Gun and Game Forums - Japanese Firearms

Good Deal on an Arisaka?

Iron_Colonel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:59:07 GMT

Well, on my way back from the docs today, I stopped in a pawn shop. I had bought a Hungarian M44 from this guy. Well, low and behold he has a Type 38 6.5 Arisaka on his wall. This one has a pretty decent bore. Lands and grooves at least look good. Sharp, but slightly rounded on the edges. So it has seem some use. However, I was baffled when I couldn't find a series stamp on it. They said it had been pawned and was sitting on the shelf for a few weeks.

Looks like it was not produced with a series stamp on it, and was one of the rifles made from 1906-1935 at the Koishikawa factor before it was called Kokura since they used the same arsenal symbol (correct me if I am wrong, please). Well, this has a 1.something million serial number with some 8s and 0s in it that I can remember. It also has a triangle in circle, and an "S" stamp on the barrel, near the rear sights. Is this a 10% overload stamp? I have also seen postulated that "S" and "B" stamps could indicate German manufactured barrels?

Stock was sporterized just in front of the barrel band, with handguard present. Mum in tact. No dust cover. Bluing looked great. Rear sights were "V" notch, with the slider present. Front sight looked like it had a large fishing weight clamped over it, with the front sight protectors missing? Couldn't see it was all covered by this large piece of "lead" something. There was a triangle file gouge in it, like someone filed a "V" notch on the large lead looking thing on the front sight.

$150 good deal or average? Might be able to haggle some. But, this was the "sale" price. I mean, I don't want to pass up a good deal when I see one either even if I don't know if it is a good one or not yet. Any thoughts, opinions? I know its hard with no pics, but the gun looked great.

And a slightly off topic question... Can the rear peep sights of other Japanese rifles be fitted to the Type 38 that has the "V" notch rear sight? Or were they model specific?

New to Me Japanese Arisaka, Type 38 6.5

Iron_Colonel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:18:26 GMT

Well, I happened across an old beat up Arisaka Type 38 in 6.5. It took me a while to finally make the decision, when I saw an absolutely beautiful rifle down the aisle with a mum in tact same caliber. But this one was speaking to me. The character I think says enough. It does appear to have been actually struck by a bullet at some point. Bore is not as good as I had hoped, but not sure if that matters with the ding on the receiver. Shootable?

It was a rust bucket, and I couldn't allow it to be any longer. I have spent nearly 4 hours on the metal parts alone, taking every single piece off of the gun, clearing out any cosmo, and de-rustifying everything. Everything beneath the stock line and under handguard looked great. Bluing was in very good shape with help of cosmo. Top handguard has some splits. Also, recommendations for the stock? I'd like to put something on it that won't do any modifying, but I don't want to devalue it. I was thinking a good mineral spirits bath, and some BLO? Suggestions or thoughts on this. What did the Japanese finish their stocks with originally?

So I will post the video I made on my YT acct. Watch that first to see how bad it actually was. And the pics I will include are the after pics of my hours of work.

Link to Vid:

YouTube - Type 38 Japanese Arisaka Pt. 1

Link to the after Vid:

You Tube

Good sources for Arisaka's?

Sgtsquid — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:31:04 GMT

Besides auction sites does anyone know a good source to purchase one? I've yet to add a Japanese rifle to my collection. Also any advice on what to look for when purchasing?