Being a nut and a hobbiest, I ordered a 6.5 Jap stock from Bishop (I think) or perhaps it was Fajen.....can't remember. When the stock came in, to my complete surprise, it didn't fit. Completely wrong. I called Bishop (I think) and they told me to send it back and send them the rifle along with it. When it came back I had a new blank stamped 6.5 Jap/Carcano.
Japanese and Italian????? It's still a mystery to me. The Japanese rifles of WWII were poorly made, but this was well made. Did the Italians make it for the Japanese? Or did the Japanese make it using Italian design? The original calibre was 6.5mm Japanese.
Anyway, I went to work on the new stock blank and soon had it finished. I cut the bolt handle off and welded on a new handle and curved it so I could mount a scope. I cut the barrel off to 18" and crowned it. Re-mounted the ramp sight (Christies had mounted the rear sight). I hunted with that rifle for several years, then found a chunk of wood that looked like great stock material. In the mid 1970's, I scrapped the Bishop (I think) stock and made the stock pictured here from that chunk of maple. I made the snobble and polished it and polished the magazine floor plate, polished the magazine follower. Added a trigger shoe.
This rifle has been through hell and back. My oldest son owns it now and between myself and him it has killed more than its share of deer and tin cans.
