Gunsmithing 6.5 X 55 Swede on a Savage .308 action?!?!??

[dondlhmn]

I also posted this on the bolt gun forum, but figured that there may be more educated-on-the-subject folks on this Forum:

I have a Krieger 6.5mm 8.5 twist barrel that I am pretty much determined to use and have pretty much settled on a 6.5 Creedmoor chambered barrel screwed onto a trued Remington SHORT ACTION.....but....I am waffling because I also think highly of the 6.5 X 55 Swede. Now I have a couple of good short action Remington 700 donor rifles that I am planning to have trued and the barrel (chambered in a 6.5) put onto. The thing is, I happen to have a .308 Savage Accu-everything with a heavy barrel on it and it shoots pretty danged well for an off of the shelf rifle (everything in the X-ring at 600 yards IF I DO MY JOB and am one with the wind that day)....BUT....I have checked, measured and compared and it seems to me that the .308 Savage setup has a much longer ejection port than the short action Remmy 700s do. SO....Now I am thinking that maybe I should try having that 6.5 Krieger chambered in the Swede and threaded for and installed on the (maybe not the one I ahve now, but a different DONOR) Savage. AND Here is the QUESTION: Has anyone done/tried this? I'm thinking that if I stick to the 140 grain and lighter bullets, I should have NO PROBLEM single feeding it and some lighter/shorter bullets may even go through the magazine. So..IF ANYONE HAS DONE THIS....Did it work out OK for various bullet lengths/single feeding or maybe trying to get them to feed from the magazine? I would sure like to hear from any of you "mad scientist" types that may have spent money trying this out and would REALLY like to hear ALL PROs, CONs, problems, and any and all things I haven't thought of yet. I am a reloader and plan on reloading for this (if it works out), so can make length/seating depth adjustments as may be necessary to get it to work. I also think I will stick this on the gunsmithing forum and see what I get there, too. My 'smith is on vacation right now, or I would be asking him these sorts of questions and doing a bunch of SERIOUS measuring!!

I think that the Savage comes in two or three lengths, but I think my .308 is NOT the longest action they make.......

PLEASE do respond with anything and everything you may know or even be guessing about this experiment/project!! The way I look at this is that if Thomas Edison had been afraid of public opinion or failures, we'd ALL still be in the dark and if the Wright Brothers had similar hangups, we'd still be walking across the country!!! Or as someone said: Nothing ventured, NOTHING gained!!

 

[Deej]

ok as a fan of 6.5x55 I got to admire you. and here is the list of questions and opinions.
1 I don't think you will gain much if anything going 6.5x55 over the 6.5 cm
2 the 6.5x55 is a standard case and 308 is short, I think you would be putting the bullet in so deep that would give you less powder capacity than the cm
3 measure your magazine and would answer that question.
4 I think you could single feed the 6.5x55 into the savage action.
5 if you end up doing this be sure to let me know how it turned out.

 

[fdkay]

I have a savage model 12 blind magazine rifle that I have been considering turning into a 7x57. It appears there is enough room there as the savage short action is considerably longer than a remington short action.
If you do it on a savage short action, it would have to be on a blind mag model as their DBM barely allows an oal of 2.80.

My suggestion: If you want a 6.5x55 and you are going to buy a new donor action, buy a long action just to be certain.

My Dad built one on a long action Savage with a McGowan prefit.
It is an incredibly accurate, reasonably light hunting rifle. Sub 1/2 moa with hornady SST's.

 

[MDM]

All of the factory savage sa dbm ive encountered have allowed well over 2.90 for oal. More like 2.95+

 

[Powermac]

If you're using the 6.5x55 with heavy pills, berger 140 grs fx, they will seat far below the long neck of the 55.
The 55 only really shines in a LA, if you have a SA go with a 260 or 6.5 CM, as you won't really get any more out of the 55.
The Mag length will cripple it with the heavier bullets.
Single feeding is a option of course, need a chamber that fits though, and never owned a Savage so don't know how they work as single feeds.

 

[JohnnyK]

Built my 6.5x55 on a 110 so there would be plenty of room with 140s. Shoots awesome loaded at 3.10.

 

[Scimitar]

build it on a long action iunless your doing a single feed. I love the 6.5x55. Mos tof my long rounds were around 3.00 plus. Build it on a long action 700 and you can stoke the coals to it. Big plus for that cartridge is that you can get Lapua brass for it at a decent price. Normally cost the same as Lapua 308 brass except they actually have it in stock. if you are stuck on a short action, build a 260 or 6.5 Creedmore.

 

[sandwarrior]

I also posted this on the bolt gun forum, but figured that there may be more educated-on-the-subject folks on this Forum:

I have a Krieger 6.5mm 8.5 twist barrel that I am pretty much determined to use and have pretty much settled on a 6.5 Creedmoor chambered barrel screwed onto a trued Remington SHORT ACTION.....but....I am waffling because I also think highly of the 6.5 X 55 Swede. Now I have a couple of good short action Remington 700 donor rifles that I am planning to have trued and the barrel (chambered in a 6.5) put onto. The thing is, I happen to have a .308 Savage Accu-everything with a heavy barrel on it and it shoots pretty danged well for an off of the shelf rifle (everything in the X-ring at 600 yards IF I DO MY JOB and am one with the wind that day)....BUT....I have checked, measured and compared and it seems to me that the .308 Savage setup has a much longer ejection port than the short action Remmy 700s do. SO....Now I am thinking that maybe I should try having that 6.5 Krieger chambered in the Swede and threaded for and installed on the (maybe not the one I ahve now, but a different DONOR) Savage. AND Here is the QUESTION: Has anyone done/tried this? I'm thinking that if I stick to the 140 grain and lighter bullets, I should have NO PROBLEM single feeding it and some lighter/shorter bullets may even go through the magazine. So..IF ANYONE HAS DONE THIS....Did it work out OK for various bullet lengths/single feeding or maybe trying to get them to feed from the magazine? I would sure like to hear from any of you "mad scientist" types that may have spent money trying this out and would REALLY like to hear ALL PROs, CONs, problems, and any and all things I haven't thought of yet. I am a reloader and plan on reloading for this (if it works out), so can make length/seating depth adjustments as may be necessary to get it to work. I also think I will stick this on the gunsmithing forum and see what I get there, too. My 'smith is on vacation right now, or I would be asking him these sorts of questions and doing a bunch of SERIOUS measuring!!

I think that the Savage comes in two or three lengths, but I think my .308 is NOT the longest action they make.......

PLEASE do respond with anything and everything you may know or even be guessing about this experiment/project!! The way I look at this is that if Thomas Edison had been afraid of public opinion or failures, we'd ALL still be in the dark and if the Wright Brothers had similar hangups, we'd still be walking across the country!!! Or as someone said: Nothing ventured, NOTHING gained!!

YES, and no. Do not put a 6.5x55 Swede on any short action if you want the long for caliber bullets. Especially a Rem SA. How Remington got away with it in their 1994 Classic is literally a gun crime. You have to single feed long bullets and if you want to use the mag. Buy the short whimpy Rem bullets or reload them that way yourself. A Savage action can handle bullets out to 3.020". Which still leaves you short if you start loading the bullets out a ways. It will handle any .308 based case (or short .308 based case such as the Creedmoor), which is why I went with it for my 7mm-08. You have to remember you're giving up almost 1/4" by using the 55mm case. My rule is never put any Mauser case (which a Swede is) in a short action. That said I have a 6mm Ackley in a Win 70 short action (post '63) and it has plenty of room. Winchester probably gives the most room of any off the shelf action.

I love the Swede too. I've had several. Too bad they aren't the ones I glommed onto as my "go-to forever" round. I've never been disappointed in their performance. In fact they handily outperform my "go-to forever" round. It's just that when I had to cut down on my collection, they brought the most money and therefore sold.

FWIW, you might look into getting a decent Mauser action and doing a custom job on that for the 6.5x55 Get it all exactly the way you want. I know some on here call them polished turds, but I think they make a damn good rifle when they're done right. Put a Creedmoor on your Remmy action and leave the .308 shooting good as it is until that barrel goes South.

 

[JWV]

I've got a fresh 6.5x55 AI that is going on my long action. I am taking off the 260AI that is currently on it because even with that I felt I was slightly limited when using the long bullets. I was loading those at 2.945. Don't handicap the swede with a short action!

 

[Layton]

I've got a fresh 6.5x55 AI that is going on my long action. I am taking off the 260AI that is currently on it because even with that I felt I was slightly limited when using the long bullets. I was loading those at 2.945. Don't handicap the swede with a short action!

To this note if you do go with a Swede make sure your smith get's the correct reamer. A standard Swede reamer will have less freebore than the cartridge really needs. Dave Kiff will know which one you need.

L

edt: BTW, the actions are what they are as are the cartridge lengths. You'll get the same answers now matter how many times or where you post the same questions. If you are ok single feeding then that's your only option with your current setup to take advantage of a swede. If not you'll either have to get a LA or go 260/6.5c or be content to get 260/6.5c like performance out of the swede.

 

[sandwarrior]

I've got a fresh 6.5x55 AI that is going on my long action. I am taking off the 260AI that is currently on it because even with that I felt I was slightly limited when using the long bullets. I was loading those at 2.945. Don't handicap the swede with a short action!

You lost me on this one. You are taking a .260 AI (51.7mm) off because it's limited, but you're sticking a 6.5x55 on that's 55mm? The case is almost 1/4" longer.

 

[Layton]

He's putting it on a long action.

L

 

[sandwarrior]

He's putting it on a long action.

L

Correct. Am I understanding it right that he's taking off the .260 AI from that long action, because it's too long?

 

[Layton]

No. The 260AI isn't as long as the swede so he's not utilizing all the real estate he has available. By going to the 6.5x55 in a long action he'll be able to dump 8-10g more powder in the case. A swede is really too long for a short action and a 260 isn't long enough for a long action if that makes sense?

L

 

[fdkay]

Here is a link.
Savage Tech

Shows mag length as 2.85, far too short for the 6.5x55 with anything but the lightest bullets.
I believe the blind mag has more room.

 

[sandwarrior]

No. The 260AI isn't as long as the swede so he's not utilizing all the real estate he has available. By going to the 6.5x55 in a long action he'll be able to dump 8-10g more powder in the case. A swede is really too long for a short action and a 260 isn't long enough for a long action if that makes sense?

L

Yes, that completely makes sense. I'm very familiar with both rounds. It's just the way he said it, made it sound like the .260AI was too long for some reason.

 

[JWV]

Sorry for the confusion. I have a slew of Savage actions and I had an extra long action at the time I got the 260AI so it went on that instead of a short. Now I somehow got another barrel in 6.5x55AI and it is going on that long action. However, the throat on my 260AI, makes for a pretty long SA cartridge but not at the limit of the SA by any means but definitely meant the long throated 6.5x55AI should definitely go onto the LA.

 

[kiff]

I have bridged the gap somewhat on Savage to Remington internal and detachable mag length, for a Remington I have a Trigger Guard assembly with a canoe floor plate that take's a 3.03 OAL and adds a extra round and a Stealth Detachable that allows a 2.980 OAL . So we are getting close to the needed lengths . On the other front I just completed a One piece bolt for a savage that has a mini 16 extractor . Kinda look's like a Winchester push feed with a Savage Handle and Pin Assembly . Next a Savage one piece Coned bolt . Let me know if any one is interested in any of these parts as my machine shop is running all this now . Thanks Dave

 

[AK264]

The swede is one of my all time favorites. In my experience not only does it need room in the magazine to accomodate OALwith all the good pills it needs some extra to feed well. You live in Reno I believe there is a pawn shop or two there Find a beat up LA and build your swede.