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Old February 14, 2012, 11:55 AM   #1
doofus47
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Solutions for an Arisaka with warped wood?

Hey all, well, I bought that Arisaka in the LGS. The bore looked dark in the shop, but once I got it home, I saw that it was chromed, so it did clean up very quickly and nicely. I used a pull through 7.62 brass brush and bent it slightly so it would make contact as I pulled it through.

I did notice, though, that the wood no longer sits flush beneath the bolt release. Picture 1.

I CAN tighten up the guard screw behind the trigger loop and bring the wood back into the fold, BUT then the top of the rear guard screw pokes up into the safety channel for the bolt and interferes with operations. The top of the bolt head (when properly flush) is in picture 2.

The stock is the original stock for this series of Arisaka; the marks on it match the series stamp on the receiver. It didn't start off like this 70 years ago.

Soo, I am thinking of 2 solutions:
1. Buying some after-market replacement guard screws and cut down the rear screw so that I can tighten the rear guard until the wood is flush AND not interfere with the bolt action. Pros: pretty direct. Cons:fewer threads holding the tang.
2. Stacking up nylon washers under the bolt head to take some space out of the equation before tightening? Pros: no potential for thread damage/cross threading. Cons: don't know.

End result: more pull between the tang and the trigger guard to bring the wood and metal back together.

Question 1:
Opinions solicited: Is this a valid solution ? Is there another method of re-seating the action into the wood?

I'm more of a user than a collector, so I would like to take this out and fire it. My theory of recoil is that it's better that everything be tight, so I'd like to bring the wood and metal back together before I jolt it.

If anyone's heard of a bad result coming from overtightening these screws or have some other caveat I am all ears.

thanks
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Old February 14, 2012, 02:00 PM   #2
James K
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I wouldn't do any of the above. I would get a couple of sawhorses, old chairs or something like that, put the stock upside down between them (use pads), weight it with something and steam it. Keep adding weight until the stock comes past straight. Let the stock dry out for a week or so before removing the weights; you can apply some heat. Grease/oil the barrelled action before putting it back in the stock just in case the stock still has moisture in it.

Jim
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Old February 15, 2012, 12:05 AM   #3
jimmy lowboy
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Before doing anything,check the relationships between the bottom metal, the mag box,the guard screw ferrule,and the wood. The screw may be a replacement,and too long, or there might be some crush in the pretty soft issue wood they used.It might be easier to shim the bottom tang a little. When correctly fitted the receiver and the top tang should nest snugly together.The mag box should be held in place, but not pinched tight . The 99 is the first rifle that I loaded for with my lee loader kit. Good luck in correcting whatever is causing the problem.
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Old February 15, 2012, 09:02 AM   #4
Gunplummer
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Check where the screws go through the stock. There should be 3 sleeves around the 3 screws. Check the magazine box for alignment like the others said. I collected and had way over a hundred at one time and the only "warped" stocks I ever encountered were Chinese after war production and Chinese after- market production. They were production guns and sometimes a little hand fitting is required if parts got mixed.
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Old February 15, 2012, 05:07 PM   #5
doofus47
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thanks for the help and suggestions.
"Warped" might be a little strong and a lot erroneous. There is a gap between the wood under the bolt release and the metal spike at the bottom of the release. It might be normal shrinkage; it might be compressed soft wood, although it's not spongy like my Hakim stock was spongy was in oily spots. There is no left/right nor up/down yaw in the stock itself. It's pretty beat up, but it's not in bad structural shape.

I have ordered a set of replacement guard bolts from numrich. When those arrive, I will compare the lengths of the new/old bolts and the lengths of the bolt sleeves.

Is it possible I switched the bolt from the front of the trigger guard near the nose of the magazine well with the rear trigger guard bolt? Maybe I picked them up in the wrong order when I re-assembled after I cleaned it? I'll check out that possibility tonight. It might be that the guard bolt was replaced, but to my amateur eyes it doesn't appear that this rifle was ever taken apart.

I will check the fit of the wood/metal. Shimming might be the easiest and most correct answer.

I guess that if push comes to shove, I could also think that I can take the replacement bolt to my BiL and ask him to cut more threads into the replacement to replace those I would take off the top. I like the shim idea.

Hey Jimmy lowboy, what was the cost of entry into the reloading game? Between .40 S&W and now Arisaka 7.7, I might have reached the financial tipping point to make reloading affordable.
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Old February 15, 2012, 09:09 PM   #6
jimmy lowboy
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Arisaka

Hello Doofus47.Please excuse my bad typing form. I took typing in 1967,and have not used it much since then. My lee loader was about $15 or so in the late seventies. This is the mallet and dipper kit. Mine has the plastic one size primer seater. The purchase of a deluxe turret press from lee, and some $15 used rcbs dies for the 7.7 really speeded up making ammo. The first cases I made were from '06 brass resized with a chamfered sleeve in a vice. I cut the necks with a tubing cutter, and pushed the shoulder back untill they would just chamber.

Sounds hilarious, when one pass in the fl die and trim is all I do now.

Best guess I have is to check midsouth, and others for best price on loading gear. Any single stage press and appropriate dies will get you shooting that 99.
I dont know if lee still makes their original loader in 7.7 jap anymore.
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Old February 28, 2012, 10:54 AM   #7
doofus47
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For what it's worth, a neoprene washer under the trigger guard did the trick.
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