200 yard load for the 6.5 Jap with cast bullet

[Rapidrob]

I just bought a real nice Type 38 rifle. My range starts at 200 yards and I would like a good 200 yard cast bullet load.
I'm using the real long RCBS "Cruise Missile" bullet with gas check. 160 grain. I would like to fire form new brass and shoot an accurate load at 200 yards at the same time.
Thanks!

[hornady308]

I hope that you have slugged your barrel because 6.5 Japs are all over the place. Mine was made in 1930 and slugs at .269". Unfortunately, I have just started trying to find an accurate cast load, so I cannot be of much help regarding data.

[john.k]

I suggest you go for a 120/130 gn size bullet,the long ,long bullets cause problems with stability.And definitely slug the bore ,a cast bullet must be over max groove dia,or massive leading may result..........but,if you must shoot undersize,use a filler,it plugs the gaps and prevents massive leading.I use wheat bran,its light and compressible.............and keep the velocity down to begin,high vel/steep twist/long bullets=barrel full of lead.

[Rapidrob]

I wanted to slug the barrel this morning and just by looking at the muzzle it looked to be small to me. I placed a FMJ .264 bullet in the muzzle and it barely went past the bullets nose.
I dug out a .312 ( .32 Special wad cutter) bullet sized it down to .280.I rounded the nose so it would pass through the lead.
I lubed the bullet with a thin coating of Unique Case Lube and drove the bullet 10" ahead of the breech
I then reversed the slug out of the bore. This wad cutter is swagged pure lead and is very soft. It filled the bore in both directions as it was driven.
I then measured the bullet after after using a pin gauge to zero the reading. The digital caliper it's reading dead-on.
I read the bullet nine tines.Rotating the bullet allowing the lands ( grooves) to move the caliper.
I then tried a second slug made from a much harder lead alloy. I got the exact same readings this time verifying by using my back up digital caliper. Both calipers read the same. The slug is over an inch long and clearly shows the Metford type rifling.


I have several 6.5 caliber rifles in my collection and none of them have a bore this tight. I lucked out on this rifle.
I realize a three point caliper would be more accurate,but the readings are close enough to true bore size to show a .264.266 cast bullet should shoot well.

[Larry Gibson]

Rapidrob

It was Lee that made the "Cruise Missile" moulds and they were/are 175 gr in 6.5mm. RCBS makes a 140 gr "Silhouette" mould in 6.5mm.....is that the one you have? NOE also makes an excellent 140 gr mould in 6.5mm for the larger groove 6.5s.

If you have the 140 gr cast bullet I suggest cast of a good alloy such as Lyman #2 or COWWs +2% and WQ out of the mould to harden them. Looks like .266 will be a size for your 6.5 Jap rifle. I suggest a start load of 24 gr H4895 with a 3/4 gr Dacron filler and work up in 1/2 gr increments until accuracy goes south. You will find the best accuracy in the 1750 - 1850 fps range. That will more than suffice for 200 yards shooting.

[Rapidrob]

I'll have to check who made the mold. I cast them up last year. It is 160 grain W/ gas check. The bullets are 32 BHN after heat treating and ring when dropped on the reloading bench.

[vzerone]

The LEE Cruise Missile target weight is 170 grains. Here's picture of it.

[AZ-JIM]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post3094390

Here is a thread I started when I got my type 38. Brass forming details and my load data included. I have only shot mine to 100 yards, it didnt do much different than the 50 yard target that is pictured.

az-jim

[Rapidrob]

Thanks for the link AZ-jim.

[Rapidrob]

Here's the bullet I'm using. Older mold with no marks other than caliber.

[vzerone]

That's a Lyman 140 grain Loverin for the 6.5.

[Larry Gibson]

^^^^^^^

And it should be a good bullet in your Jap.

[Rapidrob]

Cool Beans! I look forward to trying them out.

[Rapidrob]

I only have 25 cases so I tried the the 6.5 Jap rifle with jacketed bullets. Spitzer and round nose. 140 and 160 grain.
We set up our Santa target at 500 yards and I tried the diff bullets. The FMJ round nose bullets .262 and .264 shot very well.
I tried one round of .266 Hornandy and the pressures were excessive.
My loads were on the down side due to the data posted at Hodgdon.
I will try again at a higher velocity and see how well the rifle shoots.

[hornady308]

Shooting at Santa...such a sad world.

Be very careful with that Hornady .268". In a Carcano, I substituted the recommended primer for a standard primer and the primer pocket enlarged the point that the spent primer fell out upon opening the bolt. With the proper primer in place, there were no problems. I wouldn't even know where to start when using this bullet in the Arisaka.

[swheeler]

Shooting at Santa...such a sad world.

Be very careful with that Hornady .266". In a Carcano, I substituted the recommended primer for a standard primer and the primer pocket enlarged the point that the spent primer fell out upon opening the bolt. With the proper primer in place, there were no problems. I wouldn't even know where to start when using this bullet in the Arisaka.

I shoot the Hornady .268" Carcano bullets in a Carcano, very accurate.

[Rapidrob]

I found a real puzzle with my Carcano's. While the bore's are .266, two of the rifles will not shoot the .268 bullets worth a darn. But reading about "land riding" bullets, I tried .262 160 grain FMJ RN bullets. They shot so well as to be a real puzzlement. I need to do more long range testing to see if the bullets stay stable in flight.