They aren't perfect, of course but I've really taken a shine to the one we have. Problems reported with the Arisakas involve highly variable accuracy which seems to be a component of bore/groove depth variations. Also the late-war production is terrible in roughness, actually ruining the feel and operation characteristics of the gun. And of course the cast steel trainer rifles should not be shot for safety reasons.

Col John George in SHOTS FIRED IN ANGER" and Roy Dunlap in ORDINANCE WENT UP FRONT did good writeups on the service use of the Jap rifles and George even carried one on Guadalcanal for a time!

The 6.5's are so easy to shoot like the 6.5 Mannlicher-Schoenauer and -Carcano rounds but even more so as they have a smaller capacity and in the big Type 38 you hardy know when the thing goes off! No muzzle flash either which led to the false belief the Japs had cooked up a truly flashless powder which was debnked during the war. Turns out it was only a factor of the small powder capacity and the L-O-N-G barrel.

I cooked up a method to make brass from 8x57 cases and tho it works it's a pain and thankfully we have Prvi brass which has held up well.

Ours is a peach. Very accurate and I actually shot a ground squirrel with it at 60 yards!

Here is a group shot for an ARFCOM Challenge. 100 meters/109 yards, 15 shots in 3 minutes including reloads, sitting position, elbows rested on knees, no sling, no other support. 5.436 center to center for a 4.75 MOA group. Actually beat out most of the AR's and other modern rifles!