I have been looking for a 6.5x55 SM based on the grandson's 1 shot kills. My friend in KC Rodger is a smith and 83 years old. I called him and he said I know a guy who has one and it's NIB! So, the seller was 94 years old and told Rodger he would take 800 firm so I grabbed it. I drove down to Independence this morning and handed Rodger the cash and he handed me the rifle. According to the SN it was manufactured in 1977 or 78 and it's a M70 XTR Featherweight with a schnabel forend, engine turned swept handle bolt, with a 22 inch barrel with hard sights a 1 in 8 twist and deluxe checkering.....Perfect! I have lucked into some pretty nice rifles lately including a stone mint Type II national match Garand.
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Nice one Rick!
My, my, my.
Congrats Rick. Purty rifle :D
I installed a 3X15x42 Zeiss HD5 which has the bullet drop reticle. Don't know when I'm going to get a chance to shoot it as the weather has turned frigid. I'll probably load up some 130gr Accubonds using RL17 or 19. I'm down to less than a pound of IMR 4064 and getting nervous. Has anyone tried to buy reloading supplies recently? I'll move this part to the Campfire.
Very nice!
Paul
Quote from: sakorick;155550I installed a 3X15x42 Zeiss HD5 which has the bullet drop reticle. Don't know when I'm going to get a chance to shoot it as the weather has turned frigid. I'll probably load up some 130gr Accubonds using RL17 or 19. I'm down to less than a pound of IMR 4064 and getting nervous. Has anyone tried to buy reloading supplies recently? I'll move this part to the Campfire.
I have a brand new 8 lb keg of IMR4064! It was hiding in back of other stuff. Whew!:Banghead:
I notice the twist rate of 1:8, which is 'fast' for a cartridge of this vintage, especially in a "factory" rifle. The reason is, that people like, for some reason, to shoot heavy-for-caliber bullets in this cartridge. Heavy like ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY GRAINS! A freakin' pencil! It takes that fast twist to stabilize that REALLY LONG bullet. To each his own... At the same time, those same people will argue 'til they're blue in the face about the adverse effects of "over stabilization" on precision. Shakin' my head...
I'd expect this rifle to shoot 140s 'like a laser'. In spite of those bullets being "over-stabilized".
Paul