Last ditch Type 99 Arisaka

[GunnyUSMC]

I have had my eye out for a last ditch rifle, but it has never been on the top of my have to get list.
A friend made me an offer. He had a last ditch T99 and told me he would be willing to tread it for some stock work. He had two Parker Hale rifles in 30-06 that were in some simi fancy stocks. One had been poorly refinished by someone and the other was showing some age.
He said that if I refinished the two stocks, add Limb Saver recoil pads and could make them look like twins, he would give me the T99.
Well I finished up the stocks a few weeks later and brought them to him. He was so happy with the stocks that he threw in a bayonet with the rifle.

Well here is the rifle.


























And the Bayonet.



Here are the stocks that I worked on for the trade.

 

[Dentite]

Those stocks look great. I don't have an Arisaka but I've thought about it before.

What do you mean by "last ditch"?

 

[BrocLuno]

Gunny, that last ditch looked better then my step fathers bring back. His was all rusty (especially under the wood) and the bore looked like a sewer pipe - literally. He gave it to me and cleaned it up with a LOT of attention to the bore. It now shoots 2" groups just fine thank you, and the barrel looks good with a bit of roughness here and there. I spent a bit of time with a shotgun bore brush, a cordless drill motor and solvent getting the chamber smooth enough to feed and eject well.

The sights are fixed, but I'll bet you that if the front has not been abused, it will still shoot well into a man sized silhouette? It's belt buckle hold out to a couple hundred yards (6 o'clock battle zero), but it's a real good sight picture and easy to get on target. I sure would not have wanted to be in the jungle with an experienced trigger man behind one

With round nosed 180 (?) grainers (IIRC, they came from Kinetics Research) this rifle will put the hurt on things like pigs and such. PPU pointy bullets are a bit higher POI, but they work fine too.

The metalwork is a little rough as they struggled to get these built fast, but the alloys seems fine and the hardness is OK. Real easy to work on and field strip. I have grown quite fond of the Arisaka design. A lot to be said for their methods. No wasted metal (too scarce) and good forethought.

If you try to remove the stock, be careful not to loose the little shims under the front hand guard front band. They seemed to have taken great care assembling these rifles so they would not rattle and work loose.

There are two theories on the rear split stock-wood. One is to save resources because they could use smaller wood. The other is to make the stock stronger w/o adding weight. I subscribe to the latter. You'll note the change of grain orientation to make the heel of the butt less likely to split off? I think every part had a lot of thought going into it. Note: the original stock finish can give you a poison ivy rash if you sand it, which I know you likely won't

Yours still has sling loops, although single screw bases, so it's not the last of the "last ditches". The real last of the last were sent out with rope slings and holes in the stock.

Nice MUM and a good example - enjoy

 

[GunnyUSMC]

What do you mean by "last ditch"?

As the war was coming to an end the japense were trying to put out rifles as fast as they could. The started cutting cornners, like doing away with the aircraft sight wings on the rear sight and later on droping the adj rear sight all together and just using a fixed sight. Things like the metal buttplate were done away with and just a wood plate was used.
Depending on how late in the war the rifle was built, the more cornners were cut.
One reason for some of the cuts was that the Japanese were running out of resources.

 

[P-32]

The Mum is one of the nicer ones I've seen. I would like to add one of these rifles to my collection some day.

 

[NCsmitty]

That is a great example of a "last ditch" Arisaka, and likely has good collector value, especially with a bayonet.
Metallurgy of late war versions can be questionable, so if you consider shooting it, caution is advised.
The less they are used, the more they retain value, but a great find anyway.


NCsmitty

 

[BCCL]

Nice find, my Uncle brought this one back.

 

[303tom]

Nice Gunny, damn nice..................

 

[BrocLuno]

I've worked on two last ditch rifles and I have not found any metallurgy issues. No soft spots or anything other than rougher finish and simple fitment. Unless the rifle has obvious problems, I have no fear of shooting one. Not sure I'd load anything hot for one, but commercial ammo seems OK.

One thing they do make (if they have already been bubba'd) is an excellent carry-around rifle and a pig gun. With the cut down stock you usually find, they are pretty dam light for five round bolt gun. Game seems to fall over real well from a 7.7 Jap

 

[Jim Watson]

Interesting that as late as that, they were still cutting grooves for the dust cover that any sensible infantryman would have discarded about the second day.
Seems a machining operation that would never have been missed, but they carried on with it.

 

[headoftheholler]

Nice Mum on that one!

 

[Nullcone]

I'm surprised the Chrysanthemum is (admittedly poorly) stamped on the receiver; did they stamp all rifles or did it stop at some point in the "last" of the last ditches?

I know a lot were ground off at some point.

 

[303tom]

I'm surprised the Chrysanthemum is (admittedly poorly) stamped on the receiver; did they stamp all rifles or did it stop at some point in the "last" of the last ditches?

I know a lot were ground off at some point.

They stamped every rifle with the Chrysanthemum & even the last ditch rifles they never skimped on the action & barrel.....

 

[Dentite]

Thanks for the info.