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......