Craig Boddington was the senior contributing editor of our modern gun and ammunition caliber dictionary. Craig was involved in the development and testing of many of these and writes from first hand experience. This dictionary was written exclusively for Wholesale Hunter with unique information found nowhere else.
GUN CALIBER DICTIONARY
Rifle
6.5X50mm Japanese
The 6.5X50mm Japanese (6.5X50mm Arisaka) was developed in Japan in 1897 and adopted in 1905 in the Type 38 Arisaka. Although officially replaced by the 7.7X58mm Arisaka in 1939 the 6.5X50mm remained more prevalent until the end of WWII. The 6.5X50mm is a semi-rimmed case with shorter case length than the several other 1890s-vintage 6.5mm military cartridges. Rifles have not been manufactured since 1939, but many captured Arisaka rifles found their way home and are not uncommon. The 6.5X50mm is a mild cartridge, with current factory loads propelling a 139-grain bullet at 2475 fps. — Craig Boddington