Arisaka Date?

[NRAhighpowershooter]

Ok.. I was given an Arisaka with the Mum intact.. yes your read correctly.. given to me.. also the bayonet and wooden scabbard.... bore is excellent but the exterior is VERRY rough with light surface rust on all the exposed metal.. Is there a web site that I can look up the date of this rifle?

[AJAX22]

http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html

[jegonzo3]

You can also find all kinds of info at: http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/index.php

jegonzo3

[NRAhighpowershooter]

WOW!! Thanks for the links guys.. so far I have found out that this is a
type 99 series 35 made by the Toyo Kogyo Arsenal (1939-1945) serial number ranges 0-57,000. Now.. here is where the A**uming comes into play Since the serial number on my Arisaka is within the last 10K of the serial number range, I'm A**uming that it was made late war.. and I'm ALSO A**uming that since the Mum is intact that is was a field capture.. maybe Iwo, or Okinawa???... maybe????? Now for a little more detail about the rifle... The rifle belonged to my machinist buddy's dad who was a Marine in WW-II in the pacific... The rifle sat in the dads closet for as long as my buddy can remember.. he then put it HIS closet when his dad died a while back.. and it has sat there until today.....

[jegonzo3]

Very nice, any pics?

I don't have an Arisaka, but I'd like to get one eventually to round out my ever growing milsurp collection. I think my friends dad has one hanging on his wall at home. I never really looked at it closely and his dad doesn't remember what model it is. For as long as I can remember, it's been up on the wall.

jegonzo3

[NRAhighpowershooter]

OK.. before you bozo's post:
This Tread Is Worthless Without Pics..

Here you go...

[jegonzo3]

Any plans to recondition it or are you going to leave it as is?

jegonzo3

[Patriot]

It even has the royal emblem, does it not

[AJAX22]

pull the action out of the stock, and scrape some of the dirt out from underneath and look at it on a microscope.

If its black volcanic, it might have been 'droped' on iwo

[Spiggy]

woo! last ditch!

does the bayonet have a flat pommel?

[Sampachi]

Very very nice find!!
I'm a big fan of the Toyo Kogyo 35th series, own about 3 of them, and it looks like you have a keeper, even in that condition. The only reconditioning I would suggest is using gun oil and very light steel wool, or better yet, bronze wool from a boating supply store. Don't remove it from the stock if the screws are still staked in place.

Toyo Kogyo is now Mazda. The 35th series was the final series of rifles from this arsenal as they were located near Hiroshima. The Arsenal itself didn;t recieve any damage from the A-Bomb, but the workers as you can expect, didn't fair too well. Arsenal production stopped that day at around 60,000 rifles in the 35th series. The Arsenal was turned into an emergency center for the few days before the war ended and then eventualy renamed Mazda.
Does the dust cover numberor bolt number match the last 3 didgits of your rifles serial number? If so you've got an amazing bonus!
The reason I like the TK series is that it has the historic background, and unlike the other arsenals at Nagoya and Tokyo, production quality was pretty damned good up till the end.
Most likely it was captured at Okinawa. About 99% of rifles after the surrender had the mums grounded, but a few escaped. The bayonet is also worth about $150 due to the wooden scabbard, maybe more depending on the maker. The rifle could be worth about $250 to $450 depending on if you can succesfully restore/stop the rust and if the dust cover and bolt match along with if the stock screws have not been messed with.

If you are interested in selling, let me know. Otherwise, with a little tender care, you will have a real good example of a late war rifle that avoided the grinder!

[NRAhighpowershooter]

The screws are staked in place... I would liked to have taken the action out of the stock to clean it up a bit.. the trigger is all gummed up...All I have done so far was to clean out the bolt and what parts of the action I can reach and the breech face and mag and follower. I was able to get the front/lower handguard off and clean up the exterior of the barrel... I AM suprised how nice the bore and chamber is!

[Spiggy]

the rifling looks funny compared to other rifling styles we're used to, but that's the way they were made; no it's not been smoothbored

maybe you got a chrome-lined barrel

[Sampachi]

Just curious, but waht is your rifle's serial number range? I have a mummed TH 35 in the 32XX range. It would be amussing to know if yours was made about the same time.
Also, since you are in my locale, if you need a few 7.7 rounds, let me know.

[NRAhighpowershooter]

mine is in the 47,000 range....A buddy of mine took a look at it and says it is one of the 'last stand' rifles.. as it has that VERRRY simple fixed rear sight....not sure to believe him.. especially with the intact Mum....OK.. looking the rifle over more after reading these posts.. There are no numbers on the bolt cover.. the only numbers on the bolt and extractor are the numbers 700. Maybe this really is a 'last stand' rifle,( since the serial number is less then 3K from the end and maybe it never got marked in all the right spots)???