Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Arisakas?

I have acquired 2 Arisaka rifles. 1 in 6.5 and 1 in 7.7. Looking to use them as donors in the future. I am not sure what will and will not work with these and am looking for input. Both of them are in good serviceable condition except the stocks. Any input would be appreciated. Also if you know of a good smith in western Colorado that you would recommend for doing the work would be welcome as well.

Arisakas can be customized but they are not high in popularity
for doing so. They are also hard to resell if you decide you
dont want them anymore. I currently own a custom 6.5 carbine
that someone else sunk alot of money into at one time. I
picked up a Timney trigger with side safety from one of the
guys here, but I havent installed it yet.

Strong actions, but not very popular. Gunsmithing and finding parts can be expensive. Most folks see them as a bit clunky compared to a Mauser or Springfield.

A few years back I saw a custom built 257WBY on an Arisaka
action.

A friend and hunting buddy uses a 7.7 in original dress except modified to take a scope. He is the kind of guy that would never read this thread. He sees guns and shovels as equal. A tool to do a job. Usually one shot and something is dead.

Jack

Thanks for the replies. I guess I was thinking about having the 6.5 turned into a 260 rem. It should be a simple rechamber and open the boltface as far as that goes. I have also seen sporter stocks for not to bad of price. I am just not sure what models I have or much about them.

Never handled a 7.7. I have 2 6.5's.
One 6.5 was made into a 6.5 Roberts with the orig mil barrel. 120's group 2.5", but 140's go into 5/8" @100 yds using Scot 4065 powder.
The second one I picked up as an action only w/ a magnum bolt face. At first I was gonna go 6.5 Rem Mag or 350 Rem mag, but have changed to 300 WSM. I'm still in the gathering parts phase and can't tell you that a WSM will feed easily.

The lock time is slow and good "hot rod" parts are limited, but they are strong actions. I use the safety between my ears and carry on an empty chamber until I get somewhere to sit. I took a 2x3 deer a few years ago w/ the Roberts 10 minutes after sitting down on a ridge. My barrel is chopped at 18.5".

Boyd's calls the 6.5 a model 25 and only offer in in walnut in the Ria Sportsman style. Richard's will make anything you want but the inletting is poor and will take an additional 5 hours to get it to where Boyd's is.
I'm shopping for wood too. If you come across a good site let me know.

Had a 7.7 and have to say I was impressed on the lack of recoil of it.
Often wondered if a contender bbl could be chambered in it as it would make a great youth cartridge....course maybe the weight of the rifle played a big part of the lack of recoil.
I don't know.
The day I bought mine I paid $20 for said rifle with beautiful custom rifle sights and $25 for a box of ammo....lol
One other thing I did was took a torch to the bolt handle and bent in downward in a more favorable position.
....kinda wish I never sold the crazy accurate thing.

According to my sierra manual the 7.7 is almost a dead ringer to the 303 british. Just barely edges the british by about 50 fps. so I don't know if there are 303 barrels for the contender or not but that would be real close.

Yep, and the 7.7 operates at between 42-47k pressure.

Saw a custom Arisaka in 243 today, not a bad looking rifle either.

I have two of the ugly things.....one in 6.5X257 Roberts and the other in 6.5X57 (there is a slight difference in cartridge dimensions) both are strikingly similar (there must have been a large supplier of aftermarket stocks after the war) in stock design and both shoot very well (130 grain Hornady interlocks)...do have timney triggers in both w/safety so I do not have to try and use the door knob! If it wer'nt for that door knob safety, they could be made to look like any other nice custom. That said I paid very little for both and they are my "loaner" guns when a kid wants to try hunting - they have taken a few deer and they did the job! Utilitarian comes to mind when I think of Arisakas - and there is nothing wrong with that!

PennDog