I recently acquired a Type 44 Japanese carbine which had been converted after WWII to 6.5x257 Roberts. Common then, rare now. I have found some 257 brass which I plan to decap and then neck size with my 6.5 Swede die, if that sounds correct. I have looked for the specific dies, but unless I wish to spend $150 I can't find any. I want to shoot it, but $150....really? I hope the 257 brass does not require full length sizing, but if so would my 7x57 dies be the choice? I worry about expanding the 257 brass with the 7mm die and then pushing it back to 6.5 with the Swede die. Any advice or comments appreciated.

Can't answer your question, but CH4D has dies for $ 87.

https://www.ch4d.com/products/.../caliber-list?page=8

No reason to expand to 7mm; remove your expander plug/ball. Decap in the 6.5 Swede die. I have mixed and matched dies because I do not want to spend $150 for dies. Or even $87 for a toy.

quote:

No reason to expand to 7mm; remove your expander plug/ball

I have a couple rifles that I've used a mismatch on for 30 yrs. Didn't want to pay $25-30.

I have a set of, I believe, pacific 6.5x257 dies. Used them for my son's arisaka til he outgrew it. Sold the rifle. Still got the dies. If you're interested, PM me and I'll dig them out.

Thanks guys, a fellow member offered a set of older dies quite reasonably, so once I get the cases set up I should be good to go.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
No reason to expand to 7mm; remove your expander plug/ball. Decap in the 6.5 Swede die. I have mixed and matched dies because I do not want to spend $150 for dies. Or even $87 for a toy.

I have done this in another cartridge. Works very well. Also, one might be able to get by with neck size only for several loads in a case.

Yes, the original poster was lucky and got a full set of dies, but, the advice dpcd gives is sound and can be used by a lot of folks.

OK guys-Thanks to z1r I actually have a set of 6.5x257 dies coming. I also managed to come up with 75+ 257 Roberts fired cases in addition to the 50 7x57 cases I had. Don't wish to sound simple minded, but still..... Am I correct in that all I need to do is run both types of case through the 6.5x257 dies to resize down/up and be good to go? I realize I'll have to check the chamber on my rifle with the result, but that process should get me close to going to the range. Thanks for the help to all who responded.

Is the 6.5x57 not the same as a 6.5x257?

No. Or Yes. Since the 57 is just the case length, it doesn't tell you the parent case; the .257 is based off the 7x57 case; but if you made a 257 based on the 8x57 case, then they would be entirely different except for the 57mm case length.
However, given the loose criteria for naming cartridges, it would logically be based only on the 8x57, since it came out first. It has a shorter neck than the 7x57.
Cartridge nomenclature has no set rules.

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Is the 6.5x57 not the same as a 6.5x257?

No, the 6.5x257 has both a shorter distance to the shoulder and different shoulder angle than the 6.5x57.

Because, remember, what we call the 8mm Mauser (8x57) is Not a Mauser cartridge; it was developed by the German Army Rifle Commission resulting in the 1888 rifle and cartridge. Mauser was not involved. Mauser did develop the 7x57, which has different dimensions as stated above.

Thanks dpcd and z1r. I should have searched the Internet instead of asking - but would have missed an interesting discussion

The poor old 6.5x57 is starting to look like an ugly duckling. A pal bought a Sauer 202 in 9.3x62 with a another barrel in 6.5x57. Trouble was the latter's ammo was expensive and hard to find so he got the seller to exchange that barrel for one in 6.5x55 and has never looked back.

Do not trust anything you read on the internet.
Oh, wait, this is the internet.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Do not trust anything you read on the internet.
Oh, wait, this is the internet.

Now that's funny!
Zeke

Hi guys! I checked it all when I first got this carbine. Indeed the confusing part is the presence of the European 6.5x57 hunting round which is also referred to a the 6.5x57 Mauser. Some dies are sold as 6.5x57, or sometimes as 6.5x57 Mauser. It would be far better (correct usage or not) if they were all given the Mauser designation. This is because the conversion of the Jap 6.5x50 military round to use the 257 Roberts case opened to 6.5mm are also sometimes described as 6.5x57, in addition to 6.5x257 Roberts, 6.5 Roberts, etc. Thus we have two different (primarily in the shoulder area) cartridges which are identically named. This is further complicated by the fact that the conversions are somewhat haphazardly performed without exact specs, so even with the correct dies one may have to adjust the rounds to fit his specific Arisaka. Not even going into the use of 7x57 brass to make the Roberts type cartridges

That's all I got.

Graf & Sons sells both S&B and Prvi ammo in 6.5x57 for $20 a box. The Prvi is barely more expensive than what they sell their brass for and performs as expected on deer sized critters.

quote:

Originally posted by z1r:
Graf & Sons sells both S&B and Prvi ammo in 6.5x57 for $20 a box. The Prvi is barely more expensive than what they sell their brass for and performs as expected on deer sized critters.

Indeed they do, I bought two boxes of it (which is totally worthless to me as it won't work in a 257 Roberts chamber) before I learned the info in my post above.

I'd have swapped you for it.

Never entered my mind.......... C'est la vie I guess.