Last weekend I bought a sporterized Arisaka at a gun show. Shiny clean bore and very nice bluing but no idea of caliber or type I rolled the dice and negotiated him down to $100. As far as markings, on the underside of the barrel is stamped a 7 and then the typical serial number with arsenal markings and that is it. After much conjecture and supposin I did a chamber cast and to my surprise it measures out exactly like a 7X57 mauser!!! With the chrysanthemum (flower) and the typical type markings on the front bridge missing (there is no trace of either) I would like to identify the action type. The serial # identifies it as the 5th series of 5 digits nubers at the Nagoya Arsenal 1923-1945. The grooves for the dust cover are there so I am guessing it is a military action. The bolt handle has been replaced with a nice aftermarket sporter. Type 38 or 99?? Was there a difference in action lentgh? I have a type 38 that I have compared it to and the only difference I can see is the shape of the action tang.

Thanks.

If your chamber measures out exactly like a 7x57 mauser I'd say you have a 6.5 Type 38 action that had the easy to do 6.5x257 conversion, that is running a 257 Roberts chamber reamer in it.

Easy way to tell difference between type 38 or type 99 action is to check number of gas vent holes on top of receiver....one has two holes, other only one.

If you reload for the 257R or 7x57 mauser and the 6.5x55 Swede, you can easily make the 6.5x257R ammo. Just, neck size 257R or 7x57 brass using the FL 6.5x55 Swede die. Just back off on the 6.5 die when neck sizing with it. Use the 6.5x55 bullet seater for seating bullet in it.

.....that in addition to 6.5's had a mud and water drain notch in the stock on the right hand side near the front receiver ring, and all milled parts like the trigger guard and bands, etc. They were better made.

It is chambered in 7X57 mauser and the bore is .284". The stock is an aftermarket sporter stock. There are two gas vent holes in the receiver and my other type 38 has the same vent hole patern so I will go with the type 38. I don't handload the 7X57 but I will be very soon. Thanks for your help.

Oh, one more thing...... it has a timney trigger. How long has it been since timney made Arisaka triggers?

And one more thing..... timney is making the Arisaka trigger again!!!!

http://timneytriggers.com/inde...ew=wrapper&Itemid=18

Now that is cool, a 7x57 Arisaki. I wouldn't mind having that myself.

From your comment you have a military barrel in 7mm ("As far as markings, on the underside of the barrel is stamped a 7 and then the typical serial number with arsenal markings and that is it.")

It also sounds like you have a Type 38.

Apparently Mexico ordered somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 7x57 Type 38 rifles in 1910, of which 5000 were delivered before the the order was cancelled after the overthrow of the Diaz government in 1911. The remainder of the order is said to have been sold to Russia between 1914 - 15 (See "Rifles of the World" page 71)

The military bores were either 6.5mm or 7.7mm. the 7,7 was actually a .312" and fires the same bullet as the .303 brittish and the case was much closer in size to the .30-06 case though a tad bit smaller it was considerably larger than the 7X57 case.. I have not yet heard of a .284" japanese military rifle built on the type 38 action, but that ia not to say they do not exist..

Now that is interesting. However the serial # on the action reflects a manufacture date sometime after 1923 so I don't know how that figures into that information. I don't know who they supplied rifles to during the pre-war period but it's possible that some south american countries contracted to have rifles made.

I have one of the mexican arisakas. Had a devil of a time when I first bought it, trying to figure out what I had, until some one on here told me about the mexican "connection". It is the best shooting 7x57 I have ever owned, and the only one I have currently. I will try to get soem pics posted

pretty simple the reciever has the word 'type" 44 , 38 or 99 stamped on top of the reciever in plain sight but its written in japanese

heres a clue three parralel lines mean 3 the other symbol would be 8 for type 38 this is the 6.5
two side by side symbols that look identical would be 99 the 7.7
unless you have the 6.5 carbine which is type 44
which has two side by side symbols for 4
altogether there are 3 symbols together one means type the other two are numbers

just googled japanese numbers and it worked

i guess i didnt read the part where they were ground off