What is this rifle?

[GJC]

Found this in the Mother in laws House, says it was from Her Husbands Brother.
What is it? Sorry about pics, I R dum at camera

[Dangerous]

i think thats what you call an Arisaka. its japanese from wwii. the reasons i think it is an arisaka are the 2 piece stock, the straight bolt handle, and the old rustyness. i think it shoots 7.7 but i dont know that much about it.

[GJC]

Thanks!

[jamesob]

thats to bad that it's rusted so much.

[troysland]

Yup, Arisaka. Shoots 6.5x50 ammo. But then again the model 99 shoots 7.7mm. Many variants exists.
Notice the Straight Bolt Handle and Olive shaped knob.
[IMG][/IMG]

[jlmurphy]

Arisaka Model 99 is 7.7mm ( .310"], Model 38 is 6.5mm ( .264"), if the Chrysanthemum Imperial Seal has been ground off the receiver it was a surrendered rifle, if it is intact it was captured.

[Dangerous]

Thanks!

no problem. just dont shoot that gun. i mean, if you want to keep your face dont shoot it! nice find, it might be a bringback

[gunboat]

It appears to be a type 99 arisaka - late manf if rear sight is not adjustable.
Type 38 (6.5mm) can be easiy identified by the rear tang being a separate piece(s) -- It could well be a shooter, but needs to checked out by someone who at least knows what it is. -- Great parts donor at the very least. --- my ha-penny

[Mike A]

gunboat is right; it might well be a shooter. Or not. Lots of these were rechambered to .30-06 after the war. Some were for use in the US as cheapo deer rifles; some were issued to South Korean paramilitaries (and some of those came back here after that "police action" was over).

Those probably shouldn't be shot. At the very least they need to be checked by a gunsmith and handloaded with proper diameter bullets. Some of the the last production 99s have cast recievers. Definitely should NOT be fired, with any ammo. Some training versions ditto.

An early or mid-war 99 in good condition with proper headspace is a very strong, if somewhat crude rifle. It certainly can be fired with proper ammo.
GOOD condition; PROPER ammo--two big IFs. Only a gunsmith who is very familiar with milsurps can really verify this.

Try chambering a .30-06 ctg. (naturally keeping the gun pointed in a safe direction). If it goes all the way in without closing the bolt, that's a bad thing. If it chambers with the bolt closed, you have one of the converted guns; a wall hanger IMO.
Try cleaning the barrel for a start--if it's OK after a good cleaning and the gun isn't rechambered, the rest of the rifle may be mechanically sound and it is worth getting it checked out by a gunsmith. But if the bore won't clean up, the gun has been very badly neglected or abused and probably is just a wall hanger or for sale for parts--these guns had chrome-plated bores that had to be really abused to rot them out. Many of the .30-06 versions will have a ring of pits where the reamer for the longer case removed the plating and rust got in. The plating, by the way, is often harder than woodpecker lips, so the .30-06 reamers sometimes cut the chambers kinda oval. Bad thing.

An interesting rifle in any case; worth some study and thought.

[Seesm]

Originals that are safe are pretty neat, but them seemed to have gotten really "hamy jamyied" up by alot of bubba's over the years...

[Milsurp Collector]

It appears to be a type 99 arisaka - late manf if rear sight is not adjustable.

That's correct. It's a late war Type 99 7.7mm Arisaka.

Get a magnifier and look on the left receiver rail. There will be a series character, then the serial number, then symbol(s) denoting the manufacturer, like this. This is a Series 35 made by Toyo Kogyo.



Go to http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html to determine the series and manufacturer. Some of the series characters are similar to each other so you really need a magnifier to tell them apart.

[GJC]

Wow, thanks for all the info. I'll look into it a little closer for any markings or if anything has been ground down. The receiver seems to work, safety and all. I might try a 30-06 case tonight. It's going on the Wall in my Man Cave room

[Fate]

A lot of that rust will come off if you go gently. 0000 or 00000 steel wool, and some CLP will help. Rust can also be scraped off with the edge of an old penny (use CLP/oil as well). It works! And doesn't harm the finish like heavier-handed techniques. Go gently as you might have something valuable. If you rush things and do something dumb like reblue it or sand/polycoat the stock, you can destroy a lot of it's value.

Looks like a bringback IMO. Would be interesting to get more of the history of the brother in law who served.

[Milsurp Collector]

If you use Kroil and bronze wool you can remove the rust without harming whatever blued finish is left.

Before (Type 38 Arisaka trigger guard. Magazine floorplate catch was totally frozen by rust)

[

After Kroil + bronze wool. Magazine catch functions normally.



Another way to go is to make an electrolysis tank http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/vie...p?f=80&t=62728

Before electrolysis (these next two are not my pictures, taken from the thread)



After electrolysis

[mls343]

You have a very late war Type 99. Some would classify this as a "last ditch" model. Japan, towards the end of the war, was running out of materials as well as the capacity to produce weapons. The wood butt stock, peep sight, and crude machining of the barrel all point to a last ditch version.

I would not recommend shooting it, at least before you take it to a gunsmith. Believe it or not, there is some value from a collectors point of view. When collecting Type 99's, it's not uncommon for collectors to have a begining, middle, and end of the war pieces to see the transformation. Interesting, but last ditch examples are harder to come by due to a) being crude looking, b) not that many produced, and c) most were destroyed at the end of the war.

Hope this helps.