How accurate are Japanese rifles?

[rayg]

Bruce I miked all the bores and I make the cast bullets .002-.004 larger then the grove dia. Doesn't help so far but will keep trying as it has become a challenge for me to find a right bullet and load in cast for them, Ray

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[andiarisaka]

Bruce I miked all the bores and I make the cast bullets .002-.004 larger then the grove dia. Doesn't help so far but will keep trying as it has become a challenge for me to find a right bullet and load in cast for them, Ray

Ray,

Try a harder alloy, linotype or beyond, to grip the rounded Metford style rifling. I'd suggest some Stonewall Babbitt, bhn23, responds to further heat treatment too. I've also had better luck making my own cases, either by swagging down 7.62 Nato, or using .303 Brit or 30/40 Krag. They're a lot better fit in the chamber than the old Norma. I wrote Norma about 6 or 7 years ago, and supposedly they changed the case dimensions, however I've heard from folks who say they can't get the new cases from Graf's or Midway, even though Norma says they have shipped the newer cases to them. I'm speaking of the 6.5 cases here, not the 7.7. Using US milsurp 7.62 allows you to custom turn the neck size too! Got the swagging dies from CH4D. You need a heavy press and really good lube.

[rayg]

I may have found the right combination using cast bullets and paper patching. I paper wrapped the bullet but this time I sized the wrapped bullet to .319 instead of .314.
I had loaded up only five rds and only fired four, one wouldn't chamber for some reason, and one I just fired without actually sighting just to see if it would hit the target. That left three and I fired them at only 25yrds and all three grouped under an inch.
Maybe this is the right combination so I'll be loading up a few more to try next week at a little further distance.
The advantage of using paper patch cast bullets is they cost nothing if you get the lead free or pennies if you need to buy some lead. Commerical jacketed bullets run on average about $25 per 100 and the paper patched bullets can be shot at the jacketed loads. They are even cheaper then regular cast bullets to shoot as you don't need the cost of a gas check either and some of the reports I've read is that they can be even more accurate then the jacketed bullets. Ray