Just a tip. The safety on the Arisaka is designed to be applied with the heel of the hand. Using the hands heel, push forward and turn . This is how the safety was engaged or disengaged. If you run across Japanese manuals for training, cleaning fieldstripping and the like, this is how it is depicted. It is also a quicker and more positive method than using ones fingers. Hope this helps.
Another great presentation by USOG!!! What a beautiful rifle! I have a friend whose father brought one back from WW 2 that let us shoot it when we were teenagers. His dad saw a lot of combat in the Pacific and was always rather dry, I asked where he got it? He looked at me flatly and stated " Guy that had it didn't need it anymore" Again thanks for sharing with us!!!
Wasn't the Arisaka safety supposed to be used with the palm of your hand, as a 'gross motor skill' movement? You place the palm on the safety and turn your entire wrist to switch it on or off.
I'd guess (and this is a total guess) that Japan wanted a gun that could be used with gloves, as they would be using it in potentially cold, mountainous terrain. The big bolt handle seems to match that philosophy.
the safety of the type 38 was designed to operated with the palm of the shooters hand i do believe. i have shot an original that my brother and i have that our grandfather got while in the US Navy in ww2 and when using the palm it seemed to work much better
Hi James - that makes sense! I can't get at the safety well due to the scope but with iron sights and access to the back of the bolt - palm works well. Thanks for writing.
Thanks for sharing both, I have never seen one in such condition. I have always wondered how many were left in the sands of the Pacific Isles. Appreciate the bit of history you weave in your presentations.
My dad was in the Army Infantry in the Pacific. He said after battles when they were cleaning things up and picking things up. The Sea Bee's would come in with equipment and a lot of the rifles and weapons picked up were either destroyed or they were buried.
This channel and you videos are so great, thank you Sir. Hope I never run out of episodes. will have visit you on patreon. Keep up the good work, you're breath of fresh air in this hyped up world.
Beautiful Rifle, I just recently acquired a beautiful type 38 Arisaka that has been laboriously sporterized. The chamber is marked 257-6.5 My Gunsmith ordered some chamber casting material so We can figure out exactly what We,are dealing with.Great Video Sir, thanks for showing this rifle.
Hi Rick - Thank you! Wish I could see your rifle. I'm so impressed by the Arisaka - excellent action and that 6.5 Japanese cartridge is very fine too. Hope the chamber casting verifies the marking - a .257 Roberts necked up to 6.5 must be similar to the 6.5 X 57 - which I think RWS factory loads. Best of luck with it.
My favorite bolt action of World War I. Its nice to see even the sporterized version retains its strong action. That other one you have looks to be a last ditch Type 99 that was in thr process of being sporterized. Anyway great video and I am glad I stumbled onto this channel.
Serbian 1899/07, 1907 (both Steyr made), 1910 (Mauser made) Mausers, as well as Yugoslavian M24 and M48 (both locally made, based on FN 1924) had "safety" breach that had fully supported chamber. Out of other military Mausers only Costa Rican model 1910 had same feature since it was practically identical to the Serbian one..
A type 38 was my first deer hunting rifle. I still have it. I have the dust cover too. Mine has a steel but plate with a port you can open and remove a cleaning rod. it is a 6.5 mm
Just restored my gradfathers ww2 bring back type 38 arisaka. Shoots really great although ammo is a little expensive. It still has the mum and dust cover. Had to order the safety knob which was really hard to find and replaced the springs. You're right about the wood butt plate, it is only on last ditch models. Cool rifle thanks for sharing.
My thinking on the exposed cartridge base in some actions is that no matter if you fill a magnum case with pistol powder you and your rifle will survive because the case ruptured and pressure escapes. I love the channel by the way. I share many of the same thoughts and views , keep up the good work .
Got a Type 38 carbine, unfortunately can’t buy 6.5x50 Arisaka rounds in Canada. Then got a Type 99 re-barreled 30-06, shoot very well, love them. Thank you!
That’s what I really like. Someone put a lot of love in that rifle. I would dearly love to have a beautiful custom Japanese rifle like that. Whenever I find a military rifle customized to that quality, I buy it. The first rifle I took deer hunting was a sported 6.5mm Arasaka. It still is a great deer rifle and cartridge. During WWII, Japan actually had steel jacketed bullets, especially their snipers. Another crazy fact was at the end of the war, Japan had wooden bullets. One of my mentors was Army Intelligence in China. He had a handful of those hard wood bullet cartridges and steel ones. Along with two Samurai swords taken from high ranking officers captured in China. He pair of their binoculars and other interesting items. Every Marine I spoke with told me the Japanese were fierce soldiers. With very few exceptions, they fought to the death. That brought back a lot of fond memories. Very nice.
I had the privilege of speaking with vets as well; now gone to a better place. The European theater was bad but what you write about was what I heard. Horrible. And those Pacific islands evidently were so brutal and the casualties so high - an alternative to losing countless men on those small islands had to be found....was found....and deployed ; and only those events far away brought about unconditional surrender. So I was told anyway.
I collect them in original configuration. They are very strong actions. That is a very nice sporter rifle. Somebody really did some good work on it. It looks really good.
Hi Tommy, You must know so much about Arisakas. One viewer wrote me about his Sako made Arisaka - amazing; I had no idea. I've come across the 6.5 cartridge in several countries (used by them)- which surprised me; I like the round a lot. Now I need a bolt for that 7.7. Thanks for writing.
The arisaka used semi-rem cartridge and the bolt face is fully support , however, the Mauser 98 not fully support the cartridge ? That is the reason why the arisaka could withstand more pressure than Mauser 98, springfield , enfield, etc.That is what I read in Hatcher's Notebook.
It’s a refinished sporterized type 38. With the mum it would be worth more money in all original configuration. Someone waisted a lot of time and money in that rifle.
Amazing isn't it - how much time and probably money, the maker invested. Of course, he probably thought of the military original as undesirable and not worth much at the time. How things change - but her, or she, could not have known.
It's like muscle cars in the early 80s at the time they were just old cars that got bad gas mileage. Many were junked. No one at the time knew what they would be worth later. Same way with surplus rifles, some you could buy for less than 20 bucks. Probably when that work was done you could buy Arisakas for almost nothing. What makes unmolested surplus rifles worth so much is most were sporterized one way or another. My father bought Lee Enfields sometimes for as little as 10 dollars then restock it remove most of the military hardware, cut the barrel to 22 inches and fit scope mounts. At that time getting .303 British ammo was as easy as finding 30-06. No one cared or worried about the history of the rifle.
Never Understood why they continue to give Arisaka credit for all of those early rifles , I understand he developed basically the model 30 and after that he went on to bigger and better things but all the other rifles from that point on were developed by Major Nambu ( type 38 and the 7.7 ). PS. So I refer to them as Nambu rifles 😊
As usual - your knowledge exceeds; sometime the names and credit credit given are way off. I had no idea about the Japanese mix up. Thanks for sending.
Hey there USOG, it seems you may have a Type 38 in a Type 99 last ditch stock. Type 38's should never have a wood butt plate. Also I think the magazine/trigger guard is from a Type 99 as well. The type 38 had a floor plate similar to the Mauser, where it drops clean out, not on a swivel. Also the floor plate catch lever resembles that of a Type 99. Just my two cents 😊 beautiful custom rifle though. To the folks who say it should have been left original, a lot of custom guns that we find today, weren't original when the "customizer" got a hold of them. I love to buy chopped up milsurps and finish the sporterization job.
Hi Dan - thanks for the detail - I guess I'll keep it for scavenging- interesting combination of parts. Good on you for buying the chopped one's - I do exactly the same thing. Cheers.
Another nice video by the MAN! I have always thought of this rifle as the redheaded stepchild of rifles. So ugly they had to dress it up with a flower! I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder though.
Hahahaha - your writing is sharp and right! I'll remember that one : "So ugly....flower!" hahaha - I'm still laughing. The safety is something else as well.
Strong I heard of one that was re chambered to 30-06 by a home gunsmith who lost interest and sold it. the new owner somehow chambered a load and fired it down the 6.5 barrel . Only result the gun kicked like a mule but held together.
I realize this was uploaded a year and a half ago, but have you considered restoring that type 38 carbine? They're pretty valuable in their original form. Looks like all you have of it is the action. Everything else looks like type 99 parts.
My grandfather brought back one from WW2. It has been in a crate under my dad's workbench for the last 40 years. Have any idea why the bolt won't close unless you hold down the magazine follower?
I used to collect Arisakas, but moved to a smaller place and had the big auction (Over 200 rifles). The 6.5 is actually a semi-rimmed cartridge--it headspaces off the shoulder. There is a cut out for the extractor in the barrel's chamber area. Be very careful mixing parts. The bolt bodies LOOK about the same between the 6.5 and 7.7, but do not interchange. Your carbine is a parts gun. I don't know how the 7.7 trigger frame is attached because the length of the screw holes is way different. If you are going to sporterize a military rifle into a light mountain rifle, that is the one to use. I made two, a 6MM Remington and a 7x57 Mauser. I gave the 6MM to my Buddy's kid, but still have and use the 7x57. I left them looking military except for the scope and bent bolt handle. Everything I could make safely from aluminum and titanium I machined, right down to the screws for the sling swivel assembly(Also aluminum). It is like walking around with a toothpick all day. Arisakas are the only military rifle that can be safely lightened up to that extent. I have no problem with the standard safety just using my thumb. It is extremely fast when you get used to it. I think a lot of the safety issues people have is from mismatched rifles. Good video. You need more Arisakas!
What a great and useful comment. Thank you for taking the time. I like the Arisaka and your description of a light rifle based on one is a very appealing idea. I would buy more but they just don't show up often.
@@UnitedStatesOfGuns Yes, I guess times have changed. People used to just give them to me. I did not really see an interest in them until about 20-25 years ago.
Dear Sir, would you someday do a review about ATA turqua rifles? I know they are budget cheap stuff but theyre suppsed to fire sub MOA and it would be interesting to have your opinion about these turquish made weapons coming in two calibers only 243 & 308 regards
ive got a t38 barreled action that im tempted to fit a bolt to and have the chamber re cut to 6.5 creedmore.then ide find a hunk of wood and carve out a stock maby a half target half scout shape to it with a wide fore end & places to mount things and stuff. lol ive seen a 458lott built on a t99 action and a couple big bore m1917 conversions that wer way cooler than most other mill surp lol. maby i should go bigger and get creative? btw wen you said i buy barrels wen i see them, i laughed and thought ahh this guy gets me! thx for the information! ide love to see a breakdown on the strongest actions compared simply because no ones done it yet! i looked lol
I collect Arisakas. The other rifle is a Type 38 carbine shoved into a late war Type 99 stock. It's missing the upper tang because it wasn't designed to have a different tang and stock. You can also clearly see how the barrel doesn't even fit inside of the barrel channel. It looks crude and nasty because of what bubba did.
Hello Powder, Thank you very much for this informed info. I had no idea. I like the 6.5 Japanese round and keep looking for parts/examples. Your messages helps!
I agree with you on 6.5. It's a nice shooting cartridge. It's always best to buy guns that are complete and not try to piece together a gun from parts. The original ones hold their value, while parts guns remain just that. Btw, the splice in Arisaka stocks wasn't to conserve wood, but to strengthen the stock. You can find lots of stocks with the toe of the butt split or broken off because the rifle was dropped on the toe and the grain is short. If you look at the grain of the wood of the splice you will see that it's diagonal and points toward the toe.
There were lots of different weapons here pre- during and after 1914-18. Most Japanese rifles and carbines were left here by Imperial Russian army and navy. Finnish Whites and Reds used a vast array of weapons during our War of Independence (1918). Whites won and had to decide how to arm the new Finnish army. The choise was obvious - Mosin-Nagant and later its Finnish versions. Arisakas and other types of rifles were then given to Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta) but coming to the 1930`s it too was armed with its own Mosin-Nagant -versions. So most of the other rifle-types were sold offshore but few remained and those were mostly converted or sportrized as huntingrifles. Not bubbaed for most of the conversions were made by gunfactories like Sako, Tikka and VKT/VMT/Valmet.
Reciver is marked with a chrysanthemum (inside it Koishikawa Arsenal symbol) and Type 38 (1905) with Japanese letters. On the side is serialnumber and another Koishikawa Arsenal symbol. Barrel is SAKO .243 serialnumber and Finnish lionhead-proofmark. Bolthandle is bent and the stock has been sporterizied from the original. It has both diopter- and more traditional Sako ironsights as well. Has been used (as far as I know from the previous owner) as biathlon- and smallgame-huntingrifle. During the 1950`s all of our gunfactories and gunsmiths modified old militaryrifles to fit the need of its user, Better ones are real gems and good rifles for use but the badly made ones are only good as spareparts. Nowdays these are cheap here in Finland - I paid 50 euros for thisone.
Magnificent stock and metal work on the Arisaka. And a new custom barrel. Below is a table of results (from 1966) where PO Ackley rechambered various military actions of the world to the powerful 270 Ackley Magnum and then tried to blow them up with overloads. The Type 38's surprisingly came out on top. However, I doubt they would be any stronger, or even as strong, as modern bolt actions, such as the Weatherby Mark V, Winchester Model 70, Remington 700 or Ruger Model 77. Interestingly, an old Hornady reloading manual I had notes that deliberate overloads which wrecked a Mauser Model 98 didn't even faze the Weatherby Mark action. www.google.com/search?q=PO+ackly+action+strengths&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b
Very interesting Will. I've completed some testing, but nothing scientific. Bearing surface and shear area of the bolt lugs are important for sure. For other readers - bearing area is the area of the back of the lugs toward the shooter that make contact with receiver area (or barrel area on actions where the bolt locks into the barrel) when locked; shear area is the size of the lug as measured from the side - how much has to break off in order for the bolt to be smooth. Bearing area is tricky - a bolt can have one or two or 9 or twelve lugs; how many of those lugs make contact with the locking surface is another question. The greater the number of lugs, the more difficult it is to make sure every lug actually contacts the action. One and two lug actions tend to have massive lugs and some people test contact with blacking (carbon from a candle or kerosene lantern will do) or white out. If the lugs, one two or 10 make contact then the action is strong if the bolt and receiver are made of proper steel and are hardened. The Arisaka is an interestingly strong action and I'll have to examine the few I have and compare them to my modern rifles. Thanks for writing - makes me think.
Yes, there is something to what you say. I've owned a number of Weatherby Mark V's that I had repairs done to. (Mostly cracked stocks - in the recoil lug(s) area.) Gunsmiths told me that they seldom make contact on all 9 lugs. Kind of scary, but I used to load them up to exceed Weatherby advertised velocities and never had a problem with the actions themselves. However, all of them, even with their longer free bores, were all reasonably accurate - but not precise enough for competitive shooting. To test that variable, I had a number of other 2 lug guns like Sako AV, Ruger Model 77 and Remington 700, custom barrelled for the Weatherby calibers. While they were a bit more accurate, it wasn't by much since they still retained the standard Weatherby freebores for handloading safety. The best of them was a Shilen barreled Remington 700 in 270 Weatherby Mag which delivered consistent .6 moa for 130 Nosler Partitions and 1.0 moa for 150 grain Nosler Partitions. Nothing great, but fairly decent for sloppy SAAMI spec. chambers. On the other hand, not that much better than than Mark V's in 7 mm, 300, 340 and 378 that were all between 1.1 to 1.4 moa. Plus these guns all had walnut stocks, as I hated fiberglass, so that was another factor that made high accuracy difficult. I didn't cry when they split or cracked, but my eyes did get a little moist.
Great writing Will - you are definitely determined! The .270 Wea. with the Shilen barrel delivered awesome results. I like the line about the moist eyes...I know what you mean : ) As for those MarkVs - yes - great actions - one thing I forgot to mention - if one considers the mass of the action, relative to the protrusion of the lugs - it has been noted by many that there is a lot of steel there - doing very little. Just a thought. I'm still in the choir.
Thank you very very much I am great lover of Russian made shotgun, hand guns etc. Because they make strong and affordable gun. Please review their Sami auto shotgun baikal MP 155 hunting version Thanks in adv.
USOG no your not, your great 👍 keep the vids coming Would you recommend a pre-64 model 70 or for a much cheaper price go with the new production classic version?
Very informative video and crisp camera work but my god it is an ugly piece. My biggest pet peeve is when people take old milsurp rifles and sporterize them. It ruins the historical aspect of the gun and makes them only worth what someone is willing to pay which on most sporterized guns is nothing. I understand most GIs coming back from the war got into hunting and instead of spending $100-150 on a hunting rifle of the time they decided to cut down the bring back rifle that’s been in there closet for the past 15 years since the war ended. I’m sorry but it hurts to see it like that. Especially being a a MUM gun. Only about 25% of them survived and I can imagine how many got ruined by being sporterized
So true Mitchell - the history in them is compromised; I try to see the effort and care that some of the sproterized military rifles hold. There are hack saw wonders for sure and then there are the sporters that speak to the soldier - returning home with a war rifle. Maybe he could not say what happened in battle - to him, his friends - what he did and what he left undone - and he didn't want to sit in a tree stand with the battle rifle exactly - so he modified the rifle and could reflect on things only he could know - with the same gun. So I was told by a few men.
Hi Gonzo Price - It is so interesting to see how much money and effort people put into things; from cars and trucks to guns, houses and even people - according to the vision they have.
