6.5x55 & & 7x57 Checkout Help?

[Patrick Chadwick]

my understanding is the Swedes were very picky so anything that gets a disk is going to be good.

Yes, but... that test was made a long, long time ago, and unscrupulous people have been known to take the disks from scrapped rifles and fit them into stocks - or swap stocks, of course. (If you dismantle your Swede, the rifle number should (???) be stamped in the barrel channel)

Notoriously, SAAMI gauges tend to show all Swedes as having excessive headspace. The explanation is that these rifles were made to Swedish standards, decades before SAAMI was set up. With a matching bolt I would not worry for one second, but with any rifle, and especially with a non-matching bolt, I would take the trouble to make the elementary rough head clearance test described several times in these pages, if you just search a bit.

Finally, to stir everybody up (I'm feeling bored!) I would be surprised if anyone can produce a verified example of a 6.5x55 or 7x57 Mauser that has blown because of excessive headspace and no other defect.

Patrick


---------- Post added at 03:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:43 PM ----------

This is NOT a joke!

Check first that the bore is truly clear AND that the rifle has not been rechambered. There are some anonymously rechambered milsurps floating around on the West side of the pond. Illegal here, of course...