Hello all,
I have a .270 winchester action that needs a home. Can this action be used to make a rifle in 6.5x55 sweede?
I suspect no, but thought I'd ask. What other chamberings would be possible on this action, excluding the 280 and 30/06? I have another .270 so I'd thought I'd play w/ this one.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Hardcut
PS. Is 6.5x 06 a factory load?
PPS If I were to sell this action and barrel (it's actually a complete gun minus wood), what is a REALISTIC price to ask. It's in good condition, a cloverleaf transition 1946 M70.

Ever think about getting or making a real nice stock for it? Sounds to me like a barreled action worthy of that.

Welcome to the forum Hardcut. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

It will make into any cartridge that has the same head size as the the 270/06. By cutting the bolt face and doing a little work on the feed rails it'll take any magnum case from the 458 Win mag down. I've built several 300 Win mags and 308 Norma mags on those actions.

These are very desirable actions and I'd check with some of the auction outfits for a price.

Like Marlin says if you have everything but the wood, just stock it and do some hunting.

If you want to check on the value of the gun, you might go to the Winchester Collector's Association site before you start whittling on it. Just in case you are unclear, note that a .270 is a .277" bullet, while the 6.5 is a .264" bullet, so this change would mean rebarreling and not just rechambering to a 6.5 cartridge with the same casehead. If you are going to re-barrel, I would look at the 6.5-284. The M70 action makes a very decent basis for a long range tac rifle.

Look at the Trading Post forum rules in the sticky there, and when you qualify to post items for sale on that forum, you could put the gun up and see what offers you get? Until you meet those requirements, however, you can't advertise it for sale to a new home anywhere on this board. Joining the Winchester Collector's Association will get you price information faster, but it isn't free. They do have guns by serial number range, though, to get more information about it.

Thanks for the welcome and good advice;
I'm really not sure what to do w/ this rifle. I have a 270 M70 50s vintage and a 06 pre war, hence my desire to have "somthin' different". Sounds like the 6.5 x 55 would be a stretch for this receiver. Any thoughts about a 6.5x284 vs. a 6.5x06? Also, in my wiser years, 40s, I'm growing a lot less tolerant of recoil.
Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree!
HC
PS. I very much appreciate the heads up on rules and protocol.
Sorry if I ventured into Classified Ad territory. It was not my intention to test the waters for a sale. I was just trying to determine if the money spent to make such a gun, would dramatically out weigh its worth. (the intangibles of having a custom rifle aside).

The last time I looked at buying a pre-64 M70 action (just the action) a gunshow dealer who didn't have any available said the actions alone tended to sell in the mid $600 range. I can believe that. What you are getting is usually an action made by workers with enough skill that they don't need blueprinting, so you save those machining costs.

6.5-284 recoils about like a .308, but gets enough velocity and has bullets available with high enough B.C. that it bucks wind like a .300 Win Mag at long range. You can read a pretty good bit about it here:

http://www.6mmbr.com/SixFive284.html

Nosler Custom and Norma both load ammunition for it, but I don't know anyone whose shot any commercially loaded ammunition for it.

The 6.5-06 would be a perfect cartridge for this action. The 6.5/284 would require the guide rails be opened to accomodate the fat case and you would loose magazine capacity. The 6.5-06 will do anything the 6.5/284 will do. Case capacities are equal. In addition, the heavier bullets will require deeper seating into the case volume in the 6.5/284.

Don't give up on the 6.5x55mm if that is one of your choices. A truly great cartridge and the action could handle it with ease. There is only .007" difference in the case rim diameter. If you bolt face wouldn't accept it, opening it up would be a minor task.

hardcut,

Assuming you reload, What about going bigger?

A 35 Whelen, 9.3x62 or 375 Whelen!!!!

I'll second the 6.5-06 vote. A great round that has some great bullets to choose from, but nothing in factory loadings, although easy to reload, and easy on the shoulder.

Some other options you might consider: 8mm-06, and 338-06 if the recoil isn't too much. I have all three on various Mauser 98 and VZ-24 actions. Great actions, although a little bit more weight to them than the M70. The 8mm is a reloading option only. Weatherby was - maybe still? - loading the 338-06 with the 210 gr Nosler partition. Nothing wrong with Ray's 35 Whelen either!

Hello all,
I have a .270 winchester action that needs a home. Can this action be used to make a rifle in 6.5x55 sweede?


Sure, but why would you want to?

You could cut up one of Phil Hill's Ferraris and turn it into a pickup truck, too -- but why would you want to?

The difference between the .270 Winchester and the 6.5-06 would be too small to notice out to well beyond 300 yards, and the Sweede would be just a little slower with a little more drop. You can load the .270 down a little to match the Sweede to soften the recoil if you need to.

As someone who grew up reading Jack O'Connor's praises of the .270 Winchester, I cringe at the thought of running a nice one through the chop shop. If it were mine, I would find a piece of wood for it and add it to my .270 rack, but YMMV. . .

The Old Guy

If the pre-64 actions go for anything close to what Nick reports, then you'd be way better off selling it and buying a Remington or Savage.

Inletting a stock for the cloverleaf action will be expensive (or at least time consuming for you) and the cost of rebarreling it will be higher than for a round-receivered gun like the Rem or Savage, due to the coned breech and extractor cut.

If you want it, sure, go for it.... but realize you are sorta throwing money down a hole at this point. It isn't pointless, but it's more expensive than it has to be.

But no one ever said that custom rifles & wildcat chamberings have to make sense.

Have fun.

The 6.5/284 would require the guide rails be opened to accomodate the fat case and you would loose magazine capacity. . .

You would lose a round of magazine capacity, sure enough, but are you sure about the rails? I never acquired one of the pre-64's because of unavailability and cost, but Model 70's, in general, have been recommended for conversion to 6.5-284 by a number of long range shooters; this is as an alternative for those whose budget won't cope with a Nesika Bay or other custom action. The rails on my Mausers and even my old Remington 600 have plenty of width for the .284 case and then some, so it surprises me the the older M70 would not? As I say, I don't have one to check.

Nosler puts the 6.5-284 ahead of the 6.5-06 by about 200 fps with all their bullets. The Hornady manual has it the other way around, but their loads for the 6.5-284 are way low. Don't know why? The Sierra manual has them at almost a tie, with a 50 fps edge going to the 6.5-06. Looks like this is a gun-specific matter (as if it were ever any other way). Just interesting that there is such wide disagreement.

Hello all,
I have a .270 winchester action that needs a home. Can this action be used to make a rifle in 6.5x55 sweede?
I suspect no, but thought I'd ask. What other chamberings would be possible on this action, excluding the 280 and 30/06? I have another .270 so I'd thought I'd play w/ this one.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Hardcut
PS. Is 6.5x 06 a factory load?
PPS If I were to sell this action and barrel (it's actually a complete gun minus wood), what is a REALISTIC price to ask. It's in good condition, a cloverleaf transition 1946 M70. Check www.hartbarrels.com or www.benchrest.com for douglas barrels.My GS used lots of Douglas Air Gaged barrels when building custom pre 64 mod 70 rifles for his customers.You have the reciever the most expensive part.

Thanks for all the help guys, esp the links to more info, it's got my head spinnin... but in a good way!
I unfortunately do not reload, always wanted to but never had the time or space. I like th 6.5/06 option because I have an 30/06 and a 308, so the brass would practically breed themselves.
I do feel "guilty" for messin' w/ Mr. O'Connor's .270 though. Is that crazy? as if it's a holy relic or something! Regardless, guilty I do feel. Speaking of O'Connor, he postulated that a .270 Win will pretty much shoot as sighted regardless of bullet weight. Do you find this to be true w/ the respective 6mms? (6mm 6.5x55, 06, 284 etc.)
Thanks again,
HC
Any thoughts on the Ruger M11 in 6.5 sweed?

Speaking of O'Connor, he postulated that a .270 Win will pretty much shoot as sighted regardless of bullet weight. . .

If you follow Jeff Cooper's advice to zero most any high power field rifle at 200 yards, its trajectory will usually hit within a deer kill zone from 0 to 230 yards or so without changing sight picture or elevation settings. There are exceptions, like the .45-70 whose trajectory just isn't flat enough even for that, but it is true for the majority of high power hunting rounds. The zippier cartridges of modest bore size will let you sight a middleweight bullet at 200 yards and switch weights without leaving the deer kill zone, either. This assumes similar muzzle energies for the different rounds. That may be what O'Conner meant? The zippy 6's and 6.5's certainly will tend to do that. As a general rule of thumb, if the range of bullet weights loaded to similar muzzle energies cause less than 2" of elevation change at 100 yards, you will be good to go.

i have quite a bit of experience with the 6.5X55 and i absolutely love it, BUT i handload. american ammunition for that round is severely underloaded. something else to consider is the 25/06, the performance is great, there is a lot of good factory ammo available and it's easy on the shoulder. many rifles have come and gone in my life, but i always have a 25/06 and always will.

That may be what O'Conner meant? The zippy 6's and 6.5's certainly will tend to do that. As a general rule of thumb, if the range of bullet weights loaded to similar muzzle energies cause less than 2" of elevation change at 100 yards, you will be good to go.

Thanks Nick for the good info. O'Conner was making this claim in regards to the 270's virtue over the 30/06... I'm reading his 1949 "The Rifle Book" ...ahhh when the mother of all caliber debates was young!

It's kinda random in my experience. Some of my rifles will shot almost anything close the same point of impact; some toss bullets of different weights left, right, up, down, or any combination of the above.

Jack was a heck of a talented writer but let's not forget that Winchester was clearly buttering his bread. His advise isn't necessarily bad, but it sure reflects certain biases very clearly...

As an aside we now have a Jack O'Conner Museum at Lewiston Idaho. An interesting note on Jacks reloads was that everyone was having a hard time duplicating his loads. After he died someone checked his scale and found it was throwing two grains heavier than it read.