where can I find 6.5 Jap Ammo?

Yari

Yari

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I have had a couple of old type 38 Arisaka rifles for quite a while.
Never shot them. The bores have small amount of pitting but the rifling in them is still quite sharp.
I have no interest in reloading my own ammo... yet.
I just really want to see if these rifles Ive been staring at all these years do indeed still work.
I'm under the impression that there are more of these rifles in Canada then the bullets they shoot.
If anyone can help me out, source a few boxes of ammo it would be greatly appreciated.
 
The ammo is out there but very expensive. Cheapest way is to reload. Budget Shooter and Tradex have the components you would need.
 
Yes those prices are expensive, but you gotta pay to play.

I successfully used this load in my Type 38, hit 8” gong at 100 yards every time, no hard extraction and was easy on the brass.

-35.4 grains of IMR4350
-CCI Magnum Rifle Primer
-140 Grain .264 Core-Lokt
 
You often get sticker shock on factory ammo when you start getting into the less common calibres. Many years ago I started casting bullets and reloading ammo because of this.
Once you pay off the cost of your molds and presses and dies the cost is often less than $0.50 per round.
 
pvtjohnson said:
Yes those prices are expensive, but you gotta pay to play.

I successfully used this load in my Type 38, hit 8” gong at 100 yards every time, no hard extraction and was easy on the brass.

-35.4 grains of IMR4350
-CCI Magnum Rifle Primer
-140 Grain .264 Core-Lokt
Click to expand...

I'd say that's pretty good given how old these rifles are. I get worse results with my mosin and enfield, but still acceptable I suppose.
You made no adjustments to the sights for those loads? just set it to 100 and bang? no funny holdovers or anything?

mr.e moose said:
You often get sticker shock on factory ammo when you start getting into the less common calibres. Many years ago I started casting bullets and reloading ammo because of this.
Once you pay off the cost of your molds and presses and dies the cost is often less than $0.50 per round.
Click to expand...

I already have most of what I need to reload. Id love to get a set of dies and start developing my own loads, but realistically I don't have much time for that right now.
One day soon.
 
Yari said:
$55 per box plus $20 shipping..... I'd sooner spend that money on nice bottle of scotch and cry.
Click to expand...


There is no such thing as a "nice bottle of Sctoch." It doesn't even smell nice.

There is a gun show coming up in Chilliwack mid March and another in Kamloops shortly after. Google the dates and go. If you expected to find SURPLUS ammo??? It never was plentiful to my knowledge. Not even in the fifties and sixties.
 
Yari said:
I'd say that's pretty good given how old these rifles are. I get worse results with my mosin and enfield, but still acceptable I suppose.
You made no adjustments to the sights for those loads? just set it to 100 and bang? no funny holdovers or anything?



I already have most of what I need to reload. Id love to get a set of dies and start developing my own loads, but realistically I don't have much time for that right now.
One day soon.
Click to expand...


The age of the rifles has little or nothing to do with how accurate they will be. Bore and bedding condition as well as your hand/eye coordination and eyesight/ability to use iron sights are the real issues. When push comes to shove, you don't specifically need 6.5 Japanese dies. If your rifles are like mine, their chambers will be close enough to identical that you can neck resize, new brass, only and get away with it. You can do this with any 6.5 neck resizing die or even a resizing die from a 260 Remington, which is short enough for the 6.5 Jap case to reach the neck, without bumping the shoulder. Just take your time and be careful. That's how I first reloaded for my Type 38 Jap. I used an old 6.5x53R die. It worked fine.

If you're looking to sell those rifles there are a lot of people looking for them. They don't bring as much as some other milsurps but their value is significant.
 
bearhunter said:
There is no such thing as a "nice bottle of Sctoch." It doesn't even smell nice.
Click to expand...

I can't think of a polite way to respond to this...

bearhunter said:
The age of the rifles has little or nothing to do with how accurate they will be. Bore and bedding condition as well as your hand/eye coordination and eyesight/ability to use iron sights are the real issues. When push comes to shove, you don't specifically need 6.5 Japanese dies. If your rifles are like mine, their chambers will be close enough to identical that you can neck resize, new brass, only and get away with it. You can do this with any 6.5 neck resizing die or even a resizing die from a 260 Remington, which is short enough for the 6.5 Jap case to reach the neck, without bumping the shoulder. Just take your time and be careful. That's how I first reloaded for my Type 38 Jap. I used an old 6.5x53R die. It worked fine.

If you're looking to sell those rifles there are a lot of people looking for them. They don't bring as much as some other milsurps but their value is significant.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips on loading, I'll make a note of that for the future. Like i said tho, I just don't have the time or motivation to get into it right now. I reload my own hunting rounds but that's only enough to check my zero and maybe blast a few of gods creatures.
Don't get me wrong the Arisaka was an amazing piece of machining and engineering for it's time. They really got it right and made an outstanding rifle. That being said, many of the type38s had a ridiculously long service life being shot and abused over decades in various conflicts. I've seen very few in decent condition, and you can't deny that old abused bores arn't as accurate as they could of been. I have been shooting and hunting most of my life (with iron sights) and have good eyesight so I'm pretty confident in my skills, but I would be happy if I was able to constantly hit a paper plate with these rifles. I've had so many offers to buy them, but it also something I'm not interested in. Having had grandfathers that fought on different sides during the war, I'm keeping them as heirlooms to remind my kids of a time when the world was a much more confused and volatile place. They are just going hang above the mantle as a grim reminder of our past.
 
Yari said:
I can't think of a polite way to respond to this...



Thanks for the tips on loading, I'll make a note of that for the future. Like i said tho, I just don't have the time or motivation to get into it right now. I reload my own hunting rounds but that's only enough to check my zero and maybe blast a few of gods creatures.
Don't get me wrong the Arisaka was an amazing piece of machining and engineering for it's time. They really got it right and made an outstanding rifle. That being said, many of the type38s had a ridiculously long service life being shot and abused over decades in various conflicts. I've seen very few in decent condition, and you can't deny that old abused bores arn't as accurate as they could of been. I have been shooting and hunting most of my life (with iron sights) and have good eyesight so I'm pretty confident in my skills, but I would be happy if I was able to constantly hit a paper plate with these rifles. I've had so many offers to buy them, but it also something I'm not interested in. Having had grandfathers that fought on different sides during the war, I'm keeping them as heirlooms to remind my kids of a time when the world was a much more confused and volatile place. They are just going hang above the mantle as a grim reminder of our past.
Click to expand...


I was pulling your leg on Scotch. Personally I don't like it at all and refuse it gracefully every time it's offered and I have been offered some extremely expensive Scotch. However I do have a taste for fine Rye Whiskey that's been double distilled and aged in burnt interior "OAK" barrels. The barrels have to be White Oak or the charcoal gives the Rye a strange taste.

As far as the rest of your post I did mention bore condition as a must for accuracy. Type 38 rifles can be found in all sorts of condition. A lot of Far East nations used the rifles that were left behind, as did Korea and China. China also produced them I believe. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I believe China kept on producing them in both Type 38 and 99 after WWII in 8x57. I saw a bunch of Chinese Type 99 rifles that came into Lever Arms in 1967. All had Chinese characters on the receivers as well on carved into the stocks. All were worn to the point they were for collectors that need one to fill in gaps. All were FAIR only but a couple of crates that were still new in wrap. Those were like gold and I couldn't get Alan to let me buy one unless I paid full retail on them. I have memories of all of them going to one buyer in California. They were chambered for the 7.92x57.

Still, my rifles have excellent bores and exteriors. They were both used in Thailand and one Carbine that was used in Viet Nam, which was supposedly brought back as a souvenir PRE US heavy involvement by a tourist in the mid fifties.
 
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