Was at my local gun store yesterday. They had a nicely sporterized Arisaka there at a good price. 6.5 Jap, when you can find it, is very expensive. My question is... can a 6.5 Jap chamber be reamed out to 6.5 Swedish? I compared the specs, and it looks doable , but I'm no gunsmith. Would the rifling work ? Is the Arisaka action strong enough? Really considering buying this Arisaka just because you don't (at least I don't) see one every day. BTW , to return it to full originality would be too costly for me to consider(new barrel, new wood, sheet-metal dustcover, etc., etc.).
6.5 Jap to 6.5 Swedish??
- Thread starter FredSKS
- Start date
Thanks for the reply ! Forgot about the magazine possibly needing to be modded.
Reloading for milsurp is the way to go and its fun! Ok maybe you dont reload yet but maybe you have a friend who do so you only need dies,brass,powder and bullets. I just turned some cases this afternoon,will load tonight today,waiting to go shooting tomorrow maybe. I didnt have brass so i bought .220 swift brass,resized carefully and trimmed to lenght. Will be my first shooting with an Arisaka type 38 original configuration. I might fall in love with that rifle
Joce
It will all work just fine, except as mentioned, the mag well isn't long enough for the longer case and long 6.5 bullets loaded into the Swede.
The Arisaka is incredibly strong and the factory loaded Swede wouldn't even make it blink.
If the rifle is already sportered, go for it.
They are becoming noticed on the collectors lists of wants and needs more and more these days. The world of collectors is finally starting to realize that there really was a war with Japan and that their rifles were as strong and likely better than anyone's offerings at the time.
First off, you have to find a gunsmith with a 6.5x55 reamer and one that knows how to open up the bolt face and grind down the extractor for the larger case head. It will cost you at least $250 by the time it gets back, maybe 3-6 months.
Should make a nice rifle that you can load to some very good velocities or use store bought ammo. I suspect, for the price of conversion and the price of the rifle, you might be better off just getting a Swede. The Swede has a much smoother action as well.
The Arisaka is incredibly strong and the factory loaded Swede wouldn't even make it blink.
If the rifle is already sportered, go for it.
They are becoming noticed on the collectors lists of wants and needs more and more these days. The world of collectors is finally starting to realize that there really was a war with Japan and that their rifles were as strong and likely better than anyone's offerings at the time.
First off, you have to find a gunsmith with a 6.5x55 reamer and one that knows how to open up the bolt face and grind down the extractor for the larger case head. It will cost you at least $250 by the time it gets back, maybe 3-6 months.
Should make a nice rifle that you can load to some very good velocities or use store bought ammo. I suspect, for the price of conversion and the price of the rifle, you might be better off just getting a Swede. The Swede has a much smoother action as well.
Has anybody ever succeeded in blowing up an Arisaka? ISTR Ackley conducted some tests trying to blow up assorted military actions and the Arisaka proved even stronger than the Mauser 98; in fact, the custom. Bull barrels he used failed before the action did...
Six-five Arisaka is a dandy little cartridge all on its own, friend.
It has enough power to drop Bambi in his tracks, very little recoil and it is EXCELLENT in brush, likely as good as any other cartridge out there. Its performance is very little under that of the legendary 6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenuer.
Currently, I am handloading for the Carcano, the MS, the Arisaka and the Swede and it is really nice, being able to load a whole bunch of different rounds with a single batch of components and four different buckets of brass!
Arisakas have METFORD rifling in them: segmental rather than sharp-cornered lands and grooves. And it has only 4 grooves, so the muzzle can look as if the thing is rifled with a rounded-square bore and the rifling can look "shot out" and still perform well.
The grooves, however, tend to be quite deep and this asks the bullet to do a lot of deformation in order to get down the barrel. For this reason, I load the Arisaka with flatbased bullets with SOFT jackets. I did try hard-jacket BT Match bullets once but they gave me a 200-yard group that measured 20 feet high and 30 feet wide. The hard-jacket bullets were literally exploding about 15 or 20 feet from the muzzle........ and this is a rifle which groups 4 on a NICKEL at 145 yards when it is fed what it likes.
Nothing wrong with an Arisaka.
If it were mine, I would keep it the way it is, save my money and then pick up a nice 96 Swede to go with it.
Trade-Ex has everything you need to load it, including brand-new Partizan brass which takes our primers.
Hope this helps.
It has enough power to drop Bambi in his tracks, very little recoil and it is EXCELLENT in brush, likely as good as any other cartridge out there. Its performance is very little under that of the legendary 6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenuer.
Currently, I am handloading for the Carcano, the MS, the Arisaka and the Swede and it is really nice, being able to load a whole bunch of different rounds with a single batch of components and four different buckets of brass!
Arisakas have METFORD rifling in them: segmental rather than sharp-cornered lands and grooves. And it has only 4 grooves, so the muzzle can look as if the thing is rifled with a rounded-square bore and the rifling can look "shot out" and still perform well.
The grooves, however, tend to be quite deep and this asks the bullet to do a lot of deformation in order to get down the barrel. For this reason, I load the Arisaka with flatbased bullets with SOFT jackets. I did try hard-jacket BT Match bullets once but they gave me a 200-yard group that measured 20 feet high and 30 feet wide. The hard-jacket bullets were literally exploding about 15 or 20 feet from the muzzle........ and this is a rifle which groups 4 on a NICKEL at 145 yards when it is fed what it likes.
Nothing wrong with an Arisaka.
If it were mine, I would keep it the way it is, save my money and then pick up a nice 96 Swede to go with it.
Trade-Ex has everything you need to load it, including brand-new Partizan brass which takes our primers.
Hope this helps.
I cant wait to try mine
TradeEx are out of brass now so i bought a bag of Rem 220 swift brass, resized and trimmed to proper lenght then put a 140gr bullet,however they are sierra BT so my rifle may not like them,anyway its fun to try
from left to right: virgin 220 brass, resized in 6.5 jap dies, trimmed,a finished round.
Joce
Have fun with the New Toy, friend!
You have picked an excellent rifle in one of the finest calibres ever developed.
Just hang onto your empties and remember that they are HALF the cost of factory rounds.
The price of 6 or 7 boxes of factory ammo will set you up in basic handloading, after which your ammo is HALF PRICE.... AND you get to tailor your ammo to YOUR rifle.
My experience is that handloaded ammo, just a step under factory, is very much more accurate in MOST rifles. Commercial ammo is loaded "to the nuts" and your rifle will perform its best with a slightly-milder loading. This makes NO difference to what is in front of the rifle, but it does make it much easier to place your shots.
You will be handloading - and having a lot of fun at it - in under a year.
When you start, be sure to come back here for a few tips. We have all KINDS of trivia to give you!
Have fun!
You have picked an excellent rifle in one of the finest calibres ever developed.
Just hang onto your empties and remember that they are HALF the cost of factory rounds.
The price of 6 or 7 boxes of factory ammo will set you up in basic handloading, after which your ammo is HALF PRICE.... AND you get to tailor your ammo to YOUR rifle.
My experience is that handloaded ammo, just a step under factory, is very much more accurate in MOST rifles. Commercial ammo is loaded "to the nuts" and your rifle will perform its best with a slightly-milder loading. This makes NO difference to what is in front of the rifle, but it does make it much easier to place your shots.
You will be handloading - and having a lot of fun at it - in under a year.
When you start, be sure to come back here for a few tips. We have all KINDS of trivia to give you!
Have fun!
Well, I'm back ! I went in to the local gun shop out of curiosity. Yes, the Arisaka was still there. I low-balled the owner, and he said "Yes." ! So, I walked out with my very own sporterized Arisaka ! Got her home, and started checking her over. Much to my surprise, she's not 6.5 after all ! She's been rebarreled to something in .22 calibre ! Also, she's sporting a very sweet Timney trigger and a gorgeous Fajen stock ! On top is a 3-9 x 32 Bushnell Sharpshooter scope. I figure I got my money back in parts alone ! I'll be heading back to the store tomorrow, to see if they can figure out what it's REALLY chambered for.(Obviously, when it came in they just ASSUMED it was 6.5 Jap, and didn't notice the tiny bore !). I'm hoping it's chambered for something like .22-250, and not some really weird wildcat ! Will let you know !
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Don't take my word for it but I'm willing to bet it's chambered for either the 220 Swift or the 257 Roberts.
Back in the day, those were relatively common conversions. The 257 Roberts being the most popular. Later, I saw a couple chambered to the 6mm Rem and the odd 243 Win.
My guess would be the 220 Swift. If you do indeed have a 22-250, there are no flies on it either. You may want to check bore diameter and twist rate, before buying ammo. Many of the earlier rebuilds were done with 1-14 twist rates and won't stabilize bullets over 62 grains and flat based at that weight. The 62gr boat tail bullets may be to long to stabilize.
One thing about Arisakas, as strong as they are and as accurate as they are, their actions are not the smoothest in the world. Even the earlier models are rough to operate the bolt. They are easily smoothed up though, with a judicious bit of 1000 grit emery stone.
Back in the day, those were relatively common conversions. The 257 Roberts being the most popular. Later, I saw a couple chambered to the 6mm Rem and the odd 243 Win.
My guess would be the 220 Swift. If you do indeed have a 22-250, there are no flies on it either. You may want to check bore diameter and twist rate, before buying ammo. Many of the earlier rebuilds were done with 1-14 twist rates and won't stabilize bullets over 62 grains and flat based at that weight. The 62gr boat tail bullets may be to long to stabilize.
One thing about Arisakas, as strong as they are and as accurate as they are, their actions are not the smoothest in the world. Even the earlier models are rough to operate the bolt. They are easily smoothed up though, with a judicious bit of 1000 grit emery stone.
I'd love to post pics, but I need a tutorial ! Heading out now; will see what I can do later!
SCORE!! It is chambered in .22-250 ! The owner of the gun store is kicking himself for selling it to me so cheap ! He was given it to sell for an estate, and they obviously didn't realize what they were putting up for sale. The gun shop didn't check the chambering, because they were just told it was an Arisaka. No reloading for me ! Now, to get her out and see how she shoots !
