 The cartridge was designed to replace the aging 6.5×50mm Arisaka after seeing the effectiveness of the MG 34 GPMG in action (firing 8×57mm IS full power military rifle ammunition) in China during 1937.Due to a lack of materials, the plan to phase out the 6.5 mm Arisaka cartridge by the end of the war was not completed.While the round chambered by the Arisaka rifle used a rimless case, rimmed and semi-rimmed variants were produced for use in some Japanese machine guns.