Type 99 Sporter

[wlewisiii]

Picked up a Japanese Type 99 short rifle the other day. The sporterization was limited to putting it into a western civilian stock with no modifications to the rifle metal. The Imperial Chrysanthemum has been ground off and the bolt serials do not match the rifle. The dust cover and monopod are missing but that was not uncommon even while in service.

It's a Nogoya Arsenal, serial number Series 3, 9351. IIUC, that's a fairly early production rifle and the rest of the details bear that out. The AA rear sight is intact and the front sight is original as well.

It is still in the original chambering of 7.7x58.











With the ground mum & mismatched bolt, the collector value is nil. OTOH, whoever did the sporting job did a good minimal job and fitted the stock properly. For me, it looks as though it'll be a good shooter. I might consider a Timney trigger for it down the road but for now, I'll just leave it as it is.

For $158 OTD, I consider it a nice rifle and money well spent on a less than common Mauser variant.

 

[rust collector]

Type 99s were some of the strongest bolt actions of their era.

Good gun for the money.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I've got a non-matching, ground-mum type 38 in military configuration. Sweet shooting, low recoil rifle. My step-dad's father brought it home from the PTO.

I keep a box of ammo handy and we shoot it on special occasions. they are great rifles, I only wish ammo was a little more affordable for a non-reloader such as myself.

 

[TurtlePhish]

Type 99s [strike]were[/strike] are some of the strongest bolt actions [strike]of their era[/strike] ever made.

Fixed it for ya.

P.O. Ackley tried to blow up an Arisaka and failed.

A non-last-ditch Arisaka will take pretty much any load you can throw at it and then some.

 

[wlewisiii]

Fixed it for ya.

P.O. Ackley tried to blow up an Arisaka and failed.

A non-last-ditch Arisaka will take pretty much any load you can throw at it and then some.

Yep. It's interesting how this design points out many of the things that Japanese industry has always done best - identify a good design, simplify it for strength and reliability & then make them cheaper.

In the case of the Arisaka you end up with a Mauser type design simplified about as much as is possible while staying a Mauser design. Comparing this to the direction taken by Springfield Armory when they copied the Mauser, in the M1903, is an interesting exercise left to the reader...

 

[RPRNY]

Great looking rifle. 7.7x58 is the .303 Brit on steroids. 180gr at 2500 is factory level stuff from Norma. Case capacity is really the limit on what you can do with this cartridge and rifle. Worth slugging the bore to make sure .311 jacketed are a good fit. Enjoy.

 

[El Mariachi]

What a coinky-doink, I gots one too.....

 

[wlewisiii]

Quite a bit more work was done on yours than mine Smith who knew his job too.

Is it still in 7.7x58?

Thank you for sharing it!

 

[El Mariachi]

.300 Savage. She has just a bit of pop......

 

[788Ham]

HA, I've got one of those in .300 Savage also, thought for a minute somebody'd stole mine! Mine's a good shooter, shot my first deer with it, identical sights too.

 

[wlewisiii]

Cool. Do either of your rifles have Timney or other after market triggers? I'm pondering if I should consider that or not. The stock trigger is heavy but breaks cleanly; I've certainly shot far worse.

 

[El Mariachi]

I haven't a clue. Everything I know about customizing firearms I learned from watching Wizard Of Oz.......

 

[788Ham]

Mine has the original trigger, never thought about changing it, just got used to the trigger.

 

[wlewisiii]

Good to know. I'm looking at just sticking to stock at this point and seeing how well the issue peep sight and trigger work for me. I really need to get some range time.

 

[WardenWolf]

Arisakas can be excellent shooters, particularly the early ones. I've seen a video where someone was pegging a man-sized target at 650 yards with the iron sights.

I've got one my grandfather brought back from Okinawa. It's a Series 21 Kokura. Very nice rifle, with the antiaircraft sights intact. The stock is beat up, but it's mechanically perfect. One of my father's friends contacted me yesterday for help identifying his Japanese rifle. Turned out it was almost identical to mine. A very low serial number Series 22 Kokura, which probably dates it to shortly before Pearl Harbor. I told him it was safe to shoot, and where to find ammo for it.

 

[USAF_Vet]

My Type 38 is a middle production Koishikawa arsenal, produced around 1930, give or take a couple years. Serial # is in the 1.7 million range.

The only thing wrong with it is the cleaning rod is stuck in the stock.

 

[wlewisiii]

Stripped it down and detail cleaned it tonight. Really nicely fitted stock.

But what I really noticed was how simple the bolt is. Just turn the safety knob a bit and it comes apart slick as a whistle unlike the fighting some bolts cause. It would be much easier to maintain in the field than many of the others too. Very impressive to me. It's a pity no other company seems to have learned any of these design ideas.