arisaka appraisal for a friend

[boopiejones]

[81turbota]

People here are very familiar with Arisakas. Matching and intact mum help a lot and is promising, but we will need detailed pictures of the rifle to include serialized parts. It isn't a very early one as you don't mention a dust cover or monopod. Is there a cleaning rod? Original sling? Big variables. Intact mums aren't rare per se, but uncommon.

Value can be anywhere from $300 or less if altered or refinished to the $600 range for a pristine, unaltered rare maker semi early rifle.

[peppermintman]

People here are very familiar with Arisakas. Matching and intact mum help a lot and is promising, but we will need detailed pictures of the rifle to include serialized parts. It isn't a very early one as you don't mention a dust cover or monopod. Is there a cleaning rod? Original sling? Big variables. Intact mums aren't rare per se, but uncommon.

Value can be anywhere from $300 or less if altered or refinished to the $600 range for a pristine, unaltered rare maker semi early rifle.

Dust cover is very desirable. A friend of mine has a Arisaka sitting in his garage, his rifle ain't got one. But it does have all the stuff listed by you. I was surprised to see the mum, then meh. Maybe I help him clean it, make it look pretty again. I took his 1941 Enfield no. 1 mk. 4 though. Last time I seen his Arisaka he offered again but I said no.

[ltong29]

A fully intact Type 99 can go for around ~$5-600 depending on the condition and manufacturer. If you have the original dust cover and monopod, that adds a premium as the Japanese phased these out over the course of the war. Rifles with the mum (chrysanthemum) intact command another premium as these were probably captures, not rifles surrendered. The mum indicated that the rifle was property of the Emperor of Japan, and surrendering the Emperor's property was considered shameful, so the mum was defaced before a rifle was surrendered to keep the Emperor's honor. I paid $275 for a matching 4th Series Nagoya Type 99 with only the AA-sights earlier this year. Pictures are needed to fully assess the value.

[musketjon]

As material shortage occurred, dust covers, monopods and AA sight arms were factory omitted to conserve material so there's a very good chance that that 99 didn't have one to begin with. Also, they were frequently discarded in the field as they fit loosely and rattled around and made noise.
Jon

[81turbota]

As material shortage occurred, dust covers, monopods and AA sight arms were factory omitted to conserve material so there's a very good chance that that 99 didn't have one to begin with. Also, they were frequently discarded in the field as they fit loosely and rattled around and made noise.
Jon

Agreed. It's commonplace to see dust covers, cleaning rods and monopods missing.

If you provide us pictures of receiver serial number we can determine which Arsenal produced it and what series it is. Not all Arisakas came tricked out with dust covers, AA wings and monopods. Certain features are correct for certain series, your rifle may not have had these features to begin with.

[musketjon]

Agreed. It's commonplace to see dust covers, cleaning rods and monopods missing.

If you provide us pictures of receiver serial number we can determine which Arsenal produced it and what series it is. Not all Arisakas came tricked out with dust covers, AA wings and monopods. Certain features are correct for certain series, your rifle may not have had these features to begin with.

Agreed, too. Case in point--years ago I had an unmolested type 99. Mum intact, screws still staked, etc., etc. No provisions for monopod or AA sight arms and no dust cover. However, for some reason, even though the dust cover was eliminated, the receiver still had the dust cover grooves milled. Go figure that one.
Jon

[81turbota]

Agreed, too. Case in point--years ago I had an unmolested type 99. Mum intact, screws still staked, etc., etc. No provisions for monopod or AA sight arms and no dust cover. However, for some reason, even though the dust cover was eliminated, the receiver still had the dust cover grooves milled. Go figure that one.
Jon

They kept machining the dust cover slot all the way up to the last ditch T99. I agree, go figure.

Without researching the series for correct features, one can always check for evidence of features. Sliding bluing wear on the top of the receiver from a dust cover, wire shaped bruises near the nose cap where the monopod would ride.

Many early/mid war T99's came with AA sights and a monopod capable barrel band but never equipped with a monopod from the factory. This leads you to be weary of parts swappers looking to "deck out" their T99 by installing the cool features when they never were correct for that particular series.

[musketjon]

My 99 had no provisions for the AA arms and the band was not drilled for the monopod. In fact, the band didn't have the lobe for the monopod any way. It was a simple, flat band. This was not a last ditch rifle, by the way.
Jon

[beerman]

I've seen complete, unmolested type 99s go well north of $1,000 on GB here are the characteristics listed in order of rarity:#1 being rarest
#1 having all of goodies below with matching serial numbers ( slings were not serialized) (Rarer maker will bring more)
#2 All matching numbers
#3 original Rubber/canvas slings (many many more leather ones survived)
#4 matching dust cover
#5 matching monopod
#6 intact aircraft sights
#7 intact MUM
And of course,condition

[knucklehead0202]

They kept machining the dust cover slot all the way up to the last ditch T99. I agree, go figure.

Without researching the series for correct features, one can always check for evidence of features. Sliding bluing wear on the top of the receiver from a dust cover, wire shaped bruises near the nose cap where the monopod would ride.

Many early/mid war T99's came with AA sights and a monopod capable barrel band but never equipped with a monopod from the factory. This leads you to be weary of parts swappers looking to "deck out" their T99 by installing the cool features when they never were correct for that particular series.

^^^This. My first 99 was a mid-war Toyo Kogyo that had the monopod lug and AA-type rear sight, but no monopod and no wings. There are as many variations on this as there are on fish stories. Knowing the arsenal and series would definitely narrow it down. As the others said, no dust cover is fairly commonplace, it'd be an absolute rarity to find an all-matching rifle with an original dust cover.