Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[riceone]

Last Friday evening at Blevins Shootout we were privledged to visit with Mr. Ed Ringer. Mr. Ed was a WW11 vetran that was stationed in Nagasaki in September to November 1945. He brought with him the T99 rifle and bayonet he was given there. He said that they were all in formation and each man's name was called and he stepped out and was given a rifle and bayonet. He was a Buck Sargent and if he had been one grade higher he would have gotten a Samari Swork. Here is Mr. Ed with his rifle:



He was there to restore electirc power to Nagasaki. He said the ash from the bomb was about a foot thick all over the area that was pulverized. They were allowed to only be in there for three hours per day. Said he tried to get out before then. He said the Japanese power was 100 volts instead of like our 120 and that it was 50 cycles instead our our 60. Therefore nothing of ours would work on it. They all had generators for their use.

After his talk was completed he was asked if he had ever shot his rifle. He said no, that he did not know if it were safe to shoot. Someone inspected it and ran a patch down the bore and told him it was safe. He said he would like to shoot it if we could guarantee that the bullet would come out the muzzle instead of the breach. We laughed and I said I would be the guinee pig to try it



I was very pleased to have been the first to shoot his rifle in over 62 years. I kept the fired case as a momento. Then Mr. Ed took the rifle and fired it several times. Each time it fired the expression on his face changed to almost fright.



Someone brought a T38 rifle for him to fire and he liked that better. His rifle did not have a cleaning rod so Bobby Blevins went and got one and put it on his rifle. Also two or three other people gave him a box of cartridges for his rifle. He enjoyed is visit so much he asked Bobby to come back Saturday morning at 10 AM and bring him back out there. I left about 1:30 and Mr. Ed was still sitting in the area where the Japanese machine guns were firing. As I left I told him that the 7 hour drive was worth it just to get to meet him. He seemed pleased. I feel very fortunate to have met him. riceone.

Where's my hammer?
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Most people who preach tolerance are very intolerate.

[gwsiii]

Thanks Riceone, heres a better picture of you and Mr. Ed, along with Mr. Ed firing the T100. Very nice gentleman, camped out behind the lmg shooting area Saturday morning, he plans on returning next year.


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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[Nagoya10]

Pretty neat story. A man I work with, his dad was assigned to the area of Nagoya right after the surrender and was involved in the large scale destruction of weapons, generally by burning then burying. He also brought home a rifle, a 7th series Nagoya, all matched. Unfortunately he or someone tried to remove the barrel at some point so now it has nice pipe wrench marks all over the breech end of the barrel.

Do you have any info on the rifle Mr. Ed had brought back?

[gwsiii]

I didn't get to look at it closely, there was a chuckle when one of our collectors on hand mis-identified it as the wrong Arsenal and Series......It was a Kokura 23rd series rifle, in the 30-60k range, I think was the final decision. I was taking pictures and suggesting we chip in for a rod and ammo. He indicated it did not have dust cover/pod/or rod when he received it but it did have a/a wings. He recounted the troubles he had getting it home when he mustered out, at one point telling a conductor that he wasn't leaving the rifle and he wasn't getting off the train, they needed to come to an agreement, and they did. The conductor kept the bolt, and Mr. Ed kept his rifle, and woe-be to the conductor if he lost his bolt.....Trey
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Fill out a Japanese Rifle Datasheet.
I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!