Missing mag box in Arisaka rifles common?
I recently picked up a few Arisakas at auction, and the type 38 carbine and type 99 were missing their magazine boxes, (as well as the usual dust covers and monopods and aircraft wings) and I was wondering how common this is to find with these rifles, or if there is a specific manufacturer that made them tight fitting or difficult to reassemble if anyone knows that information offhand. I want to say they're both Nagoya arsenal rifles, and the type 38 carbine has numbers in red paint on the butt(if that's significant, I'll take pictures if it rings a bell or sounds like something a country's military would do). These are my first batch, might pick up a couple more if circumstances allow, although my safe space is dwindling even after upgrading, also I managed to find some 6.5 jap, but 7.7 is nowhere to be found all of a sudden, when months ago I seemed to find it at every gun store.
I've already dropped in the box for the 38 carbine, got it off cfnparts.com for cheap, and it fit perfectly, after I sent the order I went to inspect the type 99 and saw the same thing, which I did not expect, so I didn't end up ordering the box at the same time, but I'm gonna get it probably with my next batch of old parts from Numrich. Also, how did you old timers deal with this stuff before the internet?? Seems like hunting down some of these parts would have been a nightmare even for a gunsmith or somebody who dealt with that sort of thing regularly.
Last thing, waaaaayyyy back when I first started looking into getting an Arisaka, I kept reading that the rifles were susceptible to broken firing pins easily. Is that more of an issue with last ditch and schoolhouse rifles?
Appreciate your input, you guys are awesome.
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