The pictures are very dark and hard to see the markings. Here is a link to look the markings you have up. The back end of the bolt will let us know what type due to the style of safety is ie a Palm turn, Finger groved turn or an early mauser wing type. Sights were redone on many so that is not a sure way of telling which one it is.
It is either a type 38 or type 99
Here is a great site that allows you to look for the markings to tell the who, what, when, where and how of an Arisaka. It is best to take a pencil rubbing of all markings and have them all on one page before you start looking as it can get really tiedious going back and forth from the gun to page.
http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html
Type 38 - 6.5mm x 50 Jap (some surplus dealers has some ammo but rarely)
Type 99 - 7.7mm x 58 Jap (avail from Hornady and can also be reloaded)
Later production rifles the metallurgy was really bad, so I would not shoot them no matter how soft a reload you make or what a gun smith says. Early model had some of the strongest bolt lock ups of many of the bolt rifles of the war, so shooting the earlys can honestly be fun.
As far as a restore, the best thing to do is just wipe down with some kroil (
http://www.kanolabs.com/) or use 00000 brass wool with kroil and get all the gunk and surface rust off of it. You can even take everything off and soak all the metal parts in Kroil. [COLOR="Red[B][U]"](DO NOT DISASSEMBLE THE BOLT UNTIL YOU TRULY KNOW HOW TO DO SO[/U][/B][/COLOR]). Use Kroil on all the metal, even the assembled pieces.
The wood, use some 000 wool and get a smooth surface and use some Birchwood Caseys stock oil. Truly nothing more is needed to restore them.
Any further work on them destroys their value (unless done by a professional historical restore gunsmith), the patina they have is worth more than the actuall rifle (what little value they are $50 to $300 depending on many factors such asCondition, the MUM on the receiver being ground off or not, what plant, what year, production quantities).
If it is a type 44 or the two concentric circles as shown in the chart, DO nothing to the rifle and have an historian look at it, as some of these can be very valuable in as is conditions. There was also a folding stocked paratroop model, but these are as rare as hens teeth.
Either get the head spacing gages from Brownells or take it into a very trust worthy gunsmith to check head space. chamber wear and the bore out to make sure physically it is safe to shoot.
If any of the areas are worn past a Go Gage ie a No Go fits, then do not get it fixed or restore, keep as is and DO Not Shoot it.
The main thing is though, match up the year and where it was made with the chart link (after late 1943 DO NOT FIRE IT) Prior to that if all else is OK, go ahead and shoot it til your hearts content.
If you are going to shoot it a lot, learn how to reload and either make the cases or buy them. The 6.5 ammunition is honestly hard to find in shootable condition and is best to learn how to make them and reload them. You do not need a fancy all out set up, a basic Lee or RCBS kit would do with some small extra gadgets for cutting and forming the cases from easy to get components.
6.5 mm Japanese or 6.5x50mm Japanese Arisaka. The cartridge was introduced by the Japanese military in 1897 and remained in service during World War II.
Surplus Ammo - Difficult to find.
Ballistics
Reloading Dies are made by RCBS and Lee Precision.
Reloading components can be found at Huntington's and Midway USA .
Brass - Norma Brass.
Cartridge Name 6.5x50mm Japanese Arisaka
Bullet Diameter .263
Case Neck Diameter .293
Case Shoulder Diamete .425
Case Base Diameter .455
Case Rim Diameter .471
Case Rim Thickness .045
Case Length 2.00
Overall Cartridge Length 2.98
Military Bullet Weight 139
Velocity 2500
7.7mm Japanese or 7.7x58mm Japanese Arisaka. The cartridge was adopted by the Japanese military in 1939 for the Model 99 Arisaka rifle as a replacement for the older 6.5mm cartridge, but both cartridges remained in service during World War II.
New Production Ammo can be found manufactured by Norma.
Surplus Ammo - Difficult to find.
Ballistics similar to British .303.
Reloading Dies are made by RCBS and Lee Precision.
Reloading components can be found at Huntington's and Midway USA .
Brass - Norma Brass.
Powder - IMR 4895 and IMR 3031 are good powders for this round.
Cartridge Name 7.7x58mm Japanese Arisaka
Bullet Diameter .313
Case Neck Diameter .338
Case Shoulder Diamete .429
Case Base Diameter .468
Case Rim Diameter .470
Case Rim Thickness .040
Case Length 2.09
Overall Cartridge Length 2.95
Military Bullet Weight 175
Velocity 2400
I shoot mine all the time and it is a type 38, fairly accurate. The Bolt works are weird though and take some getting used to if you are used to Mauser or similar types. The Jap rifle is a very short throw bolt on the radius (handle up and down) and in really good contion, a jap soldier could get off around 35 aimed shots a minute to include the loading into the rifle the enbloc clip.
Hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you neeed more help.
The Arisaka Gringo