can i shoot modern ammo in a 1894 krag rifle

In addition to the 6.5x55 mm Swedish, the Sauer 404 is chambered in 15 other cartridges, from. The 6.5 mm Creedmoor (top.) is essentially the 6.5 mm Swede (btm.) with a shortened case body. It slid down the hill and piled up on the trail, just as his dad and cousin came around the bend in the trail. He fired a Nosler 125-grain Partition, and the elk collapsed. Sam walked around a bend in the trail and looked up the hill through a sift of falling snow and saw a cow elk staring down at him. The next morning, Sam dutifully headed up the trail toward the elk in front of his dad and cousin leading pack horses. He hiked the mountains at every opportunity with the 6.5 mm rifle in hand, but luck escaped him, while his cousin did shoot an elk. One of those young hunters was Sam Hall, who wanted an elk more than anything. Come fall, they enjoyed great success hunting antelope, deer and elk shooting 6.5 mm cartridges handloaded with bullets, from the Sierra 120-grain Pro-Hunter to Swift’s 140-grain A-Frame. The new hunters practiced during the summer shooting at least several boxes of cartridges handloaded with lightweight bullets. Instead, the rifle ended up in the hands of one young hunter after another. I had grand hunting plans for my first 6.5 mm Swede rifle. In Europe, the 6.5 mm Swede is commonly referred to as the 6.5x55 SE, as is marked on the author’s rifle. and, yes, the 6.5 mm Creedmoor.Ī 6.5x55 mm Swedish-chambered Sauer 404 can cover a range of shooting requirements, but the gun can also be converted to other cartridges by switching out the barrel and bolt head. Just about any combination produces even velocities and a good return in bullet speed for each grain of powder burned. IMR 48 are excellent for speed and accuracy with all bullet weights.īecause of the variety of propellants and wide selection of bullet choices, the 6.5 mm Swede is one of the easiest cartridges to handload. H4350, Hybrid 100V and Reloder 22 are good choices, but keep N560 in mind. Proper propellants for the 6.5 mm Swede are the same as, to a touch slower-burning than, those that would be used for 6.5 mm Creedmoor. That bullet-seating depth results in a cartridge length of 3.140', which places the bullet 0.040' short of contacting the rifling in the Sauer 404 barrel-a perfect fit. For example, 45.5 grains of Hybrid 100V fills a 6.5x55 mm case up to just short of the bottom of the neck where the base of a Sierra 130-grain GameChanger bullet holds it firmly in place.

To keep from intruding into that propellant space, long bullets are seated with their base at the bottom of the case neck and their forward portion well out of the case mouth. A proper amount of propellant fills their cases close to the top of the shoulder.

The Creedmoor and Swede share the same concept of propellant fill and bullet-seating depth.

The 127-year-old long-action 6.5 mm Swedish can still handle most tasks typically assigned to newer short-action cartridges such as (far l. Other than those, the door is open to all manner of 6.5 mm bullets introduced in recent years, thanks to the popularity of the 6.5 mm Creedmoor. Longer bullets like the Berger 156-grain Extreme Outer Limits Elite Hunter and Sierra 150-grain MatchKing probably require a faster twist than the Sauer’s. The Sauer accurately shot bullets as long as the Hornady 143-grain ELD-X, although Hornady recommends a minimum 1:8' twist for the bullet. The Sauer 404 rifle used to shoot the 6.5 mm Swede cartridges listed in the load chart has a 1:8.66' rifling twist, which is fairly standard for Swede rifles. Streamlined bullets have been the trend ever since for the 6.5 mm Swede when shooting targets and game from fox to moose. Decades later, the Swedish military updated to a 139-grain pointed bullet with a boattail. to r.): the Speer 90-grain TNT, Nosler 123-grain Custom Competition, Sierra 130-grain GameChanger and Hornady 143-grain ELD-X.Ī full-metal-jacket, round-nose, 156-grain bullet was the original military load for the Swede. bullets allow the 6.5 mm Swede to cover a wide range of tasks.

Can i shoot modern ammo in a 1894 krag rifle