[huffmanite]

I have a few 6.5X55 rifles I enjoy shooting. One is a sporter that was once a M96 Swede with now a 24" shortened barrel. I'm just curious what grain bullet you've found that seems to be most accurate in your still military barrel Swede that should have around a 1 in 8 1/2" twist barrel. Also, are bullets flat based or boattail?

 

[kdub]

Have several Swedes still left out of a previous passel. All have done best with the 129 gr Hornady SST bullet and around 46.5 gr of HC4831 and standard LR primer.

 

[MikeG]

I've had good results with both the Nosler 120gr. Ballistic Tip, and 125gr. Partition. Haven't tried anything else besides Rem factory ammo.

 

[Lynn]

I have had good luck with Hornady's 140gr. #2633 loaded with RL22 in my Swede.

 

[tpv]

My best groups are with the Sierra 120 grain Pro Hunter. Excellent accuracy.

 

[big dan]

my old military barrel was good with the various 140's but was incredible with 100gr hornadys and win 760!! blew my mind as i could take a 160gr rn bullet and seat it into a case just enough to hold it then chamber it and not hit rifling!! one never knows what a rifle will like and many of the "old wives tales" are just that...

 

[Water-Man]

With a twist rate of 8 1/2 your rifle should do the best with a heavier bullet i.e. 140gr -160gr.. The obvious way to find out is to experiment.

 

[unclenick]

From the JBM calculators online, the 142 grain Sierra MatchKing should be about ideal. I have these that I got for my 6.5-284, but somehow have never got around to running any in my Swede. I'll do that next opportunity I get.

 

[crazydave]

140s get my vote. First time I ever fired factory ammo into .65" @100yds from a [model 38?] Swede using 140gr Remingtons. My brother's M96 shot 140gr Noslers into 1.04" @200yds using N140.

 

[kdub]

Think the lighter bullets will outperform the heavier ones in your military barrel. Sounds strange, but that's the way it works in all of mine.

 

[Huntdaddy1]

I can't say I've tried a whole bunch of different bullets in my Swede's, but I like the 120gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip really well. I haven't found much need to try anything else !! HD1

 

[Old Grump]

A buddy of mine uses 140 gr for moose and deer but sometimes loads 160 grains for moose depending on where he is hunting.

 

[dentonbramwell]

All of the popular bullets seem to shoot well in both my modern and my milsurp Swedes.

I'm partial to the 140 grainers. My milsurp will spit these out at 2800 FPS with a 29" barrel and the lower pressure loads. Seems like a very good hunting bullet, capable of performing even after hitting a major bone.

 

[BigBob3006]

For deer sized game, the 125gr Nosler Partition worked real well.

 

[broom_jm]

I find this thread very interesting, in that the standard twist rate of a 6.5x55 Swede is pretty fast and should stabilize just about any bullet made for it. Yours might "over-stabilize" lighter bullets but this cartridge has a long, well-documented history of being pretty accurate with whatever you run down it.

And when it comes right down to it, the only way you'll know what shoots great in your gun...

 

[curiousgb]

I've had good results with both the Nosler 120gr. Ballistic Tip, and 125gr. Partition. Haven't tried anything else besides Rem factory ammo.

+1 With IMR4831

 

[dmsbandit]

My model 38 swede isn't really picky. It shoots 120grain Nosler Solid Bases into groups under 1.5" and puts Hanson factory 140FMJ into even smaller groups. It shoots just about anything I feed it under 1.5" so I'm happy.

 

[4570Tom]

Both of my swedes have long throats, and overall do better with the 140g bullets. Had some older surplus rounds that had a longer COL than many newer factory loads, and the surplus loads worked better. Neither of mine like the Remington factory loads, which seem to have a lower shorter COL than other current factory loads.

 

[mtmrolla]

I bought a case of Norma 160 grain round noses when I bought my Swede years ago. They were very accurate. Then I decided to use the action and make a sporter out of it for my daughter. I got a barrel from Brownells and had it chambered. The twist was different and I found that the 160 grain rounds had become very inaccurate. I loaded 140 Speer and 120 Sierras with IMR 4064 and got excellent performance.

 

[LittleCMonkey]

My Super Deluxe Sako likes 120's.