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6.5x55

19K views 113 replies 17 participants last post by  1biggun 
#1 ·
My dad is a big fan of this caliber and already has several Mausers for it. And brass. :)

We are looking at an AK build in this caliber. According to the small amount of data I can find, the chamber pressure for the 6.5x55 is up to around 46,000 CUP/51,000 PSI. That is around the .308 pressures.

I'm thinking a quick and easy conversion will consist of:

- Saiga .308 conversion $600
- New barrel $250
- COmpliance parts $100?
- Magazine?

The magazine is the stickler on this. Since the cartridge is slightly longer than .308, I am not sure if the .308 magazine will work. I am looking at some different caliber surplus mags in case we need to do a complete magazine conversion. Any thoughts or shortcuts anyone can think of?
 
#60 ·
> You could step on one and bend it.

Can't be any worse than the mags for my MAC-11. They gradually spread apart in use, and have to be re-tweaked every 100-150 rounds.

If you have problems you can weld or braze some thicker metal straps to the sides, bent to hold the lips in place, and then trim a bit from the magwell and lower rail as needed. If you look at an AK mag, that's essentially what Kalashnikov did.

My M-14 mag is steel and the lips are .030" thick, single layer, no reinforcements. A G3 mag is .063", two layers. A Korean AK is .025" with .055" reinforcements. FYI
 
#61 ·
Yes that reinforcement weld exactly what I was thinking of doing. That's interesting on the MAC-11 mags. My buddy's MK-760 has the same prob.

These mags are very versatile! They are 7.5mm mags, and therefore take the longer rounds. Not sure if they'll take .30-06 but I doubt it; I just haven't checked. So any round that's .308 sized or larger could work in them. I wouldn't go shorter than .308 since the followers would tip.
 
#62 ·
looks like you got room for longer bullets. I doubt the 140 GR stuff will fit but a little heaver bullet looks doable. even if you had to seat them deep you likely would be ok. that round has more case capicity than the 260 REM so you should have case capacity to spare especialy in the lighter pressure loads. those 100GR'ers should to really move velocity wise. and that bullet certainly will work on deer.

Im researching bullets now for my 260 barrels for hunting and there is a pretty good selection.

Congrads on getting it to cycle and fire. what was your port size just for the record?
 
#64 ·
On my kids switch barrel deal I think Im going to go with a big hole and then just use a adjustable L1A1 block so I can get it to run light plinker loads on several of the barrels. accuracy will not be the top concern on his build for know just getting him shooting at 100 yards with a soft recoil as possable. I can do small port to fit hot loads for accuray later.

1/8" or .125 seems a little big but if the pressures are not real high then its sound right. Im guessing from the hole size your running under 50,000 PSI loads??

it seems that from .080 on up works for 53,000PSI and the hole gets bigger to around,
.135 for plinker loads. I have some subsonic 180 GR loads that will almost cycle with a factory port.
 
#65 ·
According to Hodgdon he'll be running between 37,000-46,000 CUP depending on his powder selection. He loads his lighter as he has a few Swedish mausers as well so I won't be surprised if his loads don't exceed 40,000 CUP. I finally convinced him to keep his primo mauser as it is simply too nice to let go.

Oh and I was wrong on the test loads - the Remingtons are 140 gr not 130 :) Those are all around 40-46,000 CUP on Hodgdon's site and didn't have much recoil at all. I assume the longer barrel and heavy build helps that.

That adjustable gas block I built from a Yugo gas block is SWEET! :D 90 degree gas port and I've tested with a paper clip to ensure we can still clean it if carb cleaner doesn't cut the grime.

ETA here's a close-up of the gas port - 5 settings for 0-4 with stamps at 0-2-4. That's a piece of a skilsaw blade that I cut out with a dremel cut-off disk and punched the divot to match the holes. Clicks in place very nice :) Those blades are HARD metal and I had to use my carbide dremel cutter to cut the hole for the screw. I'm going to add a little thumb knob on the other side because it is difficult to switch around with soft point bullet tips ;)

 
#66 ·
ETA here's a close-up of the gas port - 5 settings for 0-4 with stamps at 0-2-4. That's a piece of a skilsaw blade that I cut out with a dremel cut-off disk and punched the divot to match the holes. Clicks in place very nice Those blades are HARD metal and I had to use my carbide dremel cutter to cut the hole for the screw. I'm going to add a little thumb knob on the other side because it is difficult to switch around with soft point bullet tips
I like the block and how you set it up. its pretty clean looking as well. I have been hoarding tome L1A1 blocks from back when they were like $10 for the entire set up I think I 10 so that will allow me to do quite a few calibure and they take the bigger barrel OD. but I got to admitt the youg looks a lor cleaner. How did you rework the internals or did you??
 
#67 ·
The "internals" of the gas block? No, the way the Yugo gas block works is they have a cross-pin with a hole drilled perpendicular to the pin, parallel to the barrel. The grenade launching sight is connected to the pin and washers hold it in place. Open the grenade launching sight 90 degrees and presto the gas system is cut off and you can fire the rifle grenades.

I simply used that 90 degrees to space out 3 more stops in between :)
 
#68 ·
I simply used that 90 degrees to space out 3 more stops in between
Kind of what I thought.

I have a few of GB,s to play with. at one time tapco had Like 1200 of them in stock for like $2 each I contemplated buying them all but some one beat me to it they sold out in about a week after the L1A1 Gb thread was posted here years ago.
 
#69 ·
I'll put up some pics soon. I welded a ring onto the other side so you could take a bullet tip, screwdriver, whatever you have and twist the adjustment without having to grab it with your fingers. When I was out testing it the other day it was so freaking cold that I simply could not move the dial. This ring should help out :)

I put a bunch of pics up on my main build page showing off all the differnet bits. At this point all I need to do is install the bolt hold open, scope rail, modify the rest of the mags and test fire them to verify operation.

http://pookieweb.dyndns.org:61129/6.5x55/6_5x55.htm

Yes I know she's missing the handguards - took her back apart to clean.

 
#71 ·
That's actually a WASR stock that dad's going to rework to fit his hands. It feels fine for me, a little long as-is but shootable. Now that more PSL furniture is available we may just throw this in the "projects" pile and buy an actual PSL stock.

The challenge with this WASR is that the notch cut for the receiver is really far back, so he's going to have to shim a layer of wood into that to make it look like the laminate and then he'll be OK. That sort of thing is right up his alley :)
 
#72 ·
I have a few of those stocks and they simply are wrong for a human. the grip needs to be moved forward and then the whole grip needs to be narrower but then you are into the cut for were the stock slides in the reciver.

I took one and gut away the pistol grip and lower wood going to the butt and then installed a regular plastic grip and it works great but looks funky.

I take it the actual PSL stock feels correct???
 
#73 ·
I know - they are built for a wookie! :D

The PSL does not have a saw cut for the receiver at the bottom, and they are more rounded and cut smaller. Look at that PSL pic back on the 1st or 2nd page, and you'll see the diff.
 
#74 ·
The PSL does not have a saw cut for the receiver at the bottom, and they are more rounded and cut smaller. Look at that PSL pic back on the 1st or 2nd page, and you'll see the diff.
Ill check it out. I know my advanced technoligys synstetic clone fits good. I may do a simular stock for my Kids build but posssaly in nicer wood and with a adjustable cheek weld. Im trying to give it a more civilian flavor as it will be a hunting rifle.

I have some 260 brass coming soon so hopefully there will be another 6.5MM on here soon.
 
#75 ·
Well I got the bolt hold-open working, had to cut back the BHO tab so they'd work with the scratch-built PSL style BHO center support. Also got the rest of the magazines to feed. Tested with FMJ 140 grain privi partizan and she just won't quit! Scope rail is boresighted so it shouldn't take much to sight it in. The 6.5x55 is a real pleasure to shoot, it doesn't have much recoil at all!

I must say the mags are really nice. A real good fit for the 140 grain FMJs with a little more room to spare. Would be a good mag for any similar-sized round. I made up some US floorplates too :)

Other than some final polishing etc. she's ready to be sighted in. The bipod spring is a little weak but it will work until we find a better one. The original Galil bipod spring was worn out and it flopped around.

That's my PSL scope, I'm not giving it to dad - just wanted it for the pic :)




 
#77 ·
I'm not doing the finishing on dad's rifle - HE IS! :D

I'm going to tell him he should lay down a phosphate undercoat and then paint over it. I've had good luck with that finishing technique with the Rustoleum appliance epoxy but it may be too glossy for his liking. Not a fan of the duplicolor black because it chips so easily. Duracoat is my favorite but I don't know if he's going to want to do it.

He's also going to refinish all the wood and alter the pistol grip profile to his liking. That's a WASR stock so he will probably fill in the saw gap at the bottom of the reciever with wood putty or something. Knowing him, he'll refinish everything in a walnut stain of some sort to match his other rifles :)
 
#78 ·
very cool rifle its nice seeing those 7.5 mg mags on a rifle they look good, I modified one of mine kind of like the way you did and it seems like it will work great for my application too (8x57). it looks awesome with your psl scope on it.
 
#80 ·
i talked a little about my build in my m70/76 thread but i have been side tracked with work i actually decided to clean the bore of my m70 front and to my surprise it doesn't look like a sewer pipe the rifling is actually almost decent would probably be accurate for hitting a man sized target haha, so i am pretty tempted to buy a romy rpk set without a barrel i'll decide by the time i actually have time to build. looking at my stripped appart m70 gas block it seems it wouldn't be too hard to build one from scratch only a little wider and taller (to accomodate a larger barrel) but as far as the 7.5 french mags i just love them i believe when i measured the clearance inside they are right about 3.05 inches so a mauser is tight but totally workable(at least my beloved wolf gold) the romy rpk would be a snap to use as the barrel components are very close, maybe i should use my m70 as is shoot out the barrel the rest of the way then use it for my someday 8mm kurtz, but now instead of kurtz i have briefly thought about the idea of 22-250 ak hehe sounds fun if it would be safe :)
 
#81 ·
the idea of 22-250 ak hehe sounds fun if it would be safe
22-250 runs some really high pressures. I think SAMMI is 65,000 PSI so its in the magnum range.

Im going to do a barrel for the switch build and reload. there are gains to be made with the larger case and slower powders longer barrel combo and keep the levels in check.

a custom super trunion and bolt is needed for all these cool build ideas.

If I get the the 308 sagia converted Ill be doing a full power 22-250 as well as a 22-cheetah.
 
#84 ·
Update:

Dad got his rifle when we went to visit him and we took it to the range. It was COLD out there but the rifle functions perfectly!

The only thing he needs to do is paint it in whatever paint he chooses (probably duracoat) and I'm going to tweak the rest of the magazine followers to function as reliably as the first. We haven't sighted it in yet. I think he's going to go with a 30-30 style scope reticle since it shoots so flat.

I put pics up here:

Feb 2010 - Windows Live

My favorite pic - got the case flying out :)

 
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