Dusting off a old 6.5 swede sportster, advice wanted.

Since this is an old rifle, would it be prudent if me to slug the bore? Or is that more SOP for shooting cast? Something I've always wanted to get into.

How does one slug a barrel? I suppose if it's loose there's always the .267" bullets from Hornady...
 
If all you are shooting is jacketed, then slugging won't do you a lot of good, other than to possibly explain bad groups. A badly worn bore will not produce good groups... most of the time.

When slugging, you are just hammering a pure, soft lead ball/bullet/sinker, through the bore, then measuring the largest diameter of the rifling. The ball should be a few thousandths larger than the largest you would expect your bore to be. You could probably get a soft 7mm ball/bullet through the 6.5, but it would probably be tight... you're talking 20 thousandths there...but it should work.
 
One other thing "slugging" a bore will tell you, by feel, is if there are any "tight, or loose spots" in the bore.

A professional gunsmith who has slugged bores before can usually recognize this. If its your first time doing it, you might, or might not notice, depending on the amount of change in the feel, if any.

Also not something that you can do much about, but its nice to know, if it exists.

All the Swedes I have seen have had at worst, pretty good bores, and most of them have been excellent. Rifles converted to sporters have also followed this trend. (generally speaking, one does not sporterize a rifle and keep a barrel with a bad bore).

The 96s in military trim have a brass disc on the stock with a bunch of code on it. It includes the bore specs (as of the last time the rifle was arsenal checked). My long Swede's disc says its right on the min spec for barrel diameter (meaning its tight and good, basically like new).

Enjoy your Swede, they're good guns. Let us know how things progress.
 
Parts came in today!

Timney trigger: Holy freak'n crap this is nice. It's a whole different rifle now. Getting it on the action & set was easy as pie... Getting the action back in the stock & the trigger gaurd around the trigger is another story. Best $40 I spent on a rifle to date.

Skinner low pro peep: Nice simple unit. I got it adjusted down with the milsurp rear sight still in place then drifted it out of the way so I should be close.

The gunsmith called me to say my Micro was ready so I headed down there to pick it up. They had a few boxes of 142 SMKs so I got one. Sierras have done me well in my Micro & the 142s seem to be non exsistant online so I didn't mind paying a few extra bucks for something that is otherwise unobtainable.

Might be a bit much for punching paper but it's nice having good bullets.

I got back to the house, where I'd left about 60 PMC brass shaking. We have two sets of dies, one Hornady & one Lee. I got the Hornady set out & for some reason the brass would go up into the die with basically no resistance but would damn near pull the brass in two coming back out. Don't know what that was about. I was using Dillion case lube. I switched to the Lee die & they went smoooooth.

I'm new to reloading for a rifle, as I had some trouble at first with the .300blk I'm making from LC 5.56 range pickups but I've since solved that. Wasn't getting the case far enough up there.

One thing I did notice is how all the brass have a little buldge about 1/4" from the rim. This must be the difference of the smaller American brass in the Euro chamber.

So i hop on my robot phone here to look at what ya'll have suggested but didn't have any reception. I start digging through all the old manuals & could only find loads for one powder, IMR 3031. Most this equipment was passed down to my dad when my great uncle passed. Dad's too busy to really mess around with loading so it's been passed down to me. Most this stuff older than I am so it's probably time to update some things.

Boy this Swede must have a loooong throat. I settled on a coal of 3.100" to start. Close as I can tell I'm still almost .050" from the lands. Middle of the road charge of 3031 is 36 grains on top of a CCI primer.

Field report tomorrow!
 
One thing I did notice is how all the brass have a little buldge about 1/4" from the rim. This must be the difference of the smaller American brass in the Euro chamber.
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Swede military chambers can be "generous to a fault." Which is why I neck size my 6.5x55 brass.

Check the inside of your brass for pending cracks with a bent paperclip.

Jimro
 
I usually FL size unless I'm loading for a specific rifle (I have 4 6.5x55 rifles). Not one shoots bad with 140 gr. Sierra boat tail & 47 gr. of RL-19. I bought 1600 of them when a local dealer went out of business, so that's the 6.5 bullet I shoot the most now.
 
Thanks for the tip bud.

Shooting yesterday: First off my homemade sight drifting tool worked great. Saved me a bunch of money so I'm tickled pink with it. I started off with my Micro to get warmed up & upon my fifth group got 3 dead on in the black with a 2" group. :)

So I get out the Swede & shoot a few. Man that trigger is awesome! I got the windage spot on but ran into the bolt with the bottom of the Skinner lopro. I'll have to shorten it. I shot another group which ended being my best yet with the Swede at 2.5"

I might put the glass back on top from this point. As much as I love irons I have my Micro back now for that. I can shoot it better too for some reason.

So now the real work begins. I'm not sure what shrunk my group with the Swede. The trigger, a peep sight or reloads. Maybe all three.

Mental note. I've never owned a rifle with glass. Shot quite a few though & never seemed to do any better with glass if the distance was less than 200 yards.

Until next time!
 
Shot quite a few though & never seemed to do any better with glass if the distance was less than 200 yards
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This tells me you are still on the sunny side of 50!:D Probably 40!:D

I used to doubt my Dad when he said the glass helped, but now that I am here where he was then, I find that he was right. :o

So you got the Timmny trigger in the Swede? That single thing probably did the most to improve your groups.

Generally, you can be more accurate with a rifle that has a good trigger and crappy sights than one that has good sights and a crappy trigger.

Better trigger and better sights? If you didn't see an improvement, I'd be surprised.

Original Swede barrels are throated for the "looong" 160gr FMJ RN bullets, and may be a bit...generous.. on top of that.

I have had very good results with IMR 4320 in the 42.x gr range with 140gr bullets. (work up to this, every rifle is different, and what is a safe max can vary a lot)

let us know how it goes, good luck and good shooting!
 
Well this project just came to a screeching halt. Long story short I owe dad a new scope now. It was acting funny (one click would move several inches) at the range so I spent the rest of the time shooting my Micro. Which with any ammo I can outshoot this Swede with iron sights. That alone tells me I was wasting my time chasing a fantasy of a moa group out of a 100 year old rifle.

After I got done cleaning it my hoody caught something & pulled it off the bench. I wasn't fast enough to catch it, only to fumble it, making the situation worse & watch it hit right square on both turrets.

So I'll give this up once I replace dad's scope & just be happy with my Micro.

Thanks for the help guys & following along.
 
[QUOTE="kawasakifreak77]That alone tells me I was wasting my time chasing a fantasy of a moa group out of a 100 year old rifle.[/QUOTE]

I'm shooting MOA...(see post #6)

I am having trouble understanding how a bad scope is making you give-up on the rifle:confused:
 
Well come to find out the scope survived. Not sure how. After talking to dad & licking my wounds I gave it another go today. That must be one tough scope, for sure.

Still can't get a respectable group with it. I've tried 4 different load / bullet combinations & the best I've gotten with any of them was 2.5" I'm no match shooter but I've drawn better groups with any rifle I've had. Almost all of them with iron sights.

It's not a bad rifle, I just can't shoot it as good as I want to. It's plenty accurate to kill a deer, which is why dad built it. So she's going back in the safe.
 
That's odd. I don't think I've EVER heard of a Swede that won't do at least 1 1/2" groups... most are pretty much minute of angle. I don't remember if you said it had been re-barrelled... if so, that could be the issue. If not, I'd start looking for red flag stuff, damaged crown, damaged rifling at muzzle, ringed barrel, odd forearm pressure.. It should shoot better than what you are reporting. :confused:
 
I'm pretty sure the nut that connects the buttplate to the trigger is this rifle's problem! :D

Two things I have noticed.

The more I cleaned the rifle, the worse the bore looked. The rifling doesn't look very 'sharp'. It appears as if the lands have rounded edges. Were they made like that or is it nearly 100 years of wear? Also I can make out copper streaks in the grooves near the muzzle & there is visible pitting in the bore. Not much, you really have to look for it but it is present.

Something else I noticed. When I started loading for it a bullet would slip right in the neck of a spent case. I haven't loaded rifles much, but I don't remember seeing this in anything else I've loaded for including an '03 30-06, post '64 Winchester '94 & my 300blk.

I ended up taking her out again, since dad is still on the road & he's the only one that can figure out how to get the safe open. I had loaded up more of the 140 Amaxs over 36 gr of 3031, mostly to use up the powder as that's what we had the least of. It was in a rather old looking metal can so I wanted rid of it.

All the benches were full so I was laying on a duffle bag with my hoody rolled up under the action as I've noticed the forend is very flexible. I didn't want to support to rifle on a part that wasn't solid.

Long story short I think the rifle likes the Amaxs a little better. I didn't shoot anything worth writing home about I feel. My best (last group, of about 30 rounds fired) was right at 2" the center of which was in the 10 ring. I stopped while I was ahead!

So. A wee bit better.

In the end a nearly 100 year old rifle with a visually compromised (sp?) bore, an easily flexible stock & a scope that took the entire weight of the rifle from waist height right to the turrets on concrete I don't feel too bad.

Keep the advise coming. I appreciate it & even though this one is going back in the safe when dad gets home, I'd like to take as much from this as possible. To apply the information to another platform someday in search of that sub 1" group.
 
44 AMP said:
I have had very good results with IMR 4320 in the 42.x gr range with 140gr bullets. (work up to this, every rifle is different, and what is a safe max can vary a lot)
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That's exactly the load that my Swede likes 42.0gr of IMR 4320 with 140gr Sierras. Groups hover right around 1" @ 100yds, some will even be under an inch when I'm on my game.

Stu
 
Is there a pressure point built into your rifle stock? Some of the lighter sporter barrels need them. Could try using credit cards slipped between your barrel and stock to tune it. I hear it tunes better if you're using your wife's credit cards....:D

Have you checked your action screws to make sure they're not loose? If they're not torqued right that could lead to bad groups. One way to check is (if you don't have an in/lb torque wrench) is to have the front one just barely tightened and gradually tighten it up as you group. Can do the same with the rear. Good beding job never hurt either.
 
Something else I noticed. When I started loading for it a bullet would slip right in the neck of a spent case. I haven't loaded rifles much, but I don't remember seeing this in anything else I've loaded for including an '03 30-06, post '64 Winchester '94 & my 300blk.
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That's what you want a bullet to do, in a just-fired case. It should slide in with almost no effort. If there is still friction, it means the chamber neck is borderline too tight to allow the neck of the case to "release" the bullet. If the chamber is too tight, you will see some scary high pressures with normal loads.
I would clean all the copper out of the barrel. ALL of it. What you are seeing on the rifling (rounded edges) could very well be massive copper buildup. I'd use a good copper cleaner and clean/re-clean until you get NO more blue on your cleaning patches. If you get ALL the copper fouling out, without question, and it still doesn't shoot, then you have other problems.
Sometimes badly pitted barrels will shoot better after a few "fouling" shots are fired, also.
 
You might want to glass bed your action. Dressing up the muzzle crown may help too. I have always set my bullets with a .020 "jump" unless the OAL was too long for the magazine or not enough bullet was left in the neck.
 
Welp. After pestering dad weekly about selling me the swede, he finally caved... & gave it to me!

So here's the plan: set her down in some nice wood. Any suggestions on a nice stock for iron sights? Nothing too fancy.

I love the look of an old blue steel bolt action, in wood with a leather sling & a peep sight. Now I get to build one!

I got Hornadys new loading manual. Looking at the powder burn rate chart, I didn't realize how fast 3031 is compared to what you guys suggested. Woops. Next powder down the list that I have is Varget so I built me up some loads with 37 grains under the 142 SMKs. That's about the only heavier bullet I'be been able to find frequently. I'm only looking to get around 2600 fps so I don't push this old rifle. I made a dummy round with a COL of 3.200" thinking surely I'll hit the rifling & adjust from there... Nope! Any longer & they won't fit the magazine!

If the Varget loads don't work I'll move on down the list to 4320 / 4350.

I had an extra brass front blade laying around. After four hours of filing & polishing I've got a nice ramped post front sight that tapers to .046" at the top. The sight picture is great with it. I think it will work great for longer range work.

A buddy's uncle has a place just a few miles south of here & I'm twisting his arm real hard to let us set up at least a 200 meter range. I'm getting tired of only shooting 100.

Until next time!
 
Keep us posted on how she shoots at longer ranges. I suspect that your groups will shrink a bit in terms of MOA as the range increases.

Jimro
 
brass front blade
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Be aware that brass front sights, blade or bead, can shoot to slightly different points of aim/impact depending on how the light hits them. Not a big concern if you are looking for a fast sight picture and minute of deer accuracy, but something to be aware of when shooting for accuracy at longer ranges.

The angle of the light on the brass will change the way your eye sees it, and can affect your aim, without you even realizing it. Fine for hunting, Not so much for target work. At noon you might be perfect, but in late afternoon, with the sun slanting over your shoulder? Maybe not. Might not make any difference to you, but it might, so just something to look out for.

There's a reason you see brass blades and beads on older hunting rifles, and not on target rifles from the same era.

Get a new stock, bed the action carefully, free float the barrel, and go from there. Cleaning all the copper out of the old barrel won't hurt and may help a lot.

Let us know how it goes.
 
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