ARISAKA 6.5 FIRING PIN

Question

On an Arisaka 6.5 that has been converted to .308, if a new firing pin is required, would an original firing pin (Arisaka 6.5) work or did the conversion to .308 require changes to the entire bolt assembly.

Answer

An original firing pin should work. It is hard to tell how much altering was done to your bolt but the firing pin-bolt face-extractor should all work without modifications that would require a new bolt. Get a new pin and make it work. That is what gunsmithing is all about; fitting new parts and correcting other people’s screw ups.

Reply:

Thanks Ken. As far as fixing other people’s screw ups, I couldn’t agree more. I’m certain my experience pales in comparison to yours, but of the close to 500 guns that I have worked on, at least half involved fixing something that somebody else had already “fixed.”