Arisaka vs. Mosin-Nagant
I'm pretty new to the military collector thing, but have searched a lot on the web for these rifles, and picked up one of each recently; there certainly are beaucoups more M-Ns out there than Arisakas, and a really good-condition Arisaka is even harder to find (mum intact, bore/barrel/stock condition), but I lucked into a gem 38. Comparing it to my M-N 91/30 with sniper bolt & scope, the Arisaka shoots very well & smoothly, with light recoil that is fine for my 10-year old daughter to shoot. The Mosin is more like a cannon: loud, violent, with a much stronger recoil...but still a joy to shoot and pretty accurate (for my novice skill.) All that being said, it's tough to quantify the historic "cool" factor of the Arisaka, knowing about the development of Japanese martial culture, the attachment to the imperial family through the chrysanthemum (and the rarity of finding a non-defaced one), the decline in quality as the war progressed, and the bastardized bushido code of fanatacism...I really wish my Arisaka could speak. Ammo is relatively expensive (all I've found is Hornady 6.5mm and runs about 23$ a box for 20...but it's only money...so I say if you come across a good condition/good shooting Arisaka, grab it!