Robert357,
I stumbled upon an Arisaka M38 a couple of years ago. My old neigbor's family was making him get rid of all of his guns as he was approaching 90 and starting to lose his mental faculties. In a lucid moment he brought over the Arisaka and asked if I wanted to buy it. He wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it for what it was and use it. It was professionally sporterized and was reamed from 6.5x50 Jap to 6.5x55 Swede. It loved the old surplus swede ammo in the tan box, but that was not accepatable to hunt with as it was FMJ. It didn't like any factory ammo. Finally, I started to reload for it and now it shoots consistent 1" groups @ 100yds.
I keep it at the family ranch in TX and use it mainly as my Hog gun..its never let me down as long as I don't let it down. The last hog I took with it was 200lbs+ and it dropped in its tracks. I use 160gr SP bullets for the hogs, although I've used the 140gr as well.