My dad had an Arisaka 6.5 that he brought back from the Pacific and sporterized himself. From a very early age I handled that rifle and disassembled and reassembled it as often as my dad would allow. It is an ingenious design with very few parts to the bolt assembly and no tools required for disassembly/assembly. That early experience had a lot to do with my life-long fondness for guns of all types, and especially rifles. We never fired it until I got old enough to start deer hunting. My dad found some Norma ammo with 156gr bullets that was quite expensive and uncommon. Dad had a gunsmith install Williams sights. The barrel was quite worn and did not shoot well so I never did kill a deer with it. Today, that old rifle resides in my safe. Interestingly, the crysanthemum is not defaced on that rifle. I think I'll dig it out and fire a few rounds for old time's sake.
