Arisaka

[3006guns]

Here's some info from the boys that collect them....

http://www.castle-thunder.com/wforum...opic.php?t=159

I've tried the .35 Remington trick and it works well...if you can find the brass these days. I've also tried 220 Swift and came to the conclusion that it wasn't worth the trouble. You can also swage .243 brass through a die that looks like a thick washer and reduce the entire base diameter up to the rim. It takes a hydraulic press to do it but the result probably makes the best case with the least amount of trouble.

Another suggestion regarding that "early" Norma 6.5 undersized brass. Place a 1/8th inch wide band of Scotch tape around the cartridge base, right in front of the rim, before first firing. This will keep the case centered in the chamber, despite the extractor trying to push it over to one side. Upon firing, the case expands equally and fits the chamber well. Neck size only afterwards.

I read an interesting article in Handloader years ago. It seems the Japanese were developing the Nambu machine gun in the early 1920's and were having trouble with case separations as the Nambu was a recoil operated gun. They decided to make the overall case smaller allowing for easier extraction and after the war Norma used one of these cases as their model for production, hence swollen, lopsided cases and the rumor that all Japanese rifles had "oversize" chambers. It wasn't the gun, it was the ammo.The original 6.5 x 50 ammo from the 1890's is considerably larger by comparison.

[AZ-JIM]

Thanks for the info, I bookmarked that link. I'm hoping to actually get some loaded this weekend. I got about 250 boolits cast last weekend, they drop at .268 and with powder coat they may be just big enough for my .269 bore. If not I will have to open the mould a little.

az-jim

[Ed in North Texas]

With PPU new brass going for $58.00/100 from Graf's, I see no rational reason to use any of my stash of hard to find .35 Remington, or slightly easier to find but more expensive than the PPU .220 Swift cases. Not to mention that if I can get proper headstamp brass, I prefer that so my sons and grandsons will know what goes with which when I get to the point where I'm not shooting any longer (at least not the open sight rifles. I suspect another 20 years and at 90 I won't be shooting those ).

[3006guns]

With PPU new brass going for $58.00/100 from Graf's, I see no rational reason to use any of my stash of hard to find .35 Remington, or slightly easier to find but more expensive than the PPU .220 Swift cases.

Agree completely..........the use of 35 Remington came about when it was difficult to find Norma brass years ago. I do find the latest prices on the Privi brass getting a touch silly though. I bought my original 100 from Grafs probably eight years ago for $35! Still usin' 'em too!

[AZ-JIM]

Got some powder coating done last night, Lyman 266469's. The coating did exactly what I needed it to with regards to diameter, they are at .270-.271. I rigged a gas check seater/ crimper too. It is basically a flanged bushing I can drop into my Lyman 450 sizer on top of my .452 size die with a .265 hole to crimp the check. All I have left is to make an "M" die mandrel to go into my Lee seating die.

az-jim

[Ed in North Texas]

Agree completely..........the use of 35 Remington came about when it was difficult to find Norma brass years ago. I do find the latest prices on the Privi brass getting a touch silly though. I bought my original 100 from Grafs probably eight years ago for $35! Still usin' 'em too!

I was regaling the next door grandson with the price of a new 1968 Ford F-100 ($1800 in OK) when my wife reminded me that EVERYTHING is much more expensive than it used to be (if only I had the funds to snatch up that $125 to $200 per ounce gold when Nixon cut it free from government control, or the $120 $20 dollar Double Eagle collector coins of my early working days, European country gold coins were cheaper yet). Given that 6.5x55, a much more common - and commonly produced/sold - brass from Hornady/Remington/Winchester is over $60.00 per hundred (over $70 for Hornady), the economies of production scale puts a price nearing $60 for PPU 6.5x50mm as not at all outrageous. Try buying a good steak if you want to see outrageous pricing (thank you Ethanol mandate).

[AZ-JIM]

Learned a lesson today, apparently when I "final" sized my brass I didn't have the size die screwed down far enough. The very first one I checked and it was fine. Sometime after that I must have made an adjustment and not rechecked to make sure they still chambered. So I got everything else done, made a GC maker and seater, loaded up 50 rounds and went to the range. I shot 2 rounds and the bolt closed tight but opened easy, next one would not close, next 2 chambered and after that none of the rest would. So lesson learned....double check everything. On the bright side, it is very pleasant to shoot lol

az-jim

[AZ-JIM]

Well between work and trying to solve my gas check issues I finally got out today and got some decent rounds on paper. I didn't bother with the chronograph today, I may take it next time just to know.
I was struggling with the finished size of my gas checks. I made my own check maker and started using .010 material. By the time I seated the bullets the gas checks were leaving a bulge in the case neck and not allowing the round to chamber. In my previous post I thought it was a sizing issue with the brass but this turned out to not be the case. I had to go to a thinner .005 material which matches a small quantity of Hornady checks I have. To do this I had to re make the check maker tools of course to get the size and clearances correct. I also had to simulate a sizing die for the 450 to seat the checks with, the other widget I made was just not cutting it. On the next go around I will seat the checks first then powder coat. But for now I find that 14.5g of 2400 seem to work best. The target is @ 50 yards. I don't do much open sight rifle shooting so with a little practice this should get better, but this group measured 1.75"



az-jim

[3006guns]

I have quite a few Japanese rifles and have always found the 6.5 to be more accurate, at least in my hands. I think it's more to do with much more attention to bore size when they were manufactured, but whatever the reason I can whack the 200 yard gong until it gets boring!

I really wish the newer collector/shooters hadn't discovered them in the last 20 years.......I'd have picked up a dozen more!

[AZ-JIM]

Ok so those of you who shoot the 6.5x 50, what kind of performance should I expect from this rifle? Assume all things are average. I don't know how they did with original ammo nor do I have much experience with milsurps/ cast. Thanks guys.

az-jim