Variables not being updated with get and set [SOLVED]

So i have a very weird problem happening here. Basically i have a boolean variable that is private (and has always been private so it was never serialized) that i am i trying to set in a different script and the set function gets called every time i want it to be however when i look at the variable in the Update function of my script it never changes.

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 namespace MedievalMayhem.Weapons { 
     [RequireComponent(typeof(BoxCollider))]
     public class MeleeWeapon : Weapon
     {
         private BoxCollider _hitZone;
         private bool _hitZoneOn = true;
         public bool HitZoneOn {
             get{ 
                 Debug.Log ("Getting hitZoneOn " + this._hitZoneOn);
                 return _hitZoneOn;
             }
 
             set{
                 Debug.Log ("Setting hitZoneOn " + value);
                 this._hitZoneOn = value;
             }
         }
 
         protected override void Start() { // edit 2 changed to protected override void
             base.Start ();
 
             Debug.Log ("Setting hitzone");
             this._hitZone = GetComponent<BoxCollider> ();
             this._hitZone.enabled = this._hitZoneOn;
         }
 
         void Update() { //edit 2 removed public
             Debug.Log ("Hit zone is: " + this._hitZone.enabled);
             Debug.Log ("Setting hitzone enabled to " + HitZoneOn);
             this._hitZone.enabled = HitZoneOn;
         }
 
         void OnTriggerEnter(Collider hit) { //edit 2 removed public
             Debug.Log ("HIT " + hit.tag);
         }
     }
 }

The above is the class that is causing the problem. When I run this I will see something like the following in my editor console:

As you can see from the above output the HitZoneOn:set function is called 597 times just like the rest of the calls but is split between setting the variable to true and setting it to false, however, the HitZoneOn:get function never returns false. Also if i initially set the _hitZoneOn to false instead of true it will always get false even though it is set to true at times.

It is probably worth mentioning that I originally tried to use other functions such as:

 public void TurnHitZoneOn() {
     this._hitZone.enabled = true;
 }
 
 public function TurnHitZoneOff() {
     this._hitZone.enabled = false;
 }

however with the above code the _hitZone variable is always null outside of the Start and Update functions. It is as if I can't access and modify any variables outside of my Start and Update functions. I do this is various other scripts and I have tried to restart unity and change the variable names and no matter what i do i can't seem to set any of my variables in this script.

Any ideas as to what is going on here would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

EDIT:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 using MedievalMayhem.Weapons;
 
 namespace MedievalMayhem.Entities {
     public class PlayerFighting {
         [SerializeField] private GameObject weapon;
 
 
        void Start() {
             //starting stuff
         }
 
         void Update() {
               this.weapon.GetComponent<MeleeWeapon>().HitZoneOn = Input.GetButton("Attack");
         }
     }
 }

EDIT 2: Weapon Script

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 namespace MedievalMayhem.Weapons {
     public class Weapon : MonoBehaviour {
 
         [SerializeField] private int _damage;
         [SerializeField] private GameObject _dropPrefab;
 
         private bool _droppable;
 
         protected virtual void Start() {
             if (this._dropPrefab != null) {
                 this._droppable = true;
             } else {
                 this._droppable = false;
             }
         }
 
         public bool IsDroppable() {
             return this._droppable;
         }
 
         public GameObject GetDropPrefab() {
             return this._dropPrefab;
         }
     }
 }

EDIT 3

So I have changed my MeleeWeapon script to be the following:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 namespace MedievalMayhem.Weapons { 
     [RequireComponent(typeof(BoxCollider))]
     public class MeleeWeapon: Weapon
     {
         public BoxCollider hitZone;

            void Awake() {
                 hitZone = this.GetComponent<BoxCollider> ();
             if (hitZone == null) {
                 Debug.LogError ("NO BOX COLLIDER");
             }
           }

         void OnTriggerEnter(Collider hit) {
             Debug.Log ("HIT " + hit.tag);
             
         }
     }
 }
 

and I have changed the line to enable the collider in the PlayerFighting script to the following:

 //check if the weapons should be enabled or disabeled
 bool input = Input.GetButton("Fire1");
 this._right_hand_weapon.GetComponent<WeaponMelee>().hitZone.enabled = input;

and I now get the following error whenever I try to access the hitZone variable:

 UnassignedReferenceException: The variable hitZone of WeaponMelee has not been assigned.
 You probably need to assign the hitZone variable of the WeaponMelee script in the inspector.
 MedievalMayhem.Player.PlayerFighting.Update () (at Assets/Scripts/Entities/PlayerFighting.cs:70)

(PlayerFighting.cs:70 refers to the above line)

I don't under stand what is going on. I never get the error that says 'NO BOX COLLIDER' so It shouldn't be null but for some reason in other scripts it is.

Maybe it is worth mentioning that this object is a runtime instantiated object using the following:

 private GameObject AddGear(GameObject prefab, GameObject parent) {
     GameObject child = (GameObject)Instantiate (
         prefab, 
         prefab.transform.position,
         prefab.transform.rotation
     );
     child.transform.parent = parent.transform;
     child.transform.localPosition = prefab.transform.position;
     child.transform.localRotation = prefab.transform.rotation;
     child.transform.localScale = prefab.transform.localScale;
     return child;
 }

 //this is called in the PlayerFighting script
 this._right_hand_weapon = this.AddGear (pickUp.GetPrefab (), this._right_hand_weapon_hold);

Just because I have no idea what to do or say and I am rambling on the entire code base im using can be found on my github at: https://github.com/Tyler-Gauch/MedievalMayhem maybe theres something in the scipts that im failing to mention?

Thanks again for all your help