Type 38 Arisaka

SA85M1

SA85M1

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Hi folks. ..scrounged up one of them to restore, and I really dont know a bloody thing about them.
The mum is intact, but has been marked by four zeros in a cross pattern- told it was used by Thailand maybe?
Believe her to be 6.5x50mm...does this ammo exist commercialy, or is she a handload only calibre..
She needs a few parts, so if you happen to have any..drop me a PM..

Cheers. .R...
 
I believe that the commercial ammo is labeled 6.5Jap, or 6.5 mm Jap. And as with any odd, or hard to find caliber, handloading is always a good idea.
And that is the extent of my knowledge of these rifles.
:cheers:
 
SA85M1 said:
Ammo can be found locally, I might look at reloading when I have enough brass rounded up..are they decent shooters. ?
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They shoot very well if their bores are in vg to exc condition. I have a carbine that has an excellent bore and if it were easy to purchase ammo for I would give it to my grandson as a light low recoil deer rifle. Not that he would appreciate it though. Even though the overall condition of the rifle is VG+ he has this thing about wood stocks. Plastic is king and laminates are acceptable. He isn't much into milsurps though so it would be a waste.

GunParts or Numerich has most parts that are needed to put an Arisaka back together. The only exception may be the stock.
 
If the mum has been marked by zeros then it isn't intact. That was another way they were defaced. My Type 38 has zeros as well.

As for ammo, Norma does produce it but rarely and it's roughly $50 for a box of 20 rounds. If you reload, I would recommend sourcing some brass. I've found it for $40 for 50 brass. The rest of the components are easy to find.

They can shoot remarkably well. My rifle is very accurate... it's a pleasure shoot.

What parts do you need? I'm guessing the dust cover is one of them. Can you post a picture of the rifle?
 
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Yup, Type 38's are 6.5 Jap ammo. It can be difficult to find but it is out there. Both from Hornady and Norma. I have purchased it anywhere from $33 a box to $45. I never seem to have much luck finding it at gun shows here in Ontario. Handloading is definitely the way to go. I have seen the brass listed on some of our sponsor sites.

It sounds like your mum was defaced, I believe the zero's do mean that the Thai army used them.

They are great shooters as along as you make adjustments for the 300m battlesights. The recoil is not much worse than a 22.

As for parts I have seen some on Ebay. If you are looking for things like slings and cleaning rods PM me as I have somewhere that might be interesting for you.
 
Awesome. .she needs an upper handguard, rear bbl band.. and a sling and cleaning rod..
BTW..what would be appropriate to use on the wood ?..I was surprised the stock's condition is really good..
 
SA85M1 said:
Awesome. .she needs an upper handguard, rear bbl band.. and a sling and cleaning rod..
BTW..what would be appropriate to use on the wood ?..I was surprised the stock's condition is really good..
Click to expand...
Try GunBroker.com. I believe I got some parts for my type 99 a few years ago. I think it came from Arizona. I had no problem getting the parts to me. Times may have changed so check it out first.
 
SA85M1 said:
Awesome. .she needs an upper handguard, rear bbl band.. and a sling and cleaning rod..
BTW..what would be appropriate to use on the wood ?..I was surprised the stock's condition is really good..
Click to expand...

You likely aren't going to find original slings and cleaning rods -- at least not for a penurious cost. For some reason cleaning rods are really hard to find.

You can pick up reproduction slings on eBay -- that's where I got mine -- and reproduction cleaning rods can be found on various web sites. There's a guy in Idaho named Don Schlickman with a superb collection of Japanese WWII militaria (and when I say superb, I mean it) who also makes reproduction parts for Japanese arms. He sold me a repro cleaning rod that fit and worked perfectly. You can find him at:

h ttp://members.shaw.ca/tju/donspartslist.htm

He could probably knock out the band if you can't find an original one. Can't help you with the handguard.
 
the japanese use URUSHI on the wood! its a type of lacquer... nothing like that up here in canada so .. check on U'S forum some collector have made their own mix of thing . but a original arisaka stock finish is imposible to reproduce with the same product the japanese factory use ....
 
I own 3 type 38's s and building a 4th. Replacing a really corroded barrel. The type 38 barrels are really hard to match up with the receiver. Finally found one that will work after 4 attempts. I also have 3 type 99's. You can find most parts on Ebay, or try GunBroker(if the guys will ship to Canada). 2 mums are intact and 1 has the 4 small zero's over it. I was told that it meant they were taken out military service.
For rounds, I load my own. TEC Tradex has the casings, lots of .264 projectiles out there as well as good reloading data.
The rifle are good shooters with little kick. Be careful buying a dust cover. There are a lot of repo's out there that need a little bit of work to make the action slide smoothly.
When I go to the range and bring the 3 type 38's and the 3 type 99's (2 mums intact with the monopod's, aircraft sites and dust covers, as well as one that the mum is ground off). Everybody stops and checks them out, as well I let everybody take a few shots if they want to.
Enjoy your new toy...
 
Cool !..this one is now in it's respective pile of parts..starting on repairing the stock...it's pretty solid, but the end of the forestock is damaged under the bbl band and will need some extensive work to repair...the wood is extreemly light, reminds me of Chinese chu wood..I did scrounge a bbl band, now to find the handguard...
 
Tradex is showing both Norma 6.5 Jap ammunition ($53.95 for 20 rounds) and brass ($85 for 100 from Prvi Partisan) in stock. The link for the ammunition has "out of stock" built into the URL (page doesn't say that though) but my local gunatorium told me yesterday that he's getting several boxes of Norma in so I think some limited supply has become available in Canada.

You can also find 6.5 Jap brass from Graf and Sons -- I have 150 cases from them and it seems like decent stuff.
 
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