Wonder What Happened?

A friend of mine brought me a Type 38 that he found in an old house he was rehabbing. He asked me if I could examine it and if possible, return it to shooting condition. It was in pretty bad shape. Initial examination revealed that the bolt was missing the safety knob, firing pin and firing pin spring. There was a lot of rust and weird stuff oozing out of different. A light down the barrel revealed a complete blockage of some type. I knew there would be a lot of work involved! Unfortunately, it got worse from here......

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Further examination revealed some serious cracks on both sides emanating from the trigger guard. Based on that alone, I recommended to my friend that the rifle not be restored to shooting condition. He then asked that it be cleaned and refurbished to a point that it could be a good looking wall-hanger....and it got worse....

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I started to work on the barrel blockage and after some serious probing, the debris started falling out. After it was cleaned, I could see that it had rifling. The bolt had both forward lugs so I knew this wasn't a converted training rifle....but then I removed the action/barrel from the stock....

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I'm not sure what happened here. Knowing that Arisaka bolt actions are some of the strongest made, I was quite surprised to see this. Now I wonder if maybe this incident also caused the cracks near the trigger guard? Would firing a round with blockage in the barrel have caused it (and thus the debris in the barrel)?

While the story didn't end the way the owner would have wanted it to with an operable WW2 rifle, he did end up with a pretty nice wall hanger! It took a week's worth of work, a whole lot of Hoppes solvent, Hoppes oil, RLO and CLP, not to mention a couple rolls of paper towels, but you can still enjoy the feel of this rifle when you put it to your shoulder.

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The cut in the bottom of the chamber looks to have been from a torch and then the slag ground off after. Final finish with a file or machine paper. The cracks in the small of the butt could just be from it being mistreated. Was the grease Vaseline?

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

The cut in the bottom of the chamber looks to have been from a torch and then the slag ground off after. Final finish with a file or machine paper. The cracks in the small of the butt could just be from it being mistreated. Was the grease Vaseline?

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That is just oil that I was using to soak into the rust to work it loose. I've never seen a torch cut so I would defer to you. It's too bad because the bolt number matches the number on the bottom of the barrel/receiver.

Are the cuts in the receiver or just the barrel/chamber area? Maybe a candidate for a new barrel so she can bark again?

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Originally Posted by J-ROD

Are the cuts in the receiver or just the barrel/chamber area? Maybe a candidate for a new barrel so she can bark again?

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That's a good suggestion, but it would be cheaper to find a fully functional rifle. Arisaka part prices are really high.

You’d be surprised on what a barrel costs...I’ve seen many go real cheap. Most people are looking for stocks, handguards, screws, bolts, etc...you can probably get a barrel (or barreled action) for under $100. If you have the ability to swap it yourself, it wouldn’t cost much.

Put out a WTB Type 38 barrel here or look on eBay, gunbroker, or go over to gunboards.com in the Japanese section. You’ll get one. [emoji1303]

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Originally Posted by J-ROD

You’d be surprised on what a barrel costs...I’ve seen many go real cheap. Most people are looking for stocks, handguards, screws, bolts, etc...you can probably get a barrel (or barreled action) for under $100. If you have the ability to swap it yourself, it wouldn’t cost much.

Put out a WTB Type 38 barrel here or look on eBay, gunbroker, or go over to gunboards.com in the Japanese section. You’ll get one. [emoji1303]

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That could work, only issue we would still need a stock. Cracks on both sides are pretty bad.

Well at least your mate got a nice looking wall hanger. You're right about better to be looking for a complete user. Once the barrel is changer, it's no longer a matching numbers gun. Then to have to find & replace the stock. Could just become a nightmare. Well done on the clean up.

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Originally Posted by Ausdoug68

Well at least your mate got a nice looking wall hanger. You're right about better to be looking for a complete user. Once the barrel is changer, it's no longer a matching numbers gun. Then to have to find & replace the stock. Could just become a nightmare. Well done on the clean up.

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Even when they are beat up and worn, they have a certain beauty to them.

Singer B, Well, The receiver looks to have a torch cut hole in it also. Looks like a scrap receiver to me. Nice wall hanger though. Salt Flat

So why would someone torch this gun? Was this a decommissioning act or??? Thanks for your responses so far.

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Originally Posted by Singer B

Was this a decommissioning act

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Without a doubt. Removing the bolt parts wasn't enough.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

Without a doubt. Removing the bolt parts wasn't enough.

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That makes complete sense, I'll pass that on to the owner. Thanks!