6.5 Arisaka ammo

T

tahunua001

New member
hello all,
I am currently negotiating the trade of one of my rifles and a gentleman on armslist has offered a pair of arisakas in trade. one is a type 99 which I have been looking for for some time and the other is a type 44 carbine which I am not particularly looking for however with the relatively low numbers it was made in I feel as if I would be a fool to pass up on the opportunity to own one. I see that it uses a standard 6.5 round .264 diameter so reloading components would not be hard to to come by however pre loaded or current production brass are very hard to locate. midway advertises norma but it has been discontinued and is out of stock and there are no other places I'm seeing any online. anybody know where a feller could find brass and reloading data for this round?
 
thanks Mike. PRVI was my first stop as they were my only option when I was researching 7.5 french and 8.56R hungarian ammo. apparently they have made it in the past as there is some PRVI 6.5 being sold on gunbroker but it is not in their current catalog and none of the usual carriers of PRVI are listing any 6.5 jap ammo. I never thought about grafs though. I'll check them out.

EDIT: Grafs also has a number of brands of pre loaded listed including hornady, wasn't expecting that but all of them are out of stock.
 
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6.5 Japanese brass

You can make it from .35 Remington brass. Run the .35's through a 6.5 jap die and you have it. It will be a tad short but it will function just fine. Use a reduced load to fire form the first time.

Jeff
 
that information was already in the OP, FAMAS.

running 35 remington brass through a 6.5x50 die? I know very little about making my own brass but that sounds deceptively simple. is it really as easy as just ramming it through or is there other stuff involved?
 
Deceptive? If we are talking about using 35 Remington cases when forming 6.5mm50 cases I would be concerned with the .010” difference in case head diameter.

Then there is the Model 99, the bore diameter is .311”, not 6.5mm (6.5mm50 fits the Model 38), if we are talking about a model 99 we should be talking about forming 7.7mm58 from 30/06.

I use a 308 Winchester form/trim die to form 7.7 cases. Using the 308 W forming/trim die is deceptively simple........for me, reloaders believe it is too short to form long cases, goes back to that old saying, “it is one thing to know how to hammer, it is another matter when knowing where to hammer”.

“other stuff involved?” Yes, I am not the fan of repeating what I have heard on the Internet, There is 21” of brass to trim when forming 100 7.7mm57 cases from 30/06, I use the man tool, the hack saw, when used with a forming tool trimming is simple and almost effortless.

F. Guffey
 
6.5 Jap from .35 Rem brass

The .010 difference in the head diameter does not make a concernable difference except when forming and reloading the brass. Make sure you use a .35 Rem shell holder. I have shot my Type 38 hundreds of times with this brass and it works just fine. I also keep it separate from the "real" 6.6 Jap brass.
If you have any concerns don't do it.

Jeff
 
I am well aware that the type 99 is 7.7 which is readily available from PRVI. I am inquiring about the type 44 which uses 6.5mm ammo.
 
I have been told (I have not done it myself) that 6.5 Japanese cases can also be made from .30-40 Krag or .303 British by resizing and trimming and then reducing the rim diameter and thickness. Based on similar work I have done, the necks would also have to be reamed to prevent excess pressures.

Jim
 
Donnelly's book on cartridge conversions says to use the .270 and head swage it.

Yet, on the very next page, for the 6.5x52 Mannlicher Carcano, he says use the .220 Swift.

Given that the Italian and Japanese cartridges are VERY similar dimensionally, I don't see why you couldn't make a stab at using either .220 Swift OR even 6.5 Mannlicher cases.

The rim might be a bit small, but the Japanese rifles had quite a bit of bite so it might well work.
 
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