The Swede 6.5 and Lee's 170 grn bullet

[dogtag]

This a great looking bullet, but it comes out of the mold at 271 which
is a tight squeeze if you attempt stuffing it into a 264 neck. There's no
M die plug to open the neck to 268, and there's no sizer for 268.
The only solution I could come up with was to size the two lower bands
to 264 in order to seat the bullet without shaving leaving the top two at 271.
It seems to work - I got no leading [lino] and my group was 3 " at 100 yds.
This was 15 shots and the best I've ever done with the Swede.
Load was 15 grns 4198.
Anyone else played with this bullet ?
Anyone have a better load suggestion ?

[Parashooter]

If you're not happy with the apparently good solution you've adopted, get a "27" (.270 cal.) M-die and polish the expander down from ~.277" to ~.267". (Polish the second step to about .270".) In a pinch, this can be done satisfactorily with a portable drill and a fine abrasive stone. Similarly, you can polish a Lyman .266" sizer out to .268" if really necessary. Personally, I find the .266" sizer yields .267" bullets (Lyman 266469) with a hard alloy (linotype) and they shoot fine in my Swedish Mausers.

4198 is a bit dense for optimum results with low-pressure reduced loads. Expect marginally better results from a bulky powder like 4759 or a double-base product like 2400 or RL-7 (the nitroglycerin content improves ignition) - but it would be hard to improve on a 3 MOA 15-shot cast-bullet group from an open-sighted Mauser.

[dogtag]

My Swede is scoped which is why 3" needs some improvement.
Thanks for suggestions.

[Litt'le Lee]

WHY use such a heavy bullet ??

[dogtag]

Before this Lee bullet came along, there was only the Lyman 140 grn 264 which
was too small for the military 6.5 which really needs a bullet of around 268.
Shooters of the Swede have been crying out for a better bullet for years.
Not a lot of choice in cast.