In the late '50's/early '60's I had a 6.5 Jap that had been sporterized and it was a real beauty. I recall that I traded a nice 1 1/2 hp Evinrude outboard motor for it. 6.5 Jap brass (boxer primed) was very expensive and hard to find. I had a local gunsmith rechamber it to 6.5/.257 Roberts. At the time, I had a great abundance of .30-06 brass that I used to make 6.5/.257 Roberts brass. It has been too many years for me to remember the particular bullet and powder I used, but it easily shot MOA groups at 100yds using a 2 1/2X Sears (Weaver) scope. I used it to bag a trophy buck antelope. As was mentioned in a previous post, they have a very strong action (ref: P. O. Ackley). Insofar as ugly, the only thing ugly is the big round knob on the rear of the bolt. It functions as a safety as well as a gas deflector. Very good thinking on the part of the designer. Weld on a decent bolt handle and it doesn't look bad at all. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had never gotten rid of the one I had. There is a local dealer who has a sporterized 6.5 Jap chambered for the 6.5 Rem. mag. Of all the modern rifles he could choose to hunt with, he prefers the Jap. I certainy would not turn my nose up at a nicely sporterized 6.5 Jap as long as it had a good barrel and was not a "beater" or one of the "last ditch" wartime production rifles.