6.5 X 55

[Duffy]

I have a disire for a 6.5 X 55 Sweedish mauser. I see that a winchester M 70 featherweight in that caliber is going at a gun auction in my area soon. So I thought I' d buy it if " the price is right" .

Then I got to thinkin. I have a rem 788 in .243 that I am not real happy with. I could have it re-chambered and barreled for 6.5 X 55. Anyone ever done this? What approx. would it cost? Would it make sence to have a 24 in. barrel (6.5 X 55) on the 788? (the .243 barrel is 20 1/2 in.)

Any thouts?

Robin.

[8mm/06]

I' d leave the 788 alone and try to grab the Winchester featherweight in 6.5 X 55...what a sweet whitetail gun that would be!
I think by the time you had a ready-to-fire barrel installed on your 788 you' d have at least $150 dropped into your 788. Course, if the 243 really isn' t a shooter...changing out the barrel would be the cheaper way to go.
But, my way of thinkin is...can' t have enough guns!

[Vapodog]

sell the 788 and put it toward the M-70 in 6.5X55

[frizzellr]

The 6.5X55mm won' t fit in your 788 Remington unless it was one of the few that were reportedly made in long action. I know that the 6.5 isn' t technically a long action cartridge, more of an intermediate, but it won' t fit into the magazine of a 788 that was designed for the 243, 7mm-08, 308, etc. Maybe if you seated the bullet really deep, but what' s the point? Too bad you are in Canada or I would be glad to take that puny little 243 off your hands.

[seattlesetters]

If you only do one thing the rest of your life, get that Winny in 6.5x55mm Swede.

[halcon]

I just bought a M-70 featherweight in 6.5X55 Mauser at a local auction . I got it new in box for $325.00 . I didn' t go there to buy it but it went so cheap I had to .
You could sell the Rem 788 if you want but I wouldn' t rebarrel it , You start with a $300 dollar gun and spend the money to rebarrel and still only have a $300 dollar gun .

[Nomercy]

I' ll second that the LOOOOONG bulleted 6.5x55swede isn' t going to fit in your 788, even if the case dimensions would be about right to cycle, I guarantee that the bullet hanging out the end will be too much to fit in the magazine or feed into the chamber.

I' d buy the Win. 70, the swede is a great round, I' ve played with it a bit, and love the ability of it, even if the ballistics aren' t astounding, the performance is on par with significantly more powerful rounds. Many a time I' ve seen it dubbed the ' .30-06 of Europe' , and with good reason. The 70 in itself at an auction would be a steal in any round, let alone such a ' rare' chambering as the swede round, if it were me, I' d probably sell the 788 to finance the 70, but it' s always good to have another deer rifle in a more standard cartridge (AS LONG AS IT IS ACCURATE), so when money gets tight, you don' t have to spend 1.5-2x the money for the swede rounds. You can never own too many guns, but you can strap yourself down so badly by buying new ones that you can' t afford to keep/shoot any of them, but at auction prices, that shouldn' t be a problem.

[Alacrity Fitzhugh]

I' d go with the Winchester Featherweight and sell the 788. At least this way you get some satisfaction from the 788.

Al

[James B]

I have two 6.5x55' s. Both swedish mausers. I messed up and sold my 700 classic in that great caliber. It is used for all game in Sweden including elk and moose. Get the Winchester.

[mauser06]

my friend has a 6.5 swed in a m70 featherweight....what a sweet gun....i love it....and i hear its a great caliber.....if hte price is right and you want it i dont think youll be dissappointed......