Arisaka's

A friend gave me 2 Arisaka barreled actions without bolts, one is a 38 that has had the barrel chopped, the other is a 99 and looks to be unmodified. He also got a complete rifle that i will use to duplicate a stock off of for the 99. Does anyone know of a source for parts other than Ebay. I have a bolt body coming with extractor, but if I am going to make an attempt to retore the 99 I will need a bunch of parts. The 38 could someday be a sporter as the barrel is cut and missing more parts than the 99.

Numrich may be worth checking for parts. Hard to find and not cheap from what I have seen. Used to be much less $$ but not so now. Many used for conversions over the years and not as many imported over the years when compared to something like a k98.

I got my Type 38 bolt from Numrich. It worked OK, has headspace issue and is hard on brass but makes a shooter.

Century Arms International, Jack First Co., Sarco.

DG

https://www.libertytreecollectors.co...tc-default.asp

The type 38 may have been a carbine originally. I don't remember off hand, but they had pretty short barrels from the factory.

Robert

This one is about an inch and a half shorter than the 99 and it looks like it was cut than way to eliminate the front sight and dovetail. It also has two holes drilled in the front receiver ring but they run 90 degrees to the bore. i looked at Liberty Tree and they have everything but at a premium. Century has a long list of parts and pieces in alphabetical order, I was at 80 some pages and still on the Cs or Ds. Thanks to everyone, I got lots of looking to do. My friend bought a 99 the other day for $200 it is the worst, most beat up mess Ive ever seen, but it has a stock that i can duplicate when the time comes.

Those two holes in the front receiver ring are meant to be there. IIRC they are supposed to be gas vent holes in case of a ruptured primer or case. I know I thought mine looked like Swiss cheese when I first got it, since it had been drilled for a scope mount also.

Forgotten Weapons on youtube has several video's on Arisaka's that may answer more of your questions.

Robert

Two holes in the receiver signify's the action is a type 38 while one hole means it's a type 99. I agree that the price for Arisaka parts has gotten ridiculous but remember nobody is manufacturing any replacement parts for the rifles so parts will get harder and more expensive as time goes by.

Last one I bought was in a Bishop stock with a .22-250 Flaig's Ace barrel . Had a Lyman receiver sight roughly mounted , I stress the Roughly. Gave $99.00 out the door . Good shooter for what it is , made a good truck gun . I gave the same for one in .243 , also with a Flaig's barrel. My oldest son has killed all of his deer with it . It is in a custom made Mannlicher stock that's nice but not perfectly proportioned . He loves it.

Got a bolt with extractor on Ebay , that came yesterday. i have my friends 99 in my shop and will take the bolt on his apart and see if it will function with his firing pin and cap.

If you need a bunch of different parts it might be cheaper to buy an ugly, sporterized rifle at auction.

My friend that gave me the actions went to some kind of a miltaria show and came back with a very beat type99 that was complete but rough for $200. I am thinking that fixing the 2 i have may be way more money than buying something that is complete.

I think that your thinking is correct. I hesitate to say millions, but certainly hundreds of thousands of Arisakas came into the country after WW II, both as G.I. bring backs and as surplus. They were always just about the least expensive surplus military rifle one could buy, and they have been modified and tinkered with endlessly in just about every imaginable way. While not knocking the rifle's design at all -- not my intention -- they ranged from well made to "last ditch" in fit and finish, and other rifles such as the Mauser were/are more suitable for making a sporter. Even the supposed economy of making a sporter from a military rifle has long gone by, and a review of currently made U.S. sporters by such companies as Savage will show the wisdom of buying a commercially made new rifle. If you're building a military collection, then by all means buy the best specimen you can find, but the days of the $25 Arisaka are also long past.


DG

I have bought two type 99s in the last year that have both been sporterized with aftermarket stocks. I paid about $135 each for them. One had no sights and the other had a poorly mounted scope. I drilled and tapped the first,mounted a scope and used it hunting this fall. The second I need to redrill and mount the scope as someone did a bubba job and mounted the scope crooked.

If not impossibly bad, you may be able to compensate for a poorly done drill and tap job by using Millett adjustable rings.

DG

Even non matching Arisakas are going up in value so returning them to original will be well worth it in the long run. Took one of my model 99's out to the 100 yd range last week and was a little surprised at it's accuracy using condom bullets. I was able to get a 6 inch grouping with most of the shots using trimmed and reformed 30-06 Lake City brass, 50 grains of IMR 4350 pushing the Speer .311 150 grain jacketed soft point. At 68 years young I was lucky to even see the bullseye at 100 yds using open sights LOL. That load works well in my 90/31 Mosin but that's another rabbit hole to go down.
Not sure why but my model 99's are my go to for fun guns to shoot with both cast and jacketed. I even shoot berdan brass with them.

The scope base is really strange with two holes perpendicular to the bore in the ring/base things. The rear set of holes are offset enough to see the miss alignment. Anyway, I have a mill so it's not a bid deal to mount scope bases inline with the bore and centered on top. It will just be a shooter and not worth trying to restore.

I have 6 boxes of 6.5 and 6 boxes of 7.7 unprimed Norma brass that Ive been pondering on trading/selling. Ive got enough functional ammo for both calibers to last me, as iittle as I shoot the Arisakas. Years ago I bought 10 boxes of each... still have most of the original brass I loaded up.

I spent the afternoon prepping my old uncles 6.5 Arisaka and leftover ammo to go into a local museum - ugly thing - but but by time I finished shooting off a bunch of primers .........I dont mind the Arisaka at all ! The action worked quite nice and you can close the bolt on a chambered round easily -