Firing the Arisaka

[floyd2000]

Has anybody fired one of these Japenese rifles latley? If so where can I get ammo? I got one as sort of a family heirloom my father brought back from the south pacific around 1946 or so. Its a 7.7mm T99 with a ground off mum. The gun is a Nagoya with a ghost ring rear sight. There is some painted on Japenese charactors three of them on the bottom of the rifle. Does anyone know what they mean? The barrel bands are welded. The bolt is hosed. I have a bolt for a 6.5mm Arisaka I had picked up but realized I needed the 7.7mm bolt. If anybodys is looking for a 6.5mm bolt let me know. Thanks!

[BobB]

Norma has ammo (EXPENSIVE), but it is easy to roll your own from 8mm Mauser brass. Just run it through a 7.7 Jap die, and load it. You can also use 30-06 brass, but it takes a lot of trimming. Japenese mausers have a reputation as strong actions. The Japanese had a good heat treating process. I have two type 99's, and they both have chrome lined bores and are accurate. I have a type 38 with some characters in white paint that a japanese lady said was a name, possibly the soldier that it was issued to. The mum was the emperor's property mark, so they were ground or defaced as a condition of the armistace.

[floyd2000]

Thanks for the info. I ordered the correct bolt and began giving the rifle a good look over. The bore is in decent shape- this gun was never prepared for long term storage. One thing I noticed is that every screw is swaged and is going to be difficult to unscrew. Im looking for the ammo and am really not concerned about the price as Im only going to fire it a few times.

[SteveG]

Uh, you might want to rethink taking it apart if all the screws are still staked. To some collectors, that ups the value of the rifle.

If by swaged, you mean buggered up by incorrect screwdrivers, then have at it.

Just a thought, there as there are some fussy collectors out there.

Best of Luck,
Steve G.

[gunnut1]

You say the bolt it hosed. What does that mean? The Arisaka bolt is a little different than other bolts. If you are trying to close the bolt by holding the trigger back so you don't have to dry fire it, that will not work with an Arisaka. Just close the bolt and snap the trigger. Make sure it is unloaded, of course.

You also say it has a "ghost ring" rear site. Is the sight fixed or is it a ladder? If it is fixed, then it is a Substitute Type 99, also known as a last ditch. Some folks say you should not fire the last ditch rifles. I will remain neutral on the subject. I have shot mine and it did split the case necks on the cartridges but other than that it shot OK. Seems the problem with the last ditch rifles is poor workman ship.

Also, is it a smooth bore? If it is a smooth bore, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THE RIFLE BE FIRED. These were training rilfes and were never meant to be shot with full power ammo. I understand they were made for blanks only.

Can you post pics. If you can, post a pic of the left side on the receiver. There is a little mark in front of the serial number. This is the series number and we can tell you more about the rifle.

Oh yea, welcome to the Japanese Rifle Collectors Club. You have one, that will not be enough!

[floyd2000]

Thanks for the post guys. The bolt is missing the saftey the firing pin and I think the spring also. The ghost ring is fixed. The mark in front of the serial number 72XX is a "C" type charactor with a diagonal line "/" in it along with a "=" with the bottom of those forming a vertical line toward the "C" charactor. Put all the aforementioned symbols on top of each other and you have the mark. I know that must be confusing but I dont as of yet have a digital camera. The screws were swaged by taking a pointed punch and a small hammer and distorting the metal around the circular part of the screw. The gun has a very light barely noticable bit of rust-the kind that comes off with a little oil. The bore is rifled and so far has cleaned up very nicely. The gun metal should be refinished. Does anybody know what kind of finish if any was factory provided? Also were welded barrell bands common for this gun. Once again thanks for the replys!

[SteveG]

Hmm, methinks, even with a mismatched bolt, in it's original condition with unmolested screws, it is worth more (to someone, somewhere) than if you refinish it. But, refinishing is quite common here on this board and the gentlemen's agreement is "It's your rifle, you can do whatever you want with it."

Best of luck with your rifle and have fun with it.

[gunnut1]

With the mum ground, refinishi9ng the rifle probably wil not devalue it that much. BUT, I would not do anything to it.

Check out this web site. It has the symbols used on the rifle.

Japanese rifle markings (http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html)

You asked about t hekKanji on the stock. Who here knows? There is an excellent knowledge base of Japanese rifles on gun boards. These guys are the hard core collectors. If any one can tell you what the Kanji means is will probably be them.



Gunboards Japanese rifle board (http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html)

BTW: Do not even mention that you are even thinking about refinishing the rifle there. Bad JUJU.

Nice guys, but a little anal about their beloved Japanese rifles.

[floyd2000]

Thanks for the links. The kana marking is a very similar to the series 10 except it is not a complete circle. This may be due to a shallow punch at the arsenal. The rifle was definatly made at Nagoya. I think all I need is the functionig bolt and the follower and spring and this thing will work. I oiled up the finish (metal)and it really doesnt look half bad. The furniture isnt in bad shape either except for a crack on the lower comb and the wood in front of the bayonet lug apparently shrank and is loose. This is the piece with the white Japenese script is. Otherwise the stock is not very dented and is not discolored.

[REDSTAR]

Interesting thread guys. I wouldnt refinish a jap rifle either. neilwest has a source for the 7.7 ammo too. He's posted it before you may want to try a search under his name or maybe he will see this.

[neilwest]

1. I can get all you want. In fact I'll see if I can get the price down a bit and go in with you to get some myself.

[floyd2000]

I would be interested in some ammo too. I seen the 6.5 Jap norma next to the 6.5 Carc. I bought up but Im still looking for some 7.7mm. Let me know.

[alfajim]

I would be interested also, I have never shot mine and have owned it for 20 years.