6.5 X 55mm Swede vs. 6.5 Creedmoor on varius actions...??

[dondlhmn]

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)....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 Savage. AND Here is the QUESTION: Has anyone done 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 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!!

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!!

 

[Layton]

Can you tell what the max COAL would be if you went the 6.5x55 route? I run a swede in a long action and my COAL with .010" jump is 3.174" with Berger 140 Hybrids. If you can't stick em out there you won't be able to take advantage of the cartridge. It's going to boil down to how long can you load and mag feed and is it long enough to give you the extra case capacity a Swede can give you?

L

edt: Pic to give you an idea.

 

[ddavis]

With the 6.5x55, I hang 123 Amax's out to 3.11" in a long action Tikka. With my 6.5 Creedmoor, I hang 140 Amax's out to 2.74" in a short action Tikka. Case capacity and velocity are a wash between the cartridges. If you are going with a short action, just go with the Creedmoor, because there will be no doubt that it will work and get about the same velocity.

 

[Joop]

+1 to what Layton said. My Tikka is running at around 3.150" COAL using the 139 Scenar, 140 A-Max and 142 SMK. If you have a smith that can tailor the barrel to the cartridge and intended bullet, that's a huge plus. I still think you would end up single loading them in a Savage short action, though. Their OEM short action mags are probably no bigger than 3.0" (just a quick measurement on one of mine, using a tape measure). However, I would certainly take the advice of anyone who has actually tried this, over my own.

The other question I would address is barrel length. My Tikka Sporter has what is advertised as a 24" barrel. To me, I feel it's more like 23" of actual barrel, but that's what it is. I've been doing load workups with the aforementioned bullets and five different powders that are usually among the most recommended for this caliber. I'm finding it difficult to achieve some of the stated velocities that others are getting. However, I think that barrel length is a huge factor in this. If you look at what Layton is getting out of his 26" barrel, the difference seems to be large in only a couple inches of barrel. So far, I'm not getting much better (if even matching) than .260 Rem/6.5C Creedmoor velocities, even when using quite a bit more powder. Again, I think the barrel length has a lot to do with this. I think a good parallel comparison would be between .308 and .30-06. The 06 will shoot the same bullet faster, no doubt. But it takes more powder and, when you really start comparing the numbers, the .308 is probably a more efficient cartridge, for what it is. The same could be said with 6.5CM vs. 6.5x55. To really take advantage of that extra case capacity (as it is very small), a barrel of at least 24" is likely required and even longer would be preferred. I've already convinced myself that, when the time comes to rebarrel this Tikka, it will get a 26" barrel. If I had a short action that I was building off of, I would be going .260/6.5CM, without a doubt. Just my .02

John

 

[dondlhmn]

Great stuff..THANKS...keep it coming! I am really hoping someone out there got hit by some kind of 6.5 lightning and can share some new ideas with me, but I'm afraid it has all been seen and/or done before!

Yeah,

I have considered (until my head hurts!) powder capacity with different bullets and chambers, how long or how deep a bullet can (or needs) to be seated, distance from lands or jammed, powder capacity differences, barrel life differences, the (not huge) ballistic differences, barrel length (but, for my uses I have pretty much settled on 26" Stainless steel in Krieger's Light Varmint taper (the blank is 29") unless I hear of a different good length and can prove to myself why I should go that way instead of a 26". The main problem here is trying to figure out if ANY advantage can be gained one way or another, but, so far, it looks like the Creedmoor is the way to go with ballistic results and opinions pretty close to a wash as to chambering. It just may come down to something mundane like brass availability. I do, however, not want to wind up with a "barrel burner" (well..throat burner) and would rather give up maybe a TINY bit of external ballistic advantage in order to more or less keep the barrel life reasonable. I understand that 7mm-08 and .308 (and for some chamberings 25-06 and 30-06) brass can be resized for some of the 6.5mm cartridges, and though I am equipped to neck trim in about any direction needed and I have I-Don't-Even-KNOW-How-Much .308 and 7mm-08 and etc. brass, I don't really want to go spending my life working on cases!!

Pretty much any barrel can be cut for any chamber that you can dream up and spec out to the reamer maker. (like maybe a 5.56mm-.45 Romaniian-Polish-indonesian). All the gunsmith REALLY has to do is chamber the barrel and do the threading and shouldering appropriately to get the desired fit and headspacing.

AARRGH!!...Life was so simple before I started to try to figure this out...just LOAD, AIM and SQUEEZE!!

PS.... Nice sig line, JOOP, but what REALLY takes ME back and sometimes almost brings tears to my eyes is the smell on a nice, sunny day of an ARMY canvas vehicle top or a GP medium or GP small!!

 

[Layton]

If you don't mind cutting it short then 6.5x55 Lapua brass is cheap and they do have long necks.

L

 

[ddavis]

If you don't mind cutting it short then 6.5x55 Lapua brass is cheap and they do have long necks.

L

Yes, just to make your decision harder, 6.5x55 Lapua brass is ~$70 per 100, and 6.5 CM brass is also about $70 per 100 with Hornady brass. If you had a long action the Swede would be a no brainer, but with a short action I just think you will be frustrated with having to decide to jam the bullet way down in the case or single load.

 

[tigerfan_9]

Yes, just to make your decision harder, 6.5x55 Lapua brass is ~$70 per 100, and 6.5 CM brass is also about $70 per 100 with Hornady brass. If you had a long action the Swede would be a no brainer, but with a short action I just think you will be frustrated with having to decide to jam the bullet way down in the case or single load.

6.5 CM brass is more like $60/100

 

[The Lawn Ranger]

LA go Swede or 6.5x284/ SA go Creed.

 

[dondlhmn]

Again, thanks for all the input..keep it coming!! But, as a note that maybe I should have mentioned previously: I fully intend to single feed this rifle project when it is complete as, for me, single loading is a way of life. I CAN NOT remember the last time I needed more than one shot to do the job....ANY job... Nor can I remember the last time I jacked another round in from the magazine (never put any in there, anway) for ANY purpose, whether it was training or for real. My opinion (and also my training) is that second shots should either be fired by another gun INSTANTLY/simultaneously or never fired at all...or maybe by folks that can be called in onto the target with more serious weapons/fire power than a rifle can bring to bear upon whatever needs it. A second point is that this rifle I am attempting to build will NEVER be fired in anger......there is other armament available if that ever becomes necessary. The question about single feeding/magazine feeding is a non-player for me and I am FINE with single feeding. As a matter of fact, I am strongly considering an action that has NO PROVISION for a magazine of any kind.

 

[ddavis]

6.5 CM brass is more like $60/100

Normal price I've seen (other than when it was $25/50 at Midway just a few weeks ago) is $35/50, which is $70/100.

Hornady Reloading Brass 6.5 Creedmoor Box of 50

It looks like Lapua 6.5 Swede brass has gone up to $75/100.

Still, I have not had any problems with the Hornady Creedmoor brass. Obviously the Lapua brass is good to go. When talking about these two cartridges, the brass is really a non-issue.

 

[tigerfan_9]

Normal price I've seen (other than when it was $25/50 at Midway just a few weeks ago) is $35/50, which is $70/100.

Hornady Reloading Brass 6.5 Creedmoor Box of 50

It looks like Lapua 6.5 Swede brass has gone up to $75/100.

Still, I have not had any problems with the Hornady Creedmoor brass. Obviously the Lapua brass is good to go. When talking about these two cartridges, the brass is really a non-issue.

Look at powder valley $30.89/50. Midway sucks on prices typically.

 

[The Lawn Ranger]

If you are single-loading, you can use a short action on the swede.

 

[Layton]

If you are single-loading, you can use a short action on the swede.

Yep. And have ya'll checked Eurooptic for Lapua brass? It's $71/100 for swede brass there. All their Lapua brass seems to be a couple of dollars less than many places.

L