Working on a jap type 38

Did some trading and got it tapped and bolt bent. Not the most comfy but it'll wotk. Looks pretty slick now. Havent had a range day yet. Too wet outside
 
Guffy is just miffed because the '03 Sprungfield was voted "The most likely to scar your face" rifle.
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Thank you fellow members for including me. I am the one that accused Springfield working with WWHUA, 'WORKING WHILE HEAD UP DONKEY'. They could not figure how to build the 30/40 Crag with 2 lugs so they built it with one and then decided it did not need two. They built 800,000 +rifles a few rifles and could not trace a failure to a single event, cause or person. And Hatcher said, he did not say or suggest someone should have a clue, the outside diameter of the 03 is the same outside diameter as the small ring Mauser, but, the small ring Mauser had a small diameter shank/barrel. The Springfield 03 has a large diameter shank. Meaning the 03 has a thinner front receiver than the Mauser small ring receiver.

Then there was the short buggy ride from Springfield down to New Haven. John Browning spent a lot of time at the patent office, there he found nickel steel. He refused to release the Model 94 Winchester in 1894 because of smokeless powder. He added nickel steel to some parts of the M94. The Model 94 was released for sale in 1895.

The model P1914 and M 1917 were built with nickel steel. Springfield did not discover nickel steel until the 1920s.

I have Japanese rifles. I should say most of them became receivers as in actions with bolts and parts. There is something no one talks about when making observations about the receivers. A conditioned response on the Internet is "Strongest receiver in the world", in the real world I always respond with: "Forget the receiver, give me the cases that did not blow up because the cases that did not blow up have to be the strongest cases in the world".

F. Guffey
 
I have never used a carbide drill to drill scope base holes in an Arisaka receiver. The receiver is not case hardened, it is medium hard all the way through. You do not need a carbide drill to "Spot" through an outer case hardened shell. Patience is needed in both the drilling and tapping when you work with hardened steels. You need to slow down a little. "High Speed Steel" does not mean run the drill as fast as you can. There are other rifles that I believe are made of the same material and heat treated to about the same level. Exceptionally strong does not mean exceptionally hard.
 
If it was full military then I wouldnt touch it
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Why would that be? I have been following this thread because I just happen to own one of those flower and all in excellent military condition came down from a tree with a five round clip on Bouganville,the Solomons.
Granted I am not a rifle guy but it don't look to me like a particularly ingenious
or exceptional firearm just a military weapon this is why I wondered why you would not touch it, as far as can tell it has little intrinsec value.
 
I always liked the Arisaka not because of its supposed strength, but because of its ingenious safety system and the resulting simplicity of its bolt. Its bolt has the fewest parts of any bolt in the world and is the easiest to disassemble for cleaning. The safety is perhaps the easiest to work, also.

Jim
 
Finally, people that have actually used them to hunt with. I have used all kinds of military bolt actions to hunt with and it is the lightest, easiest rifle to put a scope on and still use the original safety. The only exception I see is the French MAS 36. Ariasaka safeties are really quick to use once you get used to them. I still take other guns into the woods, but my Arisakas are my "Go to" rifles.
 
The MAS 36 doesn't have a safety, unless it is one of those put on by the importer. I should have said that the Arisaka has the simplest bolt in the world that includes a safety.

Jim
 
Can't get easier than none! I actually did see a guy with one during deer season once, and the bolt was closed. I dunno, maybe there was none in the chamber. The Carcano isn't too bad, but it sucks to mount the scope.
 
simplicity of its bolt.
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I have heard that, then there the bolts I have seen that were locked up, and I have asked 'How did you do this?' More times than not the answer was always "I was told the bolts were simple".

F. Guffey
 
Some people were not cut out to mess with guns. I got stuck working a live fire for a float that was in. The Sailors had to qualify with rifles and m-60's. We just started and a hand went up on a '60 team. I could not believe my eyes. They had put the bolt on the operating rod backwards and it had chambered a round. "Simple bolt" does not apply to some people. I cannot remember how many people that brought me guns that "They never had it apart, but it quit working". The screws were boogered up, springs in upside down, vise scars on the gun and who knows what else. That is just the way some people are.
 
I've heard many tales, too, and if they don't claim that it just quit, it is that their brother, cousin, or neighbor worked on it, when you know it was the owner.:rolleyes:
 
When I began working as a gunsmith, I was amazed at the level of intelligence and mechanical aptitude of the kids in this area. Just about every day, some guy would come in with a cigar box or a paper bag of gun parts, saying that his kid had taken the gun apart and couldn't get it back together.

Now, it didn't surprise me that five- or six-year old boys couldn't re-assemble those guns; but I really was astonished that they managed to get Lugers, S&W breaktops, and Iver Johnsons apart in the first place. Really smart kids!

Jim
 
Maybe some folks have a problem with the Arisaka bolt, but I don't know of any other one that includes the safety and can be dis- and re-assembled (except for the extractor) with the hands alone. Even the Mauser bolts require something to capture the firing pin, whether a workbench or a part of the rifle.

Jim
 
Scope on a 38 sporter

I just got my Arisaka back from the gunsmith. I put a side mounted Williams scope mount and a Simmons 44 Mag scope on it. I had to find all the parts required because i could not find a local gunsmith that wanted to do it.It looks great can't wait to try it out.I had him mount it forward of the safety so i could still use the original, that is the only thing not changed on it. Who ever did the conversion did a great job on everything. I will have some pictures soon.
 
I traded for a sporterized jap rifle that was a parts gun and it was drill and tapped and the bolt forged.

So it can be done.

PO Ackely never could blow up the jap action unlike the Mauser, SMLE , and Springfield. According to the story at gunsmith school.
 
Who here has done the 6.5x57 conversion? How did it feed? Extraction issues? Mag well issues? I'm starting to seriously consider it. The 6.5x50 chamber has a bad spot. Possibly where the reamer was tweaked a little sideways or something.

Wachtelhund, do you still have the reamer?
 
I still have a 6.5x55 I re-cut. I did open the bolt a little because the 6.5x55 head is larger. The 7x57 or .257R case head will be be OK. I had to open up the feed ramp because of the length of the 6.5x55. I used a Type 99 stock and magazine well. You can weld up the front stock screw hole in the stock sheet metal and move the position to re-drill for the T-38 receiver dimensions. Because you opened up the feed ramp and the magazine box on a T-99 is longer, you must cut a new locator slot under the receiver ring for the box. Seems like a lot to do, but unless you plan on shooting really short cartridges, it is the right way to go.

* What is a "Bad spot" in the chamber? The chambers are quite liberal in T-38s and civilian brass is usually on the low side of ammo specs. It is not unusual for brass to stretch a lot when fired.
 
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