6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenaur

[versifier]

I put my foot in it this time. An old (non-shooting) friend gave me a beautiful old m1904/14. His dad brought her home from Europe after WWII. She weren't much of a looker from the outside, and she had lived in various closets for god knows how many years. The dust on her was pretty thick, but there was surprisingly little rust.
He had mentioned it several weeks ago: "I was told it's a 6.5mm, and I think it's a Mauser."

AHA, I think, it must a Swede! So, I got me some 6.5 bullets, a full set 6.5x55 dies, and a bunch of brass. Yesterday he handed me a Mannlicher. So I'm still looking for a Swede....

Anyway, never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I took her all apart and thoroughly cleaned and oiled her. The bore is PERFECT. The fancy rotary magazine is in wonderful condition, too. It was properly cared for before it went into storage, but the outside never got oiled over the years and it looks like it's been through, well, a war.

Needless to say, the 6.5x55 cases I have are much too big to fit. Does anyone have some 6.5x54M-S dies, shellholder, and brass that's gathering dust? I think it's going to be a tack driver and I can't wait to shoot it.

[Oldbushman]

It's long been a dream of min to own one of those spoon bolt rifles ! I'll ask around as a Mate of mine who passed away had several but I think they were in the 7mm & 7x64 brennike ! But it never hurts to ask !


Dave

[versifier]

OK boys,
The dies came in three days ago, a generous donator from over on the CB board sent me some cases, so I loaded up some mild loads of IMR3031 yesterday and off to the range I went this morning. I was dissapointed to find that the latch of the ladder adjustment on the rear sight did not survive the years, and some unprintably unprintable had disassembled it and then reassembled it upside down so that the bottom's solid bar perfectly blocks any view at all of the front sight. At least he didn't do any "customizing". I stuck a fired .22lr case under it so I had some sight picture and had at it at 50yds. It shot a nice 1" 3-shot group on the target butt about 18" above my target.
Back to the drawing board. This one is going to take some tinkering. Oh well, I should probably take it out of the stock anyway and do general maintainence on it now that I know it will shoot. Maybe I can uncrud that slider and get it to latch again the way it is supposed to.

[versifier]

I took everything apart completely, ungunked, derusted, relubed, and reassembled it. A little penetrating oil and a tap or two with a brass hammer freed the ladder adjustment, spring still works. Went back to the range today and shot 5 rounds into 2", still 5.5" high, but on the paper and grouping nicely. The front sight is dovetailed in, so I should be able to replace it with a taller one if needed, even if I have to make it myself. This current load with IMR3031 has a 140gr Sierra GameKing SBT at about 2000fps, but I will try others to see if I can get the velocity up a bit and the groups a little lower. I may not have to mess with the front sight at all if I don't run into any pressure signs when I up the charge. The groups should print lower with the higher velocities. We'll see....

[versifier]

Well, I'm up to 2200fps with IMR 3031 and still about 4" high, but the 5shot group is down to around 1". I will load some more up as soon as my order of LR primers comes in. I also have a bunch of brass on order, hard to do much with 14 cases, but that's better than wishing. The rifle is a pussycat to shoot, recoil about like a .223. I can see why this was a popular sporting round 80 years ago - accurate, easy on the shoulder, fun to shoot. I especially like the "What the hell is that?" reaction at the range. This one is a keeper. I guess I'll have to do something about the stock - it's a little beat up, but solid and the wood looks decent under whatever it's finished with. Refinishing won't hurt its negligible collector value. I guess I'll have to make a higher post for the front dovetail, too. That will be a good winter project and I have some brass to do it with. I'm almost afraid to post a photo as it isn't the classiest looking rig, but I will do something with it next photo session.

[props]

I keep waffling on ordering a 6.5X54 reamer from JGS. I'd think it would be a wonderful cast bullet cartridge, much better than the 6.5X55 due to the smaller volume. I have had dies and a hundred new RWS cases for ten years or so, maybe I'll have to buy the reamer and a barrel blank for a winter project. Then again.........

Cheers,

Phil

[versifier]

It is a lot of fun. I haven't started casting for it yet. The smallest caliber I've gotten to so far is .30. But, I just picked up a 7x57 and I have this one, so I'll probabably be into it before much longer. If you abandon your project, let me know and I'll buy brass & dies from you. I have one set, but have been using a Swede die to neck size. If I had a second set, I would bore out the sizer body to make a dedicated necker and set the second seater up for cast.

[props]

Will do, I also have a set of 6.5 Italian dies. I got all this stuff when the last big local dealer retired and had a big sale. Just too many projects and not enough time or money. Can't wait to retire, at least that will solve the time problem.

Cheers,

Phil

[versifier]

Can't wait to retire, at least that will solve the time problem. Phil

Don't count on it.