Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[gwsiii]

Here is an interesting pair. What do they have in common?




Well I'll be danged, they have the same serial number. Nagoya 0 series Type 99 #5 (upper), Nagoya 5th series Type 38 #5 (lower). Notice the Type 99 uses straw colors, and by the start of 5th series 38 carbine production, finish is all blue. Indicating, to me, that 5th series 38 Carbine production, started after, initial 0 series 99 production.
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[arisakadogs]

Whoa! Very neat! I didn't know any of the Nagoya original series had strawed parts. Are these yours? If so, you must sell me the T-99! (as soon as possible, of course)
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"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")

[gwsiii]

These are keepers, I've had the 99 for 10 years, had to buy 7 for high dollars (way to soon) to get it. I still have 5 of those seven, so I didn't pay too much, and values have finally caught up with what I paid, so I just bought them a little too soon. I bought the Carbine out of BANZAI this month. It appears to have a chrome bore. I think this pair will make a nice 1 table display for 'away' shows. If anyone has a rifle or bayonet serial #'d 5, let me know. I'll buy it way too soon! Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[cve116]

so was 0 series production mixed long/short from the beginning, rather than starting with all long rifles, then at some point switching to the shorts?

[gwsiii]

I think it was probably concurrent at Nagoya initially, but probably not at Toyo Kogyo. With Nagoya producing both long and short rifles at the same time, that may explain why there are fewer Nagoya 99 longs. If Nagoya was producing both at the same time, while Toyo Kogyo (a newcomer to rifle production) probably was concentrating on 99 longs, until the short rifle configuration was completely stabilized. Shortly after which, it was decided to drop 99 long production at both arsenals and concentrate on short rifle production. No facts, just guesses from production features, mainly front sights and straw vs. blue finish on small parts. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[ketoujin]

Very neat Trey. I love low numbered guns. Interesting comparison with late production Type 38 carbine and one of the first Type 99 SR's ever built. My no-series is number 81862 and lacks strawing.
I've always thought that you can see the continuing progression from Type 38 to 99 production inthe early '40s by looking not only at the change from polished bolt to blued bolt, notch safety, cupped butt-plates etc, but also by looking at the rear sights - the circular peep rear sights on the series 29 Type 38s being almost a carbon copy - aesthetically - of the 99 rear sights. Good stuff.

Best,
Gunnar
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Mod is a state of mind - Pete Meaden

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss - The Who, 1971.

[arisakadogs]

My Nagoya T-99 long is s/n 3450 and has all blued parts. I used to own s/n 3044 and it had strawed parts. I'd be curious to know if the short rifles also had around 3K that were strawed.
Sometimes it requires a hard look to see if the parts were originally strawed as many may look blued from time & oxidation.
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"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")

[gwsiii]

There is mention in MRoJ (I think) that the earliest Nagoya's were strawed, mine is the only one that I've seen, 6 has been reported, but I have no datasheet, and the next lowest reported on a datasheet is 117, no mention of straw parts, 770 & 2713 are all blue. There are 2 or 3 very low numbered Nagoya guns without series marks that I don't have datasheets on, but have been reported as being in transition (5th/6th series) configurations.

3316 is highest reported Nagoya long with straw colors.
9345 is highest reported Toyo Kogyo long with straw colors.
Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[03man]

Really nice pair of number 5's.
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03man

[arisakadogs]

Trey, MRoJ has T-K s/n 11179 as the highest strawed and s/n 9841 as the lowest all blued finish.
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"A woman, a dog & and a walnut tree. The more ya beat em, the better they be" (From "The Red Bagde of Courage")

[gwsiii]

That's the numbers of the data I've got reported on them. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!