Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[Kenneth R. Woolley III]

Hello fellow collectors, I went to the range on Sunday to shoot my T97 that I am restoring. I was really at the range to sight-in another rifle but I purchased 2 boxes of Hornaday 6.5 Japanese at Cabellas to shoot also. Anyway, after I sighted my other rifle in I decided to try my T97 for the first time ever. It might not have been fired for a long time so I was nervous how it would do. I put 1 round in and was aiming at a small metal range target 200yrds away. I pulled the trigger and with very little recoil the bullet hit it's mark. I put another bullet in and hit the mark again. I don't have the scope but the open sights work wonderful. I put 5 in this time. first one was a hit, second was a click and nothing happened, I cleared that shell, next one...click. Same thing. The 4th bullet worked and hit it's mark. I looked at the case on the bullets and shells that refused to fire and they had a nice dent where the pin hit. My friend tried his carton of 20 bullets and only averaged 50% or less that would fire. He claimed the firing pin or spring is "soft" or weak, another experienced shooter tried and did about the same but he claims the ammunition may be bad. We could only get 1 shell to fire that had been struck by the pin already. Another theory is that Hornaday's ammo is using "hard" primers. Does anyone have or had this issue? Any insight would be appreciated. I'm upset because I was having so much fun. I hit that metal target with every shot that went off from 200yrds away, not to mention $22 for each pack of ammo that didn't work. Thanks....
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Kenny W

[DEFUC]

if the primer is indented by the pin and it didnt fire that should be a bad batch of primers,Ive never had that problem with any 6.5 as I load most of my own,but Ive had name brand commercial hunting rifle ammo that wasnt any good, notably some .308 winchester W/W that did just like your getting (bad primers) and some remington 7mm that went poof instead of BANG .