First let me say that I am a novice hand loader, I follow the books like the bible and stay with intermediate loads. I do not have a chronograph. I have been given some 162 gr ball bullets pulled from 6.5 Carcano military cartridges.

My question...can I load these in my 6.5 Arisaka (modern single shot throated for 160’s) or do they need to be swaged down? Can they be swaged down?

Thanks for any help I can get......TED

I would be very cautious, probably not do it. Most if not all carcano rifles are actually .268 diameter rifles. These bullets, being milsurp, probably are .268". The factory Norma ammo uses a .264" bullet if im not mistaken, I think Hornady is the only one that makes a true .268. Mic the bullet to see the diameter. I dont know anything about the arisaka rifles, so maybe someone else will post about them. How many bullets do you have, I may want them if you do not. Best of luck

My personal limit for oversize bullets is .001
Be your own judge.......but I wouldn't do it!

I have pulled and micked a lot of Carcano bullets and they measure between .2650" and .2665". I have never seen a Carcano military bullet at .268".

The Araska calls for a .264" dia. bullet. That would be only be .001" smaller than what you are measureing.The first thing is to put together a dummy round to see if it will even chamber.

If you have an aversion to testing them with hand loaded ammo, how many do you have and what do you want for them? roger

Well, the UK made No.4 two groove 303 barrel is a .304 bore with two narrow grooves cut to .314. This means that the standard .311/.312 bullet gets swaged down to .304 on firing. (But then the No.4 can take higher pressure if that were to result).

Manuals only say ".264 bullets" for the 6.5 Jap (Arisaka) because that's all there were until the .268 Hornady's of late. I've slugged numerous 6.5 Jap barrels and they've all been over .264". I'd load them without reservation and work up a load as with any other bullet. I often shoot .310-.311 bullets in .308 barrels. They swage down to groove diameter in one bearing length. This happens early in the time pressure curve and there is no additional "pressure" problems after that. If accounted for in the load then no real "pressure increase" is there. If you don't want to use them let me know and I'll use them in my 6.5 Jap barrel.

Larry Gibson

Thanks for the help, much appriciated. I should have stated the the rifle is a martini cadet with a light sporter barrel, less than 6# w/ scope. The barrel is dead on .264.

quote:

Originally posted by TED338:
Thanks for the help, much appriciated. I should have stated the the rifle is a martini cadet with a light sporter barrel, less than 6# w/ scope. The barrel is dead on .264.

Given that action and groove depth you really need to send me those bullets! Seriously, I'd not use them in that rifle.

Larry Gibson

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Gibson:
Given that action and groove depth you really need to send me those bullets! Seriously, I'd not use them in that rifle.Larry Gibson

Get in line,Larry roger

As long as you can fit the desired bullet in a fired case from the intended rifle, you shouldn't have any problems.

Ruger squeezes .311" bullets down to .308" in Mini-30 rifles and much more radical squeezes have a long history. Research "squeeze bores" some time.

Check this out: German Squeezebores

Any pressure increase due to the very slight oversize of the bullets will be insignificant. As with any change in a component, reduce your powder charge slightly from a known load and work back up commensurate with dependable pressure indicators.

Thanks for all the help, I feel comfortable using those solids now, will will back off on the load a bit to see how things go. I will now load some rounds up for all my 6.5 incase I run into an elephant and need one of those Bell "stopper" shots.

TED