I wonder why .300 Savage was a popular rechambering in these guns?
Right after the war every Tom, Dick, and Harry who came home from the Pacific brought along a trophy Arisaka. Those guys found out pretty quickly that there was no ammo to be found. Zero, zip, nada. The 6.5mm Jap owners were really screwed, but the guys with the 7.7mm rifles discovered that their bore diameters were close enough to .30 caliber so as not to matter much. What to re-chamber them for? The .30-06 was too long for the action, and remember the .308 hadn't come out yet. That pretty much only left the good old .300 Savage. A lot of neighborhood gunsmiths paid the electric bill with money from setting Jap barrels back a couple threads and re-chambering to .300 Savage. Cut the stock back, slap a coat of varnish on it (or not), and Presto! A cheap way to arm yourself for a weekend deer hunt while living/studying under the GI Bill.
