If you want the exact performance of the loads you had, you have to use the same powder type. Other powders can give you the same velocity, but the barrel time that synchronizes bullet exit with muzzle deflection phase, is dependent on how early the powder peaks. A faster powder producing that velocity will get the bullet out with higher peak pressure and shorter barrel time, while a slower powder will do it with a lower peak pressure and longer barrel time. This is why using a chronograph to match a velocity produced by an unknown powder can be dangerous.

I think Dan got lucky that his Reloader 22 load matched up so well to what he pulled, or else he forgot to mention working it back up from a lower number to verify the load. Otherwise, copying military loads directly is one way you can get into trouble. The reason is that powders sold for reloading are "canister grade", meaning they are blended with held back slow or fast lots of the same powder, as needed, to bring the canister grade burn rate to within about 3% of nominal. This is necessary for published load data to remain valid. Military and commercial reloaders normally just buy "bulk grade" powder, which can vary up to 20% in burn rate (10% is more normal) and eschew the extra cost of blending. They then use pressure measuring equipment to develop the loads. But the charge weight they load is adjusted to match each powder lots, as no recipe can be expected to work with the wide burn rate range bulk powder can have.

If you look, for an example, at M72 National Match ammunition between 1958 and 1968, you get anywhere from 46 grains to 48.5 grains of IMR 4895, with the larger charges producing velocities lower than the smaller charges in some instances. That seems to have been a pretty well-behaved bulk powder, as that represents a burn rate range of only about 8½%. Still, it's about a 5% powder charge difference requirement.

Post #25 here has a rundown of the U.S. military powder certification procedure by a former Aberdeen Proving Grounds Test Director.

[recon14]

LIke Dan, my Swede M96 loves RL22. Works great with pretty much every bullet type I have for it.