Wanting to buy an Arisaka

M

Mosin-Marauder

New member
I am really liking my Mosin. One of my favorite features is the straight bolt. I was thinking of getting an Arisaka sometime, which shares the same design, and I've hear the cartridges aren't all that different as well . But first I had some questions, how is the recoil? Secondly, where would I be able to get ammo for it? I've seem maybe 1 box of 7.7 Jap in the last two years (if that's even what it fires). Lastly, how expensive are they? Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
There were two Arisakas , 6.5 and 7.7 . Both are mild in recoil. The 6.5 certainly is fairly ugly but one of the strongest actions.
 
You can get one for as little as fifty bucks, or over five hundred if you want a pristine collectible. Around one or two hundred is the median. Some nice sporters can be had for not much more.

Recoil is recoil, not bad. Ammo is available, but reloading can get you best results from arguably the most accurate WWII rifle made.
 
Mosin-Marauder said:
I am really liking my Mosin. One of my favorite features is the straight bolt. I was thinking of getting an Arisaka sometime, which shares the same design, and I've hear the cartridges aren't all that different as well . But first I had some questions, how is the recoil? Secondly, where would I be able to get ammo for it? I've seem maybe 1 box of 7.7 Jap in the last two years (if that's even what it fires). Lastly, how expensive are they? Thanks for any help you can provide.
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Mosin and arisaka share the same design? Not even close. Arisaka is much refined.

If you like arisaka, you will need to reload, or the factory ammunition will cost you dearly, and they may not even work well.

I have one type 38 and two type 99. They shoot very well without too much tweaking. I also have mosin, which finally shoot as good after a lot of work.

-TL

-TL
 
They also have several Ariskas that where brought here and then converted over to 30-06.im not sure how safe or effective these are are as I'm not very familiar with the rifle but if your looking for just a shooter over a collected that might be the way to go
 
I have an Arisaka type 38 that has been sporterized and it's a great rifle and extremely accurate. I haven't ever seen a box of shells on the shelf for 6.5 or 7.7 but components are available for reloading them both and if for some reason you can't find 7.7 brass you can modify 30-06 brass. I'm actually looking to pick one up in the next few months and I doubt I will have any regrets.

The Arisaka has one of the simplest bolt dis-assemblies I have ever seen and make cleaning it easy.

Just a warning if you find one in 30-06 many have said that it throws off their accuracy.
 
6.5mm Jap for type 38 is supposed to use 0.264" bullet. But in reality most arisaka 38 have over sized bore. The bullet will come out tumbling if you shoot .264" bullet. Mine needs .268" bullets, which are difficult to find.

Brass for 7.7 can be made out of .30-60 brass. That's what I do, and it isn't difficult. The bullet is the same for .303 British, .311" or. 312". Most cheap conversions were done right after end of wwii by reaming the chamber to .30-06 dimensions, without rebarreling. Accuracy will certainly suffer as the bore is .003" to .004" too big. Never have tried that myself, but I suppose you can load a .30-06 cartridge with a .311" bullet. I don't like that idea really. If I fire that round in a regular .30-06 rifle by accident, I am dead.

-TL
 
Odd you should say that about the 6.5. Maybe others have said it but mine doesn't tumble at all with .264. I use hornady interlock 140 grain.

As tangolima said find a sure fire method to label converted ammo if you do it. I'm a fan of sharpies and use color coding to mark my primers but in the case of 7.7 in a 30-06 I would probably put a few lines down the brass so I could tell at a glance.
 
You have better luck than me, Blindstitich. I had keyholes left and right when I was using 0.264" bullets. I freaked out, thinking the barrel had been shot. Googled it and found that it was rather common for the type 38. Later I found some 0.268" for Carcano. They worked beautifully. I can easily shoot better than 2 MOA at 100 yards.

Apparently my luck with this rifle is not perfect. Other than the bore, it also has generous chamber, so much so that it is hard to resize the brass with Lee die. Later I found an old CH die that seems to have looser dimensions. I have been using that since. Oh, the POI was way too high, and I needed to modify the front sight to correct that. Well, it is an old rifle nobody wanted. I picked it up for about $120.

Although this rifle requires quite a bit of doing to work correctly, I surely enjoy doing it. It is very rewarding to see this old girl came back to life.

-TL
 
I hear you on the resizing. I use an RCBS die and the back end of the cases balloon out pretty good. The joys of a generous chamber.

I wish I could find some .264 round nose like these.
http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/6186

They look just like the Norma projectiles except they aren't silver in color.
65jap.jpg_thumbnail0.jpg
 
I had a type 38 carbine and own a type 99. The first was in 6.5x50 and the 99 is in 7.7x58. Not much recoil to either. Both are straight shooters. I think ammo is more available for the 99.
Until I bought a new savage 260, I used the 99 as my backup elk rifle. Solid and dependable. Do some research and buy one built before the shortages. Last ditch rifles might be collectible but they might suffer a bit in the quality and accuracy departments. And after all, why would anyone buy a rifle if it wasn't accurate or you couldn't trust it?
Happy shooting
 
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