Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[hoplophile]

Just got one of these from a guy who does gun work and sells at the shows.

The AA sight wings are gone, the bolt and receiver #'s are different, and there's no monopod hole on the lower band.

It has the Nagoya symbol and is in the 42,000 serial number range. (Mum's gone). There are 3 characters over the receiver ring, printed left to right just aft of the blowhole.Two of these are the same, and one is more complicated-looking. (I don't know much about Japanese letters).

I measured the barrel from the front of the chamber swell (?) and it's 24" long to the muzzle.

Bore and chamber are clean & shiny with nice rifling.

I bought it as a military shooter just for my own enjoyment and historic value to me.

I wasn't aware they came without a monopod (or at least a provison to mount one). Is this thing a fluke, or just cobbled-together with parts?

Thanks,

HP

[gwsiii]

Sounds like you have a transition gun, late 5th to 7th series Type 99. The transition guns differed from the early ones in that there were no provisions for a/a sight wings, and no monopod bands. The markings on the receiver are 9 9 Type. Later (last ditch) configuration simplified production even further by going to a fixed peep rear sight, no front sight guards, wooden buttplate and cast bolt handles. Fine as a shooter probably, with mismatched numbers no real collector value except for parts. Trey

series marks are to the left of the serial number in a circle, series marks are here:

See the Type 99 datasheet link in my signature below for more information.
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[hoplophile]

Thanks Trey,

I looked at the little circle to the left of the ser# for the series mark, but it doesn't look like any of those you show in the list.

There's an almost horizontal line through the middle, which trails-off and down to the left, ending almost at the circle line at about 8 o'clock. There are no other lines within the circle.

There appears to be another mark at the right of the ser#, which has a more complicated character within a circle. I'll have to dig-out the magnifying glass to see it better.

The sight base has the threaded holes for mounting the AA wings, but they're gone. The lower band appears to be the "c" type shown in the data sheet, which has no provision for the monopod.

The buttplate is the narrow metal type. The bolt safety knob is knurled and the bolt's handle is the plum-shaped type. The 3 digit # on the nosecap matches the receiver. The bolt and extractor #'s match each-other, but not the rifle's.

Does this make any more sense?

HP

[hoplophile]

After looking at the mark to the right of the serial# it looks like there's no circle. (This mark is to the right of the Nagoya arsenal mark)

I rubbed some pipe thread compound into the series circle to the left of the serial #, and it almost looks like a backwards "J" with the long portion of the line going horizontally, and the short end curving down and to the left, as described in my last post.

There are some characters in the data list which look close, but none that fit what this one looks like.

HP

[gwsiii]

Is there an additional similarly sized mark to the right of the arsenal mark? A diamond with a circle in the middle? Trey

Got a digital camera? It may be a poorly struck series mark, it could be rotated a little out of kilter from the way the series marks are on the sheet.
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[hoplophile]

Yes, but it's about half the size and from what I can make out, there's no circle. It looks like a "Z" with a small mark trailing down from the top left, and another to the bottom right end going up at a slight angle.

The mark on the left of the serial # looks like a series 6/Nagoya shown, but the figure in the circle looks like a backwards "J" rather than the "L" in the mark listed, and the longer line is horizontal, not angled down and right.

My lack of knowlege about japanese writing doesn't help here. In all likelihood, this piece is what you described earlier as an intermediate version and "shooter" material. That's what I got it for anyway. (It does shoot and work well with the made-up loads I learned from an old gunsmith)

The only digital camera we have is on the cellphones, and not good enough for this kind of work.

HP

[gwsiii]

Since it has the 99 Type designation on the receiver and an adjustable rear sight, Its probably a series 5,6,7 they dropped the Type 99 designation late in the 7th series, it pops up in the 8th, 10th, and a few in the 11th, but all of those had fixed rear sights. One way to narrow down characters is by counting the strokes used to write it with a brush/pen. 5th series would take 4 strokes, 6th 1 stroke, and 7th would take 2 strokes. We'll eventually get it figured out. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[hoplophile]

One stroke, huh?

Well then that probably clears it all up right there. This mark is definitely made using one stroke (one continuous line that curves at the left end), so it must be from the 6th series!

Thanks for all the info Trey. I can see there's a whole new world of data to learn about when it comes to Japanese arms identification.

HP

[hoplophile]

By the way, assuming it is a series 6 can we tell when it was made?

HP

[gwsiii]

Closest guess would be 1942, 1943, maybe early 44. No facts, just guessing figuring Nagoya produced almost 12 (0-11 with partial 4th and partial 12th) full series worth of rifles. If production started in 1939 or 1940 that would be close. Glad to be of help. If you ever do get around a digital camera, get a good closeup of the mark and send it to me along with a datasheet. Thanks, Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[hoplophile]

Will do Trey.

By the way, what do you do with all those datasheets? (You're not employed by the ATF are you? )

HP

[gwsiii]

Nah, I put them into a spread sheet to track changes in production. Working on a book with my partner in crime, Shannon Zeigler. These are the totals reported thus far.....

the missing rifles are probably snipers, reworked 38s, cc rifles, and possibly experimental and limited production rifles some 38 and 44 production could be in there too.
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[hoplophile]

Nice project.

I'll have to sit down and look the rifle over thoroughly using your sheet and send it off to you.

I also have a 99 I bought a few years ago that was sporterized but not completed. (bolt bent down for scope, safety knob machined so it now has the indentation at 7 places around the circumfrence instead of just one, new montecarlo stock, front sight removed and replaced with ramp-type sporter sight, receiver mounted micrometer rear sight.)

For some reason, the guy never got around to removing the rear sight base or rebluing the rifle.

It has a 4 digit s/n and an arsenal mark other than my Nagoya if I remember correctly, and it originally was the longer-barrel type. (No mum either) I believe it also has a milled mag follower, but I think it's been beveled at the rear so it will close on an empty chamber.

If you're interested in what data there may be for this one, I'll work on it too.

HP

[gwsiii]

Any data from is helpfull. I'd guess its a 99 long. They use a different sheet that I'll have to dig up. Thanks, Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!