nearing completion
The Arisaka I’ve been playing with for some time now is nearing the end of the line, project wise.
I found a nice three leaf express sight, and removed the funky and cheap Williams sight. The express sight wasn’t going to fit, given its original octagon-barrel base, so I ended up making a ramp to park it on the Ari. Here’s a picture:
I patterned the ramp after the classic Rigby rifles in size, though I don’t have the abilty to make the graceful curves the size and shape is basically the same. I had to buy a little dovetail cutter to fit the sight in. Sorry about the crappy quality of the picture, my camera sucks at close range.
Now all I need to do is silver solder it down, regulate and file the sight, and blue the whole thing. A little stock sanding and some boiled linseed oil and it will be a fine, handsome, serviceable rifle.
24 comments Og | Uncategorized
I don’t understand this “save”, Og. The Arisakas were NOT known as fine, long-range shooters, the ammo is REALLY scarce. Doesn’t fit as a rifle you would want to put any work into.
OTOH, I guess it’s an OK project to practice your skilz on….
The Arisaka is a remarkably durable action (at least, any but the last-ditch arisakas were) and this one has been rechambered for 30-06, a round which you can often find with a little work.
The bolts on these have six parts, including the ejector band, ejector, and safety. They require no tools to dismantle. I have an extra firing pin and spring which I will store in a hole under the buttpad.
The bore in this is a chrome lined, henry-rifled barrel. Since there are no sharp inside or outside corners, it will last a long time, and be very easy to clean.
The ranges it will be shot are going to be no greater distance than 100 yards, and in fact, I intend to calibrate the leaves for 50, 75, and 100 yards. it is a fine light rifle in it’s current state and will go back to Africa with me for close in, fast shooting.
Apocryphally, theres a tale told by many gunsmiths about an Arisaka 6.5. It was very common for type 99 rifles to be rechambered for 30-06 as this one has been, but an individual put his hands on a type 39 not knowing it was a 6.5, rechambered it and shot it anyway. It had astounding recoil, and he shot it for years like that before someone put their hands on it and caught a bullet. The bullets were being swaged down from 30 caliber to 6.5 upon firing, and not only did the action take this increased pressure with ease, it shot very accurately.
My end result in this rifle will be a solid shooting rifle, simple to maintain in the field, lightweight, and incidentally very attractive.
BTW, the reason I didn’t put a scope mount on this was it has it’s mum intact, very unusual for a rifle of this vintage. I hesitate to deface the pristine mum for just this reason, so I put the leaf sight- whose ramp can act as the base for a scout scope.
Rivrdog,
Now that Hornady loads both 6.5 and 7.7, the situation is nowhere as bad as it was when Norma was your only choice and the rifle’s Blue Book value fluctuated wildly based on how many rounds were in the magazine.
Og,
“BTW, the reason I didn’t put a scope mount on this was it has it’s mum intact,”
Please tell me it had been sporterized before you got it.
Indeed. I had even thought of putting the receiver on another gun but it proved impractical.
Arisakas are known as one of the strongest actions ever made. Ones with the mum intact are quite rare and indicate a battlefield souvenier.
Enjoy your project rifle & shoot it well.
Og,
Thank you. I will sleep better knowing that. ;)
Yeah, I’d beat me with a toaster if I’d done that.
Keep the Mum! A guy at my club shoots a couple Arisakas in competition, and likes to shoot with the bayonet hanging off the end, it a fine sight to see.
I’ve got ideas about a certain dovetail cut I’d like to see donee with the vision impaired in mind (me).
Not only is 7.7 Arisaka not terribly hard to find factory ammo for, you can roll your own with very little trouble. Prvi Partisan even makes inexpensive new brass for it.
I use resized 8mm Mauser brass and pulled 181 gr. Czech 7.62×54 projectiles that mic out to .312. placing that over a suitable amount of H4895 and I can shoot My Arisaka all day long for about 20 cents a shot.
Grafa has reasonably priced reloaded 6.5 ammo. My Ariska shoot way high at 100 yards. Not sure if that is by design or due to the big gouge in the stock that was probably the demise of the original owner.
In the UK they were ofen rechambered to
6.54×55 or 6.5×55, Ariska’s were well know for being one of the strongest actions ever made,i had one done by Jeffreys in 6.5×54 it a great rifle.
Nice. I should look for one like that. It would be nice to shoot one.
I have a type-38 vet bring back that isn’t touched in any way. Mum is intact and not overstruck. I’ve shot it with the original ammo, but I don’t shoot it often. I don’t want to spend the money to invest in the loading dies. I’ve got too many other calibers that I could get to cover more rifles.
I’ve been looking for a type-30 for a long time, but most that I’ve found are either in lousy condition or far to expensive. Probably be best to find a conversion so at least I could shoot it.
>
I aspirated my lunchtime Coke on this line. ;)
Og,
Go for it! My dad brought back a Type 44 carbine (6.5mm) with the folding bayonet. My brother and I did a lot of whitetail hunting with it using Norma ammo. The Arisaka action is hell-for-stout, although the Type 44 straight bolt handle is pretty ugly and I’m not sure that the chamber was exactly round. Every one of them is minute-of-whitetail accurate, though!
Enjoy.
Local small-time, part time ‘smith did a nice job of taking in beater sporto’d gunshow 6.5 ‘Sakis,and rechambering sound bbl’d examples to .260Rem. His ‘sample’ rifle had some good 1″ hunnert yard groups, or so the sign said.
And, yup, the couple of ’em I owned, were very well made of nice.slick finished steel. I like the big round safety on the back of the bolt, and found that with some thinking and practice, that is was quite practical and quick to use.
I’d own another one.
I had an Arisaka on layaway at Death Camp Guns in Beech Grove; with it almost paid for, I ran into a thin patch financially, thought, “Doggone it, this rifle will be a three-times-a-year safe queen,” and sold it on consignment without ever taking it home.
Tam was not impressed.
The Arisaka is not a pretty rifle, and some of them are downright hideous. But they were made by a different people in a different time.
Dad brought one home in 7.7. He had a permit for two prizes. Only marks on the fore stock of his rifle are where the wings on the front sight of his M1 carbine cut into it and where the Marine guard at the gang plank (with a stack of M1 carbines behind him) used his knife to cut the two rifles apart.
Dad put a lot of venison on the table with it, and was accurate out past 100 yards (of course he’d been shooting it for twenty years by the time I was old enough to notice). Looking forward to the finished product.
More pics are required.
Og,
By “not impressed”, she meant with her decision to leave the intact-mum w/matching bayonet Type 99 in the shop.
Had I the cash at the time, I’d have bought it from her and sold my ground-mum 99.
Oh, I COMPLETELY understood. Trust me, I’d have the same feeling. I meant to imply, that though they were an ugly duckling gun, they were made by, and for, a people whose warrior spirit- “Yamato damashii” was an integral part of their culture. This is part and parcel of why I want to keep this rifle, as a sort of homage to a vicious, brutal enemy- an island nation the size of Indiana- who took on the greatest military force in the world, turned political and industrial ally.
I too, would have liked to have an intact mum Ari, preferably a 38, in my gun cabinet- no matter how primitive a weapon it was.
Sorry if I wasn’t clear as I could be. I completely understand both your feelings on the matter, and respect them.
It says a lot about Japanese aesthetics and priorities that such an elegant-looking bayonet was hung on such a homely and functional rifle. ;)
LOL! Yes, yes it does.
I have stumbed onto some “real” japanese bayonets, and the quality of construction always amazed me.