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What are the common sizing dies diameters for a Lyman lube sizer for cast boolit for a 6.5x55 Carl Gustaf swedish mauser.
I have not slugged the bore yet but I have a feeling it is going to be a worn barrel judging by the way it shoots shop bought stuff and hand loads.
I have a mould some were when I can remember were I put it I am going to cast some pills for it. I will probably need a top punch as well I think its a RCBS mould if I remember rightly.

Old age is no fun takes me all my time to remember what day it is never mind were I put stuff for safe keeping.

Had my set of 6.5 bore gauges with me at the Phoenix = could have measured the barrel for you

At future shows I will be offering to measure the bores then re-stamp the stock disc to show present bore condition

You'd need to slug the barrel to see what the bore is on your CG

Most military Swedes are .268" not .266" as you would expect so sizing might be academic as the bulk of moulds cast .268" or smaller. Sizing .002" over bore size is generally the ideal for cast boolits.
You definitely need to slug the gun with a pure lead slug (don't forget to lube the slug with a little grease. DO NOT USE A WOODEN ROD to drive the slug.

The bore gauge set goes up from 6.48mm to 6.60mm

MY advice would be to stick to metric measurements as that's how the guns were made...

saddler wrote:The bore gauge set goes up from 6.48mm to 6.60mm

MY advice would be to stick to metric measurements as that's how the guns were made...

The dies are in Imperial sizes.

Most military Swedes are .268" not .266" as you would expect so sizing might be academic as the bulk of moulds cast .268" or smaller. Sizing .002" over bore size is generally the ideal for cast boolits.
You definitely need to slug the gun with a pure lead slug (don't forget to lube the slug with a little grease. DO NOT USE A WOODEN ROD to drive the slug.

Why should you not use a wooden rod to drive the slug Rog.

(I dont use a wooden one by the way I use a solid stainless steel one I have a rack at work with tonnes of the stuff in diameters up to about 4")

Bore gauges do just that tell you the bore diameter.

For correct sizing of cast you need to know the groove diameter.

However I find it always better to size for throat diameter with cast and for all my Swedes, I have six, I cast and size to .269. Lyman only do .264" and .266" H&I dies and RCBS do a .265". Generally speaking I have found that these diameters are to small for most Swedes so I have custom dies made.

However you will never know what size to use 'till you've slugged your throat/bore/groove and tried the boolits. The target will ultimately tell you which size is best for your rifle.

For lower velocities at the shorter ranges you can sometimes get away with smaller boolits.

Alpha1 wrote:

Most military Swedes are .268" not .266" as you would expect so sizing might be academic as the bulk of moulds cast .268" or smaller. Sizing .002" over bore size is generally the ideal for cast boolits.
You definitely need to slug the gun with a pure lead slug (don't forget to lube the slug with a little grease. DO NOT USE A WOODEN ROD to drive the slug.

Why should you not use a wooden rod to drive the slug Rog.

(I dont use a wooden one by the way I use a solid stainless steel one I have a rack at work with tonnes of the stuff in diameters up to about 4")

If they break (and they do!) you cannot get them out of the barrel!

I use 5" lengths of oak dowel to drive my lugs through and just keep stacking them up, no fear of damaging the bore and you can easily feel if things are getting tight which should never happen.

I have never had much luck with bore gauges I prefer to slug the bore with a soft lead ball this gives me my groove diameter.
(Adam showed me how to do it properly a while ago at one of our range days.)