(Sigh).....sporterized Jap rifles

[sisyphus]

There are a couple of Arisaka's on the local net ads (both appear to be type-38's). One's been re-barreled to .257 R, the bolt handle's bent downward, it has a full-length stock and looks to be a half-decent job...........not too butchered. The real tear jerker is that the mum's intact.

The other's still in 6.5 X 50 J with a scope and mods to the bolt and safety.

They were probably done post-war during the craziness of "sporterizing anything you bought cheap" era. From their condition I'd say they'd be real collectors today in original config.

[aliceinchains]

Yes i agree with you. Any time i see one with a mum that bubba got a hold of just makes my blood boil.

[fingolfen]

I've seen more collector pieces sporterized or parted out by the ignorant than I care to mention... ask me about a Jinsen SLD and Izawa sometime...

[sisyphus]

I think the one in the ad that got rebarreled to 257R might have been a T99 sniper originally, but I don't know enough to say for sure. The bolt was bent downward slightly......kinda like the ones on Yugo M48A Mausers. If that's the case, blood should flow.

[aliceinchains]

I've seen more collector pieces sporterized or parted out by the ignorant than I care to mention... ask me about a Jinsen SLD and Izawa sometime...


Ok mike how about the Jinsen SLD and Izawa butcher job. I want to know.

[old Grump]

There are a couple of Arisaka's on the local net ads (both appear to be type-38's). One's been re-barreled to .257 R, the bolt handle's bent downward, it has a full-length stock and looks to be a half-decent job...........not too butchered. The real tear jerker is that the mum's intact.I just inventoried all but a couple of the guns in the house and yesterday the last one was a Calvary Carbine Type 38 sporterized exactly the way you described it. Belongs to Trucker brother and looks like it could still be shot, I haven't checked to see what caliber it is, just looking at that stock and the bare barrel where the bayonet lug is supposed to be makes me sad but its not my rifle so what the heck.

He has another Arisaka in original form, type unknown at the moment because I haven't inventoried that one yet for the record. Its in pretty beat up shape, looks like it saw some really rough service. Not to sure I would want to shoot that one. At least whoever sporterized the type 38 did a good job.

The old Enfield I had was done by a half drunk plumbers apprentice from the looks of it. Only sold 3 rifles in my life and that was the first one.

[sisyphus]

He has another Arisaka in original form, type unknown at the moment because I haven't inventoried that one yet for the record. Its in pretty beat up shape, looks like it saw some really rough service. Not to sure I would want to shoot that one.

I don't advocate taking foolish risks with firearms, but I understand Arisaka's are among the strongest (if not THE strongest) of any bolt action. There have been articles and stories over the years of what's been done and tried with them and they are truly amazing. The Japs were metallurgists without peer in times past and some of that expertise went into the making of their rifles. They say later-war quality fell-off somewhat, but even some of the rough-looking pieces early-on were magnificently strong and serviceable weapons.

Never thought I'd see myself getting into them, but after learning their history and owning a few they get addictive.

[old Grump]

I don't advocate taking foolish risks with firearms, but I understand Arisaka's are among the strongest (if not THE strongest) of any bolt action.True and I have read lots of stories about people not knowing what they had, stuffing a shell into the gun and if it went in they fired it. Gun worked fine, they got a little extra recoil but the bullet seemed to be oddly deformed and terribly inaccurate. Seems like they get swaged down a bit to go through that little bore and they sort of lose their inherent accuracy. Looking at the bolt on this little carbine it looks like something that could have been used on an 8MM magnum, there is a lot of steel there. I'm guessing that it is still 6.5 or dang close to it. Brother bought it at an auction and the tag says 6.6 and the markings indicate 6.5 and i would have assumed if it had been rebarreled markings would have been on there somewhere to identify new chambering. There isn't and is why I think that part at least is original.

[sisyphus]

True and I have read lots of stories about people not knowing what they had, stuffing a shell into the gun and if it went in they fired it. Gun worked fine, they got a little extra recoil but the bullet seemed to be oddly deformed and terribly inaccurate. Seems like they get swaged down a bit to go through that little bore and they sort of lose their inherent accuracy.

The one I remember was when somebody had a gunsmith re-chamber a T-38 to .30-06 but forgot to check the bore diameter or something. When he fired it, he received a helluva wallop and quit after the third round. Turned out that the charge forced the .308 bullet down the .264 bore with no ill effects to the action or barrel. The story also stated that when the NRA caught wind of the event, they requested the rifle and did their own tests which gave the same amazing results.

There's a site dedicated to Japanese weapons where a series of threads record deliberate attempts to destroy an Arisaka, and it's almost unbelievable what it took to finally accomplish it. Certainly anything else would have expired long before the level of abuse the Arisakas absorbed and still functioned.

[aliceinchains]

The one I remember was when somebody had a gunsmith re-chamber a T-38 to .30-06 but forgot to check the bore diameter or something. When he fired it, he received a helluva wallop and quit after the third round. Turned out that the charge forced the .308 bullet down the .264 bore with no ill effects to the action or barrel. The story also stated that when the NRA caught wind of the event, they requested the rifle and did their own tests which gave the same amazing results.

There's a site dedicated to Japanese weapons where a series of threads record deliberate attempts to destroy an Arisaka, and it's almost unbelievable what it took to finally accomplish it. Certainly anything else would have expired long before the level of abuse the Arisakas absorbed and still functioned.




riceone has a thread here to blow up a T99.

[aliceinchains]

I just inventoried all but a couple of the guns in the house and yesterday the last one was a Calvary Carbine Type 38 sporterized exactly the way you described it. Belongs to Trucker brother and looks like it could still be shot, I haven't checked to see what caliber it is, just looking at that stock and the bare barrel where the bayonet lug is supposed to be makes me sad but its not my rifle so what the heck.

He has another Arisaka in original form, type unknown at the moment because I haven't inventoried that one yet for the record. Its in pretty beat up shape, looks like it saw some really rough service. Not to sure I would want to shoot that one. At least whoever sporterized the type 38 did a good job.

The old Enfield I had was done by a half drunk plumbers apprentice from the looks of it. Only sold 3 rifles in my life and that was the first one.


The type 38 calvary rifle is a hard one to find. That simply sucks.

[fingolfen]

Ok mike how about the Jinsen SLD and Izawa butcher job. I want to know.

There was this guy who was buying Japanese and other rifles to part out on ebay. I told him to LMK if he came across anything unusual, and showed him pix of what "unusual" was - ended up getting a couple of decent pieces off of him, but then he also passed along some barreled receivers that he'd parted and sold on ebay... Lovely Izawa and Jinsen SLD in that bunch. I still have the receivers - I should probably send them in to the Banzai guys to let them know that they were out there, but are now deceased...

... and I still don't have a good Izawa...