I am preparing a nice manlicher stocked 6.5 Jap rifle (at Timney now getting a trigger put in it) for this upcoming deer season. I plan on putting a Leupold 2x7 on it and using it for a short range deer rifle. My question is ...should I stick with 140 gr bullets or should I load up some 120's??? Anybody have any experience with this cartridge??? Thanks Robbie

My first deer rifle was a sporterized 6.5 Jap. Worked fine for me for several years. If my meomory is working at all I used a 140 Speer I believe.

Hunted with the Carcano loaded to near 6.5 Jap energy levels. Used 140gr and 160 grain cup and core bullets with success on large buck mule deer.
With deep enough throating and 156 or 160 grain bullets you should get darn close to .260 performance. roger

FWIW, I don't think the drop in weight is gonna gain you any significant velocity so I'd go with the 140s. If you can find them in a round nosed profile, I'd think that would be a plus.

While I'd sure not criticize the posts recommending heavier bullets, I let the bigger cases (.264 Win Mag) handle the heavier bullets and I use the 120 grain bullets exclusively in my .260 Rem and my 6.5 X 55 Swede...

The 6.5 is only a few thousandths larger than a .
257 bullet and everyone will attest to that caliber's excellence with 120 grain bullets (and even lighter)....I say go for the lighter bullets.

Thanks guys...I really love this little rifle...somebody did a great job on it a long time ago. I hope it shoots as well as my other sporterized rifle (a 7.7 in a beautiful piece of wood) ..it will shoot Norma factory ammo into under an inch at 100 yds. I have alot of 140's on hand and will need to pick up some 120's.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:


The 6.5 is only a few thousandths larger than a .
257 bullet and everyone will attest to that caliber's excellence with 120 grain bullets (and even lighter)

Not everyone ole buddy. Personally I think the 25 caliber is short suited because it doesn't have heavy for caliber ( 140+ ) cup and core bullets and there in my opinion is why the 6.5s have an edge.
VD,A 6.5 Jap that I rechambered in 1966 to 6.5 x .284 had every 140 gr. cup and core bullet come apart in the air . For the velocity the twist was just to great. The 156 gr. Barnes of the day and the 160gr. Hornady were fantastic performers on mule deer. Granted the 6.5 Jap will be a lot slower and the bullets will probably hold together but I see no gain what so ever with light for caliber bullets in this case. Use something close to what that cartridge was designed for. No foul there. He could always re chamber it to a 6.5 R-Bar I suppose. roger

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bartsche:

Not everyone ole buddy. Personally I think the 25 caliber is short suited because it doesn't have heavy for caliber ( 140+ ) cup and core bullets and there in my opinion is why the 6.5s have an edge. /QUOTE]

If we were talking Elk, yes. OP is talking deer. You can send 160 grain nuclear tip semi wad cutting copper bullets at 3500 FPS and it won't kill a deer any faster or deader than a 120 C&C from the 257 Roberts.

quote:

Originally posted by scottfromdallas:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by bartsche:

Not everyone ole buddy. Personally I think the 25 caliber is short suited because it doesn't have heavy for caliber ( 140+ ) cup and core bullets and there in my opinion is why the 6.5s have an edge. /QUOTE]

If we were talking Elk, yes. OP is talking deer. You can send 160 grain nuclear tip semi wad cutting copper bullets at 3500 FPS and it won't kill a deer any faster or deader than a 120 C&C from the 257 Roberts.

Now here's a guy that knoweth of what he speak.....

I have shot alot of deer with 6.5's...from 6.5 JDJ, 6.5 Bullberry Improved, 6.5 Rem Mag to 264 Win mag. The only time I have had bullet failure was with the 264 WM I shot a doe at 250 yds and watched the life leave her in the scope... she never moved or wiggled (was shooting the Hornady 129 SP) my 15 yr old cousin shot a 8 pt the next day with the rifle at 90 yds and the deer acted like he wasnt even hit...when we found the deer we couldnt find an entrance hole til we skinned it. The 129 sp blew up on a rib... killed the deer but not a drop of blood to be found...we lucked up on him laying on his back in a pine thicket.
The reason I asked about the 120's...all the factory ammo I have found for 6.5 Jap is 140 gr or heavier. I appreciate all the help. Robbie

SFD and VD are you guys saying the lighter 6.5 bullets are better used in the Jap than the heavier bullets, or are you saying they are near equal?
Each will kill ,as you pointed out, just fine.
What you say about the .257 Roberts I believe whole heartedly.
I have had problems with a 25-06 IMP and 120 grain C&C bullets that I wouldn't have had with 25 caliber 147grain bullets had they been available and the rifle been able to stabilize them.
My statement still stands ; the 6.5s have an edge over the .257s because of the availability of heavy for caliber bullets which the 25s don't readily have no matter how many deer you've killed with a .257 and 120 grain or lighter bullets.
The 160 gr. 6.5 at 2450 Fps will kill the deer just as dead as a 120 gr. 6.5 at 2600 fps.and stand a better chance of leaving an exit wound. I can verify that. roger

quote:

are you guys saying the lighter 6.5 bullets are better used in the Jap than the heavier bullets

Let me clarify a bit Roger.....the 120 I'm using is a Northfork hollow point....it has never failed to exit and so far the most steps any deer has taken is about three after being hit.....this includes a 10-point whitetail that hangs on my wall.

From my personal experience the 120 (that I'm using) is completely capable of killing deer.....and affords me a bit better trajectory

I'm not knocking the 140s.....it's simply that I find the 120s totally adequate and I'm just not sure why I need more.....

I can say the same about the 130 grainer in the .270 over the 150 choices....why shoot more?

Without getting too wound up in this, I worship at the alter of "heavy for calibre" bullets. They do everything the lighter bullets do and often more. The folks that talk about flatter trajectory and such usually haven't read a load book. Or when they opine that at xxx (fill in some exotic distance), they would hit instead of miss, they are declaring a distance that I don't shoot at.

Rob, whichever weight you hunt with, please, please post up a photo of this little rifle. I have owned a number of 6.5s, from the Type 38 to the Carcano 91 to the Swedes to the Dutch Mannlicher and I just loved them all.

I've shot alot of deer ( I truly dont know, because I've never bothered keeping track of how many deer I've ever shot) with the old 120 nosler solidbase. They almost always exit when shot from a 260-264 mag. I've used 129 Horn, 125 nosler partitions, a few 120 sierras and a very few 140 sierras on muledeer,antelope whitetails and caribou. Guess what, no failures with any of them. I cant find any load data I've done with the jap and 120's. Loads with 129 horn and 140 horn run about 160 fps in favour of the 129. Interestingly, this held true of a 24" barrel, bubba sporter, and the little 16 1/2" barrel mann sporter shown in a post in mil sporters. It was then rechambered to .260 rem.

quote:

The folks that talk about flatter trajectory and such

You have truth here....the trajectory gains aren't usually great and rarely make any difference between getting a game animal and not....but I'm still sticking with what has worked for me in the smaller cases.

Thanks Guys... where do you find the Northfork bullets??? I would like to try some. I just got my very nice 7.7 sporter back from Timney this week...( i wanted a side safety and a better trigger...got both of them) I am waiting on the 6.5...my gunsmith kept them for 6 weeks and couldnt figure out how to istall them...Called Timney and for $40 plus freight they will install it for you....they literally kept my 7.7 one day and it was back on its way to me!!! The safety looks like it belongs on this rifle!! My 7.7 is the nicest sporter I have ever seen ( I believe it has a Weatherby stock...looks too much like one and I cant find any marks on it) I just dug thru my reloading cabinet and I found some 125 Nosler PT's I am going to try. I wish I could find some of the old Nosler solid base bullets!!! I love them...I buy every box I can. Thanks again for the help. Robbie

quote:

where do you find the Northfork bullets??? I

Midwayusa has them

6.5 140s will work just fine - don't fret over the "few thou" or few grains. a 120gr .264 bullet has an SD of .247, which is close to o'conner's concept of .25 being just about right for NA game-- a 140 is heavier, and a 160 is heavier still...


-- hornady USED to make a 1140gr .257, btw.. no one bought it, even of that story

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:

quote:

are you guys saying the lighter 6.5 bullets are better used in the Jap than the heavier bullets

Let me clarify a bit Roger.....
why shoot more?

Because my 6.5 R-Bar likes heavier bullets and so do I. roger

I have a Jap Arisaka rechambered to 6.5/.257 Roberts and it is one great deer dropper. I have only used one bullet in the 30 years that I have owned it: 140 Sierra Spitzer. I have never taken a shot over 100 yrds here in Kentucky with it and it drops them quick as lightning. It has a mannlicher stock and a Williams peep sight, but I have been using a Nikon Prostaff 2-7 Shotgun scope, which works fabulous on this gun. It is one of my favorite still hunting rifles. Try the 140 Sierra. It is a great deer bullet.

If you don't shoot the armor plated deer the 100 grain Nosler partition is an excellent bullet and they are on sale at midway right now. we have killed many deer with them out to 300 yards with a 260Rem and they kill quickly and all but one have left 2 holes. The one we found was against the skin on the far side a mature muley that whent stiff and tipped straight over. The 125s are also fantastic.

My 6.5 Jap is mannlicher stocked and just got back from Timney getting a trigger put in it. It has a williams peep site and believe I am going to keep it that way. I have some 140 gr Sierras and will try them. I really like this lil rifle. I also bought some 129 gr Hornadys also.