Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[J. Dewey]

how do I determinr the manufacture of a t99 given the arsenal, series and serial number?
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[gwsiii]

Welcome to the forum, In one word, guess. As far as I know, all estimates are just that. Some more scientific that others. There is still some confusion on when 99 production actually started. What arsenal, series, and serial number are we guess-timating on?
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[J. Dewey]

short rifle, with mum, Kokura, series 23, 21104 Long rifle, Toyo Kogyo,series 35, 15296
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[gwsiii]

From LTC Shannon Zeigler's research, The Long rifles would be late 1940 early 1941 (Fiscal Year 1941), and 23rd series would be late 1943, early 1944 (Fiscal Year 1943). Its really hard to date accurately. Trey
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[J. Dewey]

Thanks very much, I was curious. sounds about right, as the long is very nicely polished and blued, while the short one is just a bit rough, tool marks, dull blue. Hey do any of you guys shoot these rifles, reload for them? The original load was 184 grain bullet at 2390 fps. I have found that a 180 grain , .311 sierra with 43 grains of 4064 givesme 2395fps the short rifle, and 2393 in the long one. short one shoots about on at 100 yards, long one a little high. Thanks, Jim
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[Garandshtr]

J.Dewey,
Yes, I do shoot mine. I've not tried either the 180 gr Sierra or 4064 powder. I have been shooting a 178 gr bullet that I got in a trade, and both H-4895 and Accurate 2230. Not much load development work for this cartridge yet. My 41 gr load is sort of a thumper out of my lightweight Type 99. It shoots tolerably well, but I'm still getting the hang of it.

Mark
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Still trying to learn what I can, mainly about the Type 99 and Type 38. I have more curiosity than time, and more time than money.

[DEFUC]

Hmmm,interesting..I expected it to be slightly higher in the long,normally a optimal load increases MV by roughly 50fps per additional inch of barrel out to optimal lenth/burn..I have to play with my 4064 and chrono more,that sounds almost like your running out of heat before you run out of barrel,I havent done nearly enough chrono work with my long I see.this is good to know.I have to check my load specs too....I went and looked in my notes, My nagoya Long likes 46.7gr of 4350 for the 180's the best so far,however I appearently didnt record the speed,just the grouping,logically thats a tad slower powder in a longer barrel, but I will do a lot more testing of that theory now..I know my excellent loads in the T38 carbine are rather lame thru the long rifle,I expect the T99 will prove the same,Ive found loading a good all around load for general blazing at the range and a gun specific load for competition to work best for me. Now this is a fun post!!!! makes me think.

[J. Dewey]

might be the barrels, my short rifle has a .302 bore, .315 groove, my long rifle has .302, .314. every rifle is a rule unto itself. Jim
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[J. Dewey]

I was of the opinion that the velocity of 2390 fps. was taken in the long rifle, but after perusing all of my references, I can't find any thing refering to barrel length. So, I don't know where I got that idea. I don't have any idea what kind of powder was used, if it was slow-burning there would be a big gain in the long barrel, fast-burning, not so much, maybe even a loss. I tried to guesstimate the powder by the weight of the cartridge,the bullet, the case, that came out at about 46-47 grains. The 43- 4064 was my best guess in the short rifle, when I got the long one it gave almost the same velocity. by the way, I was given the short rifle by a friend, it came with the bayonet , monopod and sling. Oh yes and the mum! I also have the name, serial number. unit and a picture of the soldier who captured it on Okinawa. I knew of the existence of long rifles, but had never seen one, and I have been collecting off and on for over 60 years. I found it in our local shop when it was taken over by new managment. Couldn't believe my eyes or the price! $120 Jim
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[DEFUC]

excellent finds then.

[J. Dewey]

Hello again, hey, on my bayonet, came with the short rifle, straight quillion, National Denki-Kokura, it looks like it has W3 ahead of the serial number. Kinda battered, can't be sure, but is that likely? Thanks, Jim
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[gwsiii]

Bayonets used the 'series' method as well. So its a possibility, I'm not as up on bayonet series', I'd expect Hoten had the 50th series so that might be 150th series or somewhere in that range. I just remember that I have several Hoten bayonets that are 50 12345 which would become notated as w3-50th series on rifles and I'd assume bayonets as too. Trey
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!