Think I now have a Jap Arisaka!

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Hi Folks,
Went into the studio today and Found a Nice Mil Sup Jap Arisaka laying on my desk! MY BIL had it laying around from his Dad and Knew I like to play with restoring & shooting old guns. First tight dry patch down the bore was quite smooth! Promising. It was from what I understand a Korean war Bring Back.
Mechanically in good shape but has a crack in the butt. Bore is smallish I'm thinking 6.5mm
I know nothing about these. Any help will be appreciated.
I want to be able to shoot it Low V with cast if that could happen. Is brass available?
 

Wiresguy

Active Member
If it is a 6.5 and the chamber is original, it would be the 6.5x50 Arisaka. Norma sells brass. After WWII some folks rechambered these for the .257 Roberts case and reloaded with the 6.5 bullets.

The buttstocks had a piece grafted on, similar to some of the 98k Mausers, the seam line usually visible.

Hope this helps.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Well, I'll give you my 2 cents. I have an Ariska, a 6.5x257 Roberts with a mannlicher type stock from Bishop, weighs a little over 6 lbs with the Redfield peep on it. It's my first Arisaka and the only one I've paid any real attention to. People will tell you the Arisaka is a Mauser copy. Well, yes and no. The basic lay out is Mauser style, but there are some differences that I kind of like and some I don't. Biggest difference is the safety. Took me about 3 range trips to figure out I actually like it at least as well as a standard Mauser type safety. In a way I like it better simply because it's very positive and very quiet, at least mine is. I can activate mine with just my thumb either on or off while keeping my grip on the wrist of the stock. I've had some Mausers that you were hard pressed to get the safety on or off (no doubt due to parts being switched) and I never liked the thing sticking up in the air, although I understand the reasoning behind it and agree with the idea for conscripts. The Arisaka is a different way of doing the same thing and I think it's pretty decent, although it is kinda ugly. IIRC correctly the trigger is about the same layout and mines pretty decent for a military trigger. I like the Mauser style hinged floor plates better. I don't have issue sights on the Arisaka, so no comment there. I like the bolt release on both, simple and positive. As far as accuracy, my Arisaka barrel is at least as decent as most run of the mill Mausers, maybe a little better than average. It's not what I'd call shiny or new looking, but it's not like my Turk Mauser where you can see somebody pretty much scrubbed the barrel out with sand and a steel rod. The finish on my Arisaka is also pretty fair and I believe it's factory from before the war or at least early on when they were still doing a good job. Although the chyrsantimum on mine was ground off, you can see the difference in blue and the area outside that is pretty decent. I suppose I could be wrong on the blue and it could have been reblued when the barrel got cut down now that I think about it. Who knows? Take that with a grain of salt I guess. Can't comment on stocks as mines been replaced and I don't have the sliding action cover on mine either.

As far as shooting, I can't complain on mine. It is at least as accurate, with the loads I've tried and with me shooting, as any of my other Mausers, and that means a 7x57 M95, a 7.65 M91, a 8mm Yugo 98, a 8mm Turk with a sewer pipe barrel, a 7.65 1908 and at least 4 or 5 rebarreled jobs. I like the Arisaka. I've read Ackleys reports on trying to blow one up and I've also read some period pieces in the post war Rifleman regarding their safety. As long as you have a decent copy of a 6.5 (M38?) you shouldn't have any chance of a cast recvr IIRC. Outside of that, the Arisaka in both 6.5 and 7.7 are allegedly at least as strong as a 98 Mauser or '03 Springfield (low number RI's excluded of course). If the barrel is decent it may surprise you accuracy wise.

Cast? From what I've read the bores on these can run from .266ish to over .268. I ahven't tried any cast in mine. I did buy a cheap 270 mould just in case I ever feel the need and none of the 6 or 7 6.5 moulds I have work. At this point mines a dandy carry and tractor gun. I'm okay with that.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
I guess I'm not going to make the brass? Correct! Guess I will have to buckle down and buy some along with some dies
I guess I will try to make it look perty and strong first up. Then worry about how to shoot it
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
if you got the tools you can make the cases from 270's.
you just have to swage the case down in front of the rim to something like 447, and inside ream the necks.
even though they are a rimmed case the bolt heads do fit the recessed 0-6, X57 type rims, that's why the 257X6.5 was such a popular round change for the rifles.

I'd just buy the cases.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I think it was a 6.5mm Arisaka rifle that was famously rechambered in .30-'06 and test fired with normal loads. The action held fine under the extreme pressure of putting a .30-caliber, jacketed bullet down a 6.5mm barrel.

Might be a good idea to make a chanber cast and sit down with pen, paper, micrometer, and some cartridge drawings to see exactly what you have before buying tools. Not having any brass to use for a pound cast, you can get close enough for the purpose by melting a tapered candle and pouring the wax into the plugged chamber with a long, thin paper funnel. That won't give you the total length but will get you most of the body, shoulder, neck, and throat shape and rough measurements. The paraffin will shrink significantly and be easy to remove.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Ian,
That was the 7.7 Arisaka, a .311-.312 bore typically, I guess it would work sorta OK with jbullets.
OH, wait - re-read your post......OK, that is crazy! I thought you were talking about the common
7.7-'06 conversion, run a .30-06 reamer into the chamber.

My stock 7.7 shoots very well, to the sights and I like the odd forward peep and wide A type of front
sight. Pretty good sight picture, actually.

My 7.7 has a chromed bore, not sure if the 6.5s had that, too. If so, it would explain why the bore
seems smooth JW.

As far as putting the safety on and off with a thumb, on my 7.7, only Hercules could do that. I use
a palm and push HARD.

Bill
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Hmmm, that's interesting Bill. My safety is a breeze. Just push in on it with the thumb in which ever direction I want to go.
 

4060MAY

Active Member
I had a 6.5x50 Arisaka Carbine my Uncle brought back from the Philippines, The bore was rough not pitted, this was the rifle I used to test fire lapping with a kit supplied by Merril Martin, results were pubished in Precision Shooting this made it easier to clean, but accuracy was still, at best 3-6" at 100yds, trigger pull was at 8-10pounds, sight radius was about 12", not an easy gun to shoot...

I found some Norma brass IIRC and loaded with a 140gr Saeco bullet, sized and checked .268, IIRC WC680 was the powder used, I took this gun to Rigway PA, and shot out to 500M, actually hit a couple rams and knocked them over, of course it took 40 shots to hit 3 rams.

Sold the gun to my friend for a lot more money than thought it was worth, the 6.5 's for the most part are not chrome lined, all of the 7.7's I have looked at were chrome lined, my friend is a collector of these things.....pulling the barrel generally means under cutting the barrel in front of the action to relieve the threads

have fun
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
If the " crack " in the butt stock is in the middle of the butt running the length of the stock, there is an explanation for that.

The stocks were spliced from 2 separate pieces of wood at the butt due to shortage of full sized blanks. They didn't hold together well over the years due to heat and humidity and hard use.

Very easy to see in the photo below. I have never seen a Jap rifle that didn't have the butt stock made from 2 different pieces of wood.

4wlXFm1.jpg



BEN
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've handled a couple that you had to use the heel of your hand and almost brace the muzzle against the floor. I had a Carcano that was the same way, just awful. Again, if parts were mismatched or maybe just not selected with ease of use in mind... Might be taking a coil or 2 off the spring would help.
 

Bruce Drake

Active Member
You can reform either 220 Swift or 35 Remington brass to 6.5 Arisaka. The 220 Swift case is longer than 50mm and will require a neck up and then a trim down to form the case. 35 Remington cases only require a neck down operation but the neck will be about 49mm or so in length so you'll have a shorter neck than the Norma cases but the long 140gr 6.5mm bullets seat fine and load with any type of brass.
The 220 Swift cases have the semi-rim like the 6.5x50 cases but for me, I prefer to use the 35 Remington cases as I lucked into a good pile of them when I lived in NY where a lot of leverguns are in that caliber back but now living in the Midwest, I've found the 220 Swift cases have been more available in local gunshops as they are still used in varmint rifles on groundhogs and foxes.
Bruce
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Well ,
I was under the weather the past week ( Really under!) Just starting to feel myself today.
On Monday before this crud caught up to me I had time to push a few dry patches through the bore and then saturated the bore with my gunsmith mix of "Kroil / Hoppes #9 / Pure gum turps" Then I didn't touch it until last night which time I pushed a bronze brush through it 10 times and then a bunch of tight dry patches...That darn bore is chean! but I didn't believe it so today I used some copper cutter and no blue! Saturated it again with the former solution and then brushed again the dried ...nothing not dirt not anything. Bore is bright and sharp.
Now I know that this rifle sat in the basement of my FIL's home since the 50's I can't believe the interior condition is so good.
I will have to rebuild / or replace firing pin since it was clipped ( as a war bring back).
I want to do some research on the SN # and the marking but I think I will be able to make this thing a shooter!
Looking forward to a fun winter's project ....will get some photos once I feel 100% again
Jim
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
Found out some fun facts today:
Arisaka Type 38.
Koishikawa 1906- 1935 (Tokyo) arsenal ( Delta symbol in circle indicates pre 1920 production)
SN 00 10142 Full Chrysanthemum ( but X overstamp- out of Military service) & School Mark & add'l two 0's to the left of SN ( sent to a school for training purposes) & I do believe that there is a School marking in the stock but need to confirm So could explain why mechanically it is in such good shape. Probably never made it into WW2 and then afterwards sent to Korea either by the Japanese or Americans