They are fairly common in Canadaicon, though we also don't have as large a gunsmithing community as the States does. Part of the reason I wanted the Type 46 over the Type 46/66 was because the 8x50r cartridge it uses is pretty much interchangable with Austrian 8x50r, which I already reload for. The 8x52r as I understand uses a different case head size (though being rimmed you could likely get away with a bit smaller), but its finding a good parent case for it which is hard.

Apparently when these were being surplused a bunch of ammo was being sent over as well, but the cargo ship sank on the way. Don't know if its true or not, but I could see it otherwise what happened to all the surplus ammo.