Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 257x6.5 Arisaki

A guy brought an Arisaki 6.5 into the local gunshop yesterday to have a scope installed. He had sporterized it and was unsure of the chambering. He had fired 6.5x50 ammo in it and it split the cases. We did a chamber cast, and it is a 257 Roberts opened up to 6.5. I guess this was a popular wildcat for this rifle. Anybody have any data on this cartridge or any comments?

That was a popular conversion after WW2. The only 6.5-257 Roberts reloading data that I recall see was in Speer's Wildcats reloading manual from the early 1960s. The Ariska actions have a good reputation for being very strong, so I'd think that you could start with 6.5x55 data and work up from there.

FWIW, I think that I've seen 6.5-257 Roberts ammo for sale on either GB or AA.

Jeff

Sounds like it might run on rice wine.

Yes, that was a very popular conversion after WWII. There was a shortage of Arisaka brass, and the boys wanted to shoot their trophys. The .257 Roberts was and intermediate case that fit the action well. A simple rechamber and they were ready to load.

Probably a close loading data match to the 6.5x57 European cartridge.

Compare case capacities for the 6.5 Roberts, 6.5x55, and 6.5x57, 6.5 Carcano, then decide on starting loads.

Bruce

A friend of my dad bought a 6.5 Arisaka for $40 back in the
late 70s and put it in the cabinet for several years. Another
gunhead wanted to buy it from him and he dug it out and was
showing it to him. The guy was a gunsmith and when they
test fired it at the range, they had similar problems with
the brass, it also had been rechambered to 6.5-257 Roberts,
but the barrel wasnt stamped as such. He sold him the gun
for what he paid for it, it was the long rifle version with
a 31" barrel. The gunsmith shortened it to 24", put a scope
on it and as far as I know it still knocks over a deer
every now and then in doe season.

If a kid goes deer hunting with one of those unmarked rechambered ones, thinking it's a 257 Roberts, he will never get a deer. Trust me, they aren't very accurate with factory 257 ammo.

He stamped the barrel 6.5-257 when he was positive that
was the chambering.

I believe that the case capacity would be the same as the 6.5x57.
loading data is found in Hornady Vol 7 and recent Sierra manuals.
The rifles involved are drastically different.
After WW2 there were many Arisaka souvenirs and no ammo. Some gunsmiths set up to rechamber for 6.5 -257 Roberts for the 6.5s and the 300 Savage for the 7.7s. They advertised in American Rifleman.
Mainland China had most of their captured Arisakas rechambered to 8x57 without reboring. They had a huge ammo plant in Manchuria set up for 8x57. It held the pressure. South Korea rechambered their captured Arisakas to 30-06 so GI ammo could be fired. It held the pressure but I don't know if it would feed from the mag.

I have played with Arisakas quite a bit.
The nicest sporterized Arisaka I've ever seen is a Manlicher full stocked style,which someone offers to buy almost every time I take it to the range.It is a 6.5x57 conversion that shoots very well.
I have found that Sellier and Bellot 6.5x57 ammo takes a little bit of a crush fit on the first chambering,but shoots well and chambers well after the first chambering and /or firing.I reload with 6.5x57 RCBS dies ,and it always chambers slick as you please after that first time.It is very accurate and does a good job on whitetails.....but the triggers suck big time.I understand that Dayton Traister now has a good adjustable trigger for them and also a conversion to cock on opening.....not sure how that works.
As an aside,having tried something like 40 some odd different cartridges to convert to 6.5 Arisaka brass,I finally discovered that .35 Remington converts on one pass through 6.5x50 sizers,and is superior to the 6.5 Arisaka brass from Norma.
The Norma brass has a tendency to bulge in many 6.5 Arisaka chambers,which can be generous since they were designed to work under adverse conditions with ammo that was never intended to be reloaded.The Norma brass is comparitively soft.The brass made up from .35 Remington has given no such problems through five or six reloadings,and can safely be loaded somewhat hotter than the Norma.

I have heard of guys using .220 Swift brass for 6.5 Arisaka
reloads, might be mistaken though. I wouldnt mind having
a good custom Arisaka 6.5 with a scope, side safety, etc.
Hopefully, I'll bump into one in a pawnshop or gunshow
someday

Saw an Arisaka in 6.5-257R today at a gunshow, not a bad looking
gun, had a pistol scope on it.

I've been told that Lyman's 41st Edition manual has reloading data for the 6.5-257 wildcat.

However, I've judiciously used the 6.5x57mm (rimless)data from Hornady's 4th Edition manual. Just a heads-up that there is a significant typo in that data for the 140gr. bullet and IMR4350. Their 2500fps load lists a powder weight that's 7.3 grains higher than their maximum load (2700 fps).

I neck up .257 Roberts cases. Alot of folks seem to like H4831 w/ 140gr bullets for this cartridge. H4350 seems to do better in mine; my barrel is 20".

Rich