Arisaka Type 99 Safety engaging

[Rosereader]

The safety knob on my Arisaka type 99 (just picked it up earlier today) is engaging whenever I manipulate the bolt. If I give it an anticlockwise turn after closing the bolt I can fire normally but it locks if I don't.

Furthermore if I give the trigger a squeeze the rifle will not fire as is normal- but if I touch the bolt the weapon will fire. I'm not loading it- and I won't until I figure this out. Does anybody know what would cause this? This isn't a late war substitute standard rifle.

[Condorguns]

Umm, someone correct me if I'm wrong it's been years since I worked on one, but this sounds backwards. I thought it was clockwise to fire and counter clockwise to engage.
Also have you cleaned the old packing grease out of it?

[Rosereader]

No packing grease on this one. The safety knob is canted to the left when I close the bolt, a counterclockwise turn sets it in line with the receiver. Which is the problem as if you squeeze the trigger nothing happens but if you life the bolt a couple of millimeters it fires. This is very... Alarming.

[knucklehead0202]

I'll pull out one of the 99s tonite and see if anything looks obvious to me. I have 2 early-mid war 99s.

[Rustybore]

Here is a YouTube video on the use of the safety on the type 99....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QcxseEPvJg

Rb.

[Rosereader]

It's not an issue of HOW to engage the safety it is an issue of the safety engaging every time I close the bolt! I just want to fire my rifle in a normal fashion.

[dc2allday]

Hey Rose didn't know you were in to Arisakas! I want pics! Pm James Has got plenty of em

[Sampachi]

Check to see if the safety or the firing pin matches the rifle. You might have an out of spec part from a different arsenal, or even a T38 part!

[knucklehead0202]

A t38 bolt will go in a 99 but not quite right, which is maybe what's happening here. Haven't had a chance to dig mine out but I do recall I stuck the wrong bolt in the wrong rifle once and it didn't work right. You might look into getting a complete bolt from somewhere and trying it out. They're available all over so pick your poison, Numrich, Liberty Tree, ebay, whatever, bolts are easy to find, perhaps not cheap but not bad compared to other things, like stocks.

[Rosereader]

So maybe a wrong bolt, or a mismatched firing pin or safety knob?

Good to know. I'm going to give Numrich a shout I think, after doing a bit of research.

[Sampachi]

Are the parts matching number? The safety, firing pin and bolt should all have the same matching 3 digit number.

[Rosereader]

Are the parts matching number? The safety, firing pin and bolt should all have the same matching 3 digit number.

The firing pin and bolt have the first two numbers identical. The firing pin has a 4 on it the bolt... Well, the third number is basically gone. Looks like rust took it from us before somebody cleaned and refinished everything...

[Sampachi]

And is the safety matched?

[sealocan]

Hey Rosereader, I think I have a Arisaka bolt somewhere I could sell to you, if it means getting an old rifle working again and if you're interested.
I don't really know much about those rifles but I could try and find it and send you some photos.
send me a PM if you're interested.

[6mmintl]

Sound to me like a mismatched safety/firing pin/bolt body.

I have run into this with putting together parts guns or repairing/restoring parts guns to shooters.

Some careful filing/fitting of safety knob internal cams/stop/knob should correct it.

If n bay area you could stop by and we could try and correct it.