I was reading an article in Guns & Ammo a few months ago. It was a comparison of the Garand and the Arisaka.
As you said, the Japanese went from 6.5 to a .303 caliber. The reason given was that it was much better for odd rounds such as tracer and I can’t remember the other specialty rounds.
I suspect those problems are no longer a deciding factor.
Interesting, I’d never heard that. I’d always assumed (based on bits of anecdotal evidence) that it was an issue of “inadequate energy transfer”—that it passed through the target without doing much damage.
I concur that modern design and newer ballistic knowledge might overcome that.