Japan- One of the biggest players, A Type 38 or Type 99 are both good options, the Type 99 being less common up here.
Just don't expect to fire a Type 38 often. There are more honest politicians in the House of Commons than 6.5x50 on shelves.
It is recommended to reload for pretty much all milsurps to keep costs down and ammo availability up
Unless it's Russian/Soviet, I would agree. 54R is still a service cartridge, the availability of surplus isn't going to run out anytime soon, and for the price/crate, you can't really reload any cheaper (although you can reload better ammo, if you do competitive service rifle matches).
Just don't expect to fire a Type 38 often. There are more honest politicians in the House of Commons than 6.5x50 on shelves.
But on a side note I do know where there is an absolute ton of arisaka ammo, in Ontario. If anyone feels like "turning Japanese" just tell me![]()
I know just as a general practice it is better to reload. At the moment I have been experimenting with pulling 7.62x54r and reducing the load to create .303 and I have done it successfully with 7.7 Japanese. Comes to about 35 cents a round for a FMJ round so I am not complaining.