Custom Jap type 38 in 6.5x55

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Yes !!! it was finally ready for me to purchase.

Back in Feb, my local gunsmith and I were chatting, and he mentioned this rifle (photos below) from his personal collection. He showed it to me and I fell in love with it. At that time it had a couple issues...rear receiver screw was missing and the Peep and front site were mismatched-so he had no idea how it shot.

Also, I guess, when he bought it, the action was epoxy bedded, but whoever did that, didn't use a release agent on the steel. I guess it was glued together real good. He said it took a while, several freeze-thaw cycles to get them apart...and he did break a tiny piece of the stock...by the bolt...he figured it was a non-essential part of the stock, but he pinned and glued it back on (if you see a brass pin by the bolt, that's the part that broke).

After he ordered a new receiver screw, I had him D&T for the scope rail. I haven't fired it yet...but am anxious to get some loads put together and try it out this summer....$300...cash well spent.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Jap6o5x55LT_zps5d12069a.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Jap6o5x55LT_zps5d12069a.jpg.html)

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Jap6o5x55RT_zps5b339f0d.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Jap6o5x55RT_zps5b339f0d.jpg.html)

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Jap6o5x55rec_zpsafb6e6ea.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Jap6o5x55rec_zpsafb6e6ea.jpg.html)

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/Jap6o5x55bbl_zps427ed9aa.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/Jap6o5x55bbl_zps427ed9aa.jpg.html)

[Patricklaw]

Very nice! We'll of course want to know how it shoots and what CB loads you feed it.

[1Shirt]

Good looking rifle, strong action, agree on wanting to know results!
1Shirt!

[bruce drake]

Does it fit five 6.5x55 cartridges in the original magazine box? I had to replace the Arisaka's magazine well with a trimmed-down Mauser magazine box and opened up the wooden cavity within the stock to hold the bigger cartridges (260 Remington in my case).

Rifle looks very nice and look forward to reading how it shoots as well.

Bruce

[alrighty]

Very nice rifle Jon.Nothing wrong with original rifles and they do have their place but I prefer the looks of nice sporters like this.Thanks for sharing.

[Dutchman]

I'm curious how the sporter barrel is attached to the receiver. It looks like a barrel stub with the sporter barrel screwed into the stub. It just doesn't look ~normal~.

Dutch

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

while I don't know for sure, I assumed it's the original barrel, turned smaller. The rifling looks like the metford style rifling in my 6.5x257 custom and there is a hole in the top of the barrel about where a rear site screw would be.
Jon

[madsenshooter]

Looks original to me, with the rear sight removed.

[Multigunner]

I've heard it was common practice by Australian gunsmiths to thread a cut off barrel shank and screw in a replacement barrel when these rifles were converted to other calibers , or had a corroded out original bore.
This was also done when converting some Carcano rifles to .308.
Some times this was done to set back a barrel with very badly eroded throat and leade, but the rest of the bore salvageable.
The Jap drill rifle I had was much more obviously spliced, with threads showing.
The barrel pictured shows no obvious sign of having been spliced, at least not in the photos.
A well done splice can be practically invisible.

This is a fine looking sporter.