6.5x58

[Eaglelord17]

Well it worked successfully. All chambered no problem and all fired no problem. Not the tightest grouping but not bad for off hand shooting. One observation I had was that the bolt was more difficult to work after firing unlike the M1904/39, could just be the difference in the guns or maybe the ammo. Anyways here is the results.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

It's no Swedish M-96, BUT at least you are on the paper and can go from there.

How is the action bedding and the bearing on the barrel? Timber can move around a bit over a century or so.

Good going, anyway.

[Eaglelord17]

I could probally tighten it up a fair bit with a bit of practice and using a bench rest. It shoots a little high, though I might play around with the load a bit to see if I can get it to go POI at 100m. I am not sure how the bedding is, normally I am just happy getting these old rifles to shoot, rather than getting them to shoot lasers (I have my .22 for that).

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Most "older" military rifles seem to "shoot high" to some extent, especially those with a "quick-set" battle setting where the firer just reefs the back-sight slide fully to the rear, (whereupon, on many rifles, it is actually set on the 300m "battle" option), and goes for it.

Maybe the boffins also figured that if the NCOs could train the troops to consistently aim at the center of mass, at the appropriate range setting, a bit of "extra elevation" would still see the bullet strike somewhere it could do nasty things.

[Eaglelord17]

The rear sight on the 1904 goes down to 200m (which is nice because I am used to working with 300m) so it shouldn't be too difficult to try and get it POI.

I suspect the reason for the 300m min setting on most rifles was just that they anticipated using these rifles like small arty pieces, firing by platoon and such. I think they just figured that war would be fought at longer distances (like the Boer War), and if it was less than that, that was why you had your bayonet!

[jonnyc]

FWIW, I just picked-up 3 NOS boxes of Kynoch 6.5mm Portuguese. The SP 155gr. bullets measure out to 6.61mm (.260).

[Eaglelord17]

FWIW, I just picked-up 3 NOS boxes of Kynoch 6.5mm Portuguese. The SP 155gr. bullets measure out to 6.61mm (.260).

That is a rare find, congrats.

For those interested in the round, here was a good website for information (it is in Spanish though, hopefully the google translate works for this link)
Google Translate

[ireload2]

You can use a washer on top of the shell holder as a spacer to elevate the Lee factory crimp die collet earlier. That will raise the location of the crimp.

Unfortunately I don't believe I am able to adjust the height of the crimp as it uses the shell holder to actuate the crimping. A possible solution would be to machine up a larger shell plate or maybe a small insert to make it longer however I don't have the facilities for that at the moment. I am just going to hope it works at this point (and if not correct/make it work as I go)

The powder I am using is 3031, which is a suitable powder for this type of loading (my favourite for all sorts of milsurps from my Swiss 1889 to my 8mm Lebel), and I am not trying for too much velocity, aiming for roughly 2300-2400ft/sec (like the original loading). The case capacity of the 6.5x58 is 90% of 8mm Mausers case capacity and the loads in my book for 150 grn bullet in 8mm start at 49grns of 3031. 90% of 49 is 44grns, and I am starting at 40grns so it should be fairly safe (plus these actions were later on successfully converted to 8mm with no issues, so they are a strong enough action). I'll be sure to post the results.

[green]

Easy and cheap way to make 6.5x58 is to size neck and set back shoulder of 8x57 brass in 6.5x55 die til bolt will just close, anneal, fire form and neck size in 6.5x55 die for loading.