Well I did some more shooting today with the Arisaka. I think things are looking better.
I had my 20 cases shot from last time made from 35 Rem brass. Since these had been shot 1x from last time I didn't even resize them.
I also had a bunch of .243 Win brass that I successfully swaged the cases down to fit the 6.5 x 50 ! This was thanks to Brad who worked up a swage pass thru die for me! I will not get into all the steps of this process right now but let us just say it is a real labor of love to get that brass down to fit this rifle! I started out using .308 win but had better luck with the .243 ( not to mention more of the same headstamps)
Also I had bought a cheap'o Lee 277-135 bullet mould ( .277" is the max diameter of the rifles worn throat) This mould actually drops a tad over .277".... so I had to size them back to . 277 PC'd them and again resize to .277"
So all I had to do is expand the necks of the cases to fit these fat bullets! I did not seat the bullets very deep in the case because there was already a big jump to get in the throat! I also swithched to Red Dot powder ( 5.0 Grains ).
So Here are two of the three targets I shot today ( The third one I tried 7.0 gr American Select with this 277 bullet but nothing interesting happened Think I need a higher load)
The first group was 1.5" the second was 1.75":
These were shot at 50 yds.
I have never been very good with V notch military open sights so I think if I had a receiver sight I may do better.
All in all I do not have the ideal bullet & I do not have the bullets set into the rifling like I would like....but I'm feeling much better about this rifle already.
The history of this rifle puts it being made in the time period of before WWI Maybe it saw service in that time, in WW II also and later to be given up to an American GI in Korea!
For me to get it shooting again is a real thrill!
!
