What would be a good rifle to get in this cartridge?

I have looked at gunbroker and see there are a few different rifles for it. But I have no clue as to which one would be the one to get.

I was thinking it would be a great kids gun for deer hunting. As well as cheaper to shoot. I have dies for it and have loaded for a friend in the past.

You'll more likely be finding the type 38 Arisaka Japanese rifles available in the 6.5x50 cartridge. Have a couple of them, but both had been rechambered to either 6.5x257R or 6.5x55 Swede before I acquired them.

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Originally posted by RMiller:
What would be a good rifle to get in this cartridge?

I have looked at gunbroker and see there are a few different rifles for it. But I have no clue as to which one would be the one to get.

I was thinking it would be a great kids gun for deer hunting. As well as cheaper to shoot. I have dies for it and have loaded for a friend in the past.

You can't be serious.

I love my little 6.5 Jap carbine.It has a turned bolt and a scope on it.It will shoot around an inch at 100 yards.I love norma brass but you have to aneal it so the necks dont harden too much.I like 129 gr serria bullets and 155 gr lapula bullets.It is as light as a Ruger 1022 .It is a good starter rifle for kids alot better than a 243.Its not far behind the 260 rem.

My 6.5 Jap. is a type I, made by the Italians on the Carcano (sp)action for the Japaneese. It was butchered when I got it and I continued the sporting process by cutting the barrel and adding a scout scope set up. I'd recommend the type I but there aren't a ton of them about.

What dgr416 sad about the 6.5 Jap round.

the problems with sporterizing a 6,5 jap are a lot more than you can imagine , the type 44 carbine is a neat rifle, but the reciever is hard to drill and tap for a scope , they cock on closing , the trigger is horrible, just get a used modern rifle in similar caliber

I am serious actually. My friend that I loaded for had a carbine I believe. His father brought it back from WWII. I remember it being really light and thinking it would be fun to shoot. I loaded him up a bunch of 129 grain spitzers and then found a box of 160 grain (IIRC) Norma ammo that I bought him also.

I would be interested in any other kind of light 6.5 cal, under $200 surplus if there is such a thing.

It's great cartridge and a very strong rifle. Thing is finding one that had a good bore. Most are going to be over .264..way over. That's what is nice about the Type I. They kept a more close tolerance on the bore dimensions. They also didn't see very much use because the Japanese resented that we're blessed with the Emperor's mum. I don't believe you will find any carbine length Type I's.

There aren't many other suitable 6.5's. The Carcano's have real fat grooves in them. Some of them use gain twist rifling also.

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Originally posted by anukpuk:
the problems with sporterizing a 6,5 jap are a lot more than you can imagine , the type 44 carbine is a neat rifle, but the reciever is hard to drill and tap for a scope , they cock on closing , the trigger is horrible, just get a used modern rifle in similar caliber

Not to mention the safety.

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Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by anukpuk:
the problems with sporterizing a 6,5 jap are a lot more than you can imagine , the type 44 carbine is a neat rifle, but the reciever is hard to drill and tap for a scope , they cock on closing , the trigger is horrible, just get a used modern rifle in similar caliber

Not to mention the safety.

One can actually work the trigger on an Arisaka with his thumb not taking his hand off the grip. Hard to do that to a Mauser. I don't see them any more difficult to sporterize then most, except they are hard to D&T because of the very hard steel. The trigger is the same as a 93 Mauser so why is it claimed they are so horrible? They aren't that bad for a military rifle and can be cleaned up. I have a 260 Rem built on a Type 38 and it's a really nice rifle and nice shooting.

Looking at the other topics I think I should have put this thread in the Military Surplus topic as I would leave the rifle as is to use.

I didn't want to get into this, but no one has questioned one statement in the original post, that being the "cheap to shoot claim". Have things changed drastically? Fifteen years or so ago, 6.5 brass was essentially a collectors item, with Norma the only source and with them only an occasional box turning up on dealers shelves at around $50/box. I have known people who picked up a box when it turned up and put it on eBay.

Just answered my own question. Midway now carries Norma, and it is "only" $32/box for brass only. I pay that for a lot of brass, but not what I call my cheap loads.

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
I didn't want to get into this, but no one has questioned one statement in the original post, that being the "cheap to shoot claim". Have things changed drastically? Fifteen years or so ago, 6.5 brass was essentially a collectors item, with Norma the only source and with them only an occasional box turning up on dealers shelves at around $50/box. I have known people who picked up a box when it turned up and put it on eBay.

Just answered my own question. Midway now carries Norma, and it is "only" $32/box for brass only. I pay that for a lot of brass, but not what I call my cheap loads.

With the proper die you can swage/form 308 into 6.5 Jap brass. That makes it cheap. I made my own swage die. It's a heavy duty die because you have to reduce the solid web diameter of the 308 brass and when you do the 308 brass even has a semi rim on it like the original 6.5. Very little trimming if any.

I had a type 38 that i used hunting for a while. Somebody had cut it, resocked it, and put a scope on it before I acquired it. I used 35 Remington brass to resize into 6.5x50. It works better than rimless brass.

I bought a bag off an online austion for cheap and the the box of 160 grain norma was $30 at a pawn shop. For brass that could reloading over and over that seems pretty cheap to me.

I loaded 129 grain hornadys over a starting book load and my friend loved them. He hadnt shot the rifle for years and he remembered shooting it all the time as a kid with his dad. With the loads I gave him he was able to shoot the rifle with his two sons.

I gues my thought when I read this is that, yes you can reform brass and trim brass and do all this, if you need to. However, if I didn't have a rifle that needed this, I wouldn't go looking for one. For a good kids rifle, a 243, a 308 with reduced loads, a 7mm Mauser with mild loads if you want to go the cheap surplus route will all serve the same need with a lot less trouble and less cost.

quote:

Originally posted by Art S.:
I gues my thought when I read this is that, yes you can reform brass and trim brass and do all this, if you need to. However, if I didn't have a rifle that needed this, I wouldn't go looking for one. For a good kids rifle, a 243, a 308 with reduced loads, a 7mm Mauser with mild loads if you want to go the cheap surplus route will all serve the same need with a lot less trouble and less cost.

In that respect one of the Savage/Stevens in 243 or 7mm-08 might be the cheap ticket. I know they are under $300 at Walmart. Be advised that a 7mm-08, although not a magnum rifle, does have a pretty snappy recoil in a light rifle.

When in stock Grafs has 100 rounds of Prvi 6.5 Jap cases for $45.99...that's cheap! That brass is good too.

Yes I was thinking of a Savage Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 with reduced loads.

Right now I have a NEF 243 that even with medium loads has pretty snappy recoil. My son says he doesnt mind the kick but Ill know the truth when I scope the rifle for him.

quote:

Originally posted by RMiller:
Yes I was thinking of a Savage Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 with reduced loads.

Right now I have a NEF 243 that even with medium loads has pretty snappy recoil. My son says he doesnt mind the kick but Ill know the truth when I scope the rifle for him.

It will kick less with the scope, rings, bases, adding weight to it.

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Originally posted by SmokinJ:

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by anukpuk:
the problems with sporterizing a 6,5 jap are a lot more than you can imagine , the type 44 carbine is a neat rifle, but the reciever is hard to drill and tap for a scope , they cock on closing , the trigger is horrible, just get a used modern rifle in similar caliber

Not to mention the safety.

One can actually work the trigger on an Arisaka with his thumb not taking his hand off the grip. Hard to do that to a Mauser. I don't see them any more difficult to sporterize then most, except they are hard to D&T because of the very hard steel. The trigger is the same as a 93 Mauser so why is it claimed they are so horrible? They aren't that bad for a military rifle and can be cleaned up. I have a 260 Rem built on a Type 38 and it's a really nice rifle and nice shooting.

I have one of the Mexican Arisaka's in 7x57, and the safety is easy to work, just takes a little practice

A sporterized type 38 was my first bolt action centerfire rifle. I had a bunch of old reloads that were formed from ex GI 30-06 brass though when I tried to do that I nearly tore the press off the bench.

Good thing it was a strong action as those reloads were some of the hardest kicking things in a rifle I've ever shot. Shooting at a target laying against the base of a tree and after your head would clear enough to see you realize you are looking through the scope at the treetops was the norm. Fortunately I got some other ammo before I damaged anything, including me, and was too smart or scared to shoot up the rest of it.

Anyway, the cock on close wasn't bad at all when you don't know any better and to this day I still love the safety, easy to use with your hand on the grip and with a scope mounted too. Oh, and also while wearing gloves.