Firearm Restoration: Reclaiming an Arisaka from Bubba.

[AFJuvat]

I originally posted this on another forum I am a member of. Reposting it here.

For Christmas 2015, my daughters' boyfriend, knowing I love old military firearms, gave me a Japanese Type 99 Arisaka he had picked up at a gun show.

Nagoya Arsenal (Tokyo), 3rd series (Early) which puts in sometime between August/September 1942. The mum was ground off, indicating that this rifle was surrendered, rather than a battlefield capture.



Unfortunately, "Bubba" had been at the rifle. The stock was cut down and a recoil pad added, the stock was also covered in a thick polyurethane. Sad, as the rest of the stock appears to be made from Katsura wood, was in great shape and had a good color to it.



Perhaps worst of all, the bolt handle had been heated, bent, and the round bolt knob hammered into a diamond shape and then final finished on a grinding wheel.

Applying that much heat can compromise the heat treatment of the bolt body. Between that, and the fact that it is not original, I will be replacing it.



There were other missing/incorrect parts - no dust cover, no anti-aircraft sights, late style barrel band (probably changed to go with the "sporterized" stock, which eliminated the monopod, etc.

On the plus side, as the Arisakas were the first military rifles to have chrome lined barrels, the barrel and action were in great shape. As a bonus, the remainder of the parts that had serial numbers matched the receiver.

It took some scrounging around, but I was able to find all of the correct parts that I needed by picking up a donor rifle that had all of the parts, but had been rechambered in 30-06, which destroyed the barrel.

It had a correct early Japanese Walnut stock. It looks a bit rougher than the original, but it isn't cracked, and "battle scars" do look good on a war rifle.

The stock was cleaned up using alcohol. Arisaka stocks were finished in a varnish made from a plant called "urushi", which is a derivative of the poison oak plant, stripping and sanding can be hazardous to your health.

Exposed wood under the metal was very dry, so I applied a few coats of raw linseed oil..



Many of the metal parts were beaten up/rusting, so into the ultrasonic cleaner they went for a deep clean, followed by a rust blue.



Post Ultrasonic bath + Denatured Alcohol soak.



Oil bath post rust bluing.



Over the odd 74 years, the threads in the receiver and bolts had gotten beaten up. Out come the taps and dies to chase and repair threads.