Today I stumbled across an Arisaka for sale in a rural gun shop. Had a good look and I’ve identified it as a carbine used by the Siamese police in the 40s.
The rifle is in good working order and the bore is bright with clear rifling. However, the stock has been cracked and repaired in the past, seemingly by someone who knew what they were doing. Timber dowel has been used for the repair, then sanded and blended in.
Some questions. Firstly, what is 7.7 Jap like to shoot and how easy is it to get reloading components for?
Secondly, what would be a fair price? I’ve never seen one of these for sale and i like weird random guns, especially from countries which no longer exist. I’ve told myself to stop but I’m not sure this is something that is likely to come around too often.
The stocks on the Arisaka’s are made of two pieces of wood, it may not have been cracked.
No idea what a fair price would be, sorry, but you should definitely buy it. Brass is available, as is PPU ammo. Brass can also be made from 30-06 pretty easily.
Pills are the same as for a .303.
It’s one of my favorite rifles to shoot, I load mine with AR2206h.
That depends on what that someone knows, how to repair wood or how to repair stocks (i.e. which way recoil travels).
If it’s in fact a carbine, do you research, but if it is, you get dressed, get in the car and you go… Now… And get it You wake the shop guy up and you go, hello good Sir! I would like to buy your goods, now. Do some research though, especially on the length - if it is in fact a carbine and not some chop chop job.
Yeah that’s what my research is showing too. I need to go back and have another look tomorrow and confirm the calibre. They say it’s 7.7 but my research seems to indicate they were all 6.5.
There’s an easy way to check - take a .303 Snap Cap with you; if it chambers (pretty much at all) then it’s a 7.7mm Arisaka (the round is basically “.303 Rimless”); if it doesn’t go in, it’s a 6.5mm Arisaka.
Just to make like confusing apparently some of the Siamese/Thai Arisakas were also made in 8x50R, although many of those ended up getting converted to .45/70 after the war.
I am pretty sure it’s counted as ammo, getting it into Australia, you’d need to fill in forms… But sending it out of US is a whole different game, most won’t do it. Bertram Brass would be your best bet.
For any interested, I’ve decided not to get it. It is indeed 6.5 Jap. They wanted $275 and would not move on price. I just couldn’t justify it for a gun I’d never use and is basically a state sporterised Arisaka.
So I went back this morning and bought the damn thing. They took $25 off it in the end. Got it for $250. Will need to do more research on it but it seems like only between 1200 and 2500 of this police carbine were produced in the late 40s so that’s pretty awesome.
Pics when I collect it. Apparently the LRD has got PTAs down to 24 hours which is excellent.
You wake the shop guy up and you go, hello good Sir! I would like to buy your goods, now. Do some research though, especially on the length - if it is in fact a carbine and not some chop chop job.
