Name this rifle...?

[TMB 1]

You have just described the NORMAL operation of a cock-on-close action.
It does not sound like anything is wrong with your friend's Arisaka.
Have someone check the headspace and it's probably fine.
He just needs to learn how to operate the gun.
It's not like a modern gun which cocks-on-opening.

^This^

and FYI I believe sarah is a name of Hebrew descent meaning princess...
(and that ain't no princess.)

It's a Geisha.

[sealocan]

I think some of you guys are missing the words "back end of the bolt"

"The bolt won't seat all the way forward into battery unless you push the back end of the bolt in while pushing forward/pulling down on the lever"

I will defer to your knowledge through, because I'm not an expert but I would believe most bolt action rifles, whether they are cock on opening or cock on closing, would NOT need you to reach out and press on the back end of your bolt just to cycle and close the action.

(but maybe I'm getting this all wrong I've drank a lot of cough syrup tomorrow.)
;-)

will "haza12d" (the original poster) please explain what he /his friend means a little more.

[kendog4570]

Assuming it's still in the original Jap caliber, what are you going to check the headspace with??

Regarding the bolt issue, it sounds like bubba worked over the trigger pretty well, too.

[kendog4570]

Well I did some checking on my own post, and I stand corrected. A little. PTG does sell 7.7 Jap gauges, but there are no standards for it, so it is a little bit of winging it on their part.

[ar15barrels]

PTG does sell 7.7 Jap gauges, but there are no standards for it, so it is a little bit of winging it on their part.

I always wondered why I have never seen headspace gauges for 7.7 from forester/clymer/manson.

[BrocLuno]

Definitely an Arisaka. Safety looks like a Type 38, but both Type 38 and early Type 99 used knurled safeties like that. A few more pictures of the firing pin would help as there are slots on the 38 that are not on a stock 99... But, they can be interchanged as long as the safety goes with the pin. So could be a morfadite.

Someone put some effort into that "sporterization". Do you have a drill set? If so put the shank end of some drills into the muzzle and see what comes closest? Close to 1/4" is 6.5mm. Closer to 5/16 is 7.7 and therefore a Type 99.

As far as what round it was/is - that can be a good question. Many of the 6.5's were chamber reamed to 257Roberts as that ammo was more readily available in the old days when Dad was hunting. Some of the 99's were reamed to 30-06, but usually shoot poorly because the barrel was made for 303Brit sized bullets (312, not 308) so they are sloppy and don't group well.

I'd take it to a gunsmith and see if it will chamber either a 257 or an 06 before I did anything else. If neither will go, it may be original caliber

As far as the safety/trigger/bolt closing - Timney still makes adjustable triggers for these (either 38 or 99). IIRC, the #312 trigger is for the Type 38 action. The #313 trigger is for the Type 99 action.

If the barrel is not shot out, it's a good family heirloom and worth getting squared away. There are plenty of used barrels on eBay, so if it is shot out, you can rebarrel as that looks like a std Arisaka countour. So a new used barrel would be mostly a drop-in.

If I had the rifle handed down to me, I'd get it running right and have fun