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Old 10-18-2013, 01:26 PM   #16
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Again thanks for the feedback people!

I did purchase the rifle yesterday, but I bought it to enjoy it, whether that be as a shooter or as a quick and fair flip to a collector. You know, you find a good deal and you grab it for the decent value offered then use it or move it to somebody that it holds more value to. By no means am I a collector, I keep only shooters so if this rifle may need special care, attention, and ammunition to fire safely it needs to find a good new home. Sucks about the ammo especially, I've never owned a gun that I haven't shot at least once, but I don't want to risk blowing this one up. FWIW, until some of the recent warnings I read here, I was ready to go shoot it, it looks solid to my untrained eye anyway.

There was a bit more rust/pitting on it than I first thought. It doesn't look too bad, not heavy concentrations anywhere and none very deep. I got close-up pics of it all if anyone cares to see. All the numbers on the gun match, but the number on the bayonet is different.

I took a bunch of pics, but I couldn't get a clear shot of the bore. Any advice? If I can get a clear pic, you'd be able to see it is chromed and sharp. Here's a few for now:







Nice clean Type 38 rifle. I believe that is a Tokyo Arsenal makers mark on it, if I recall correctly. It appears at first glance to be matching, but without stripping it all the way down you can't say for sure. I don't see any of the school letters on it so it should be good to shoot. You will need 6.5JAP ammo for it.

Great board for getting up to speed on those is here: http://forums.gunboards.com/forumdis...The-Rising-Sun LOTS of info on Japanese stuff there. The stock looks almost too good; if it is a repro that will take a hit on the price but if it is original, then whatever you do, do NOT "clean it up/strip it and refinish it to make it look better" or you can cut the value WAY down. Those used a special varnish mixture that you just pretty much cannot match with modern products. IF it is all original and matching with the bayonet, you are probably in the $300-$350 range at full retail. I had one just a bit nicer that sold for $500 a while back, but it took me a while to get that money out of it and mine was an early one, not a later one which helped the price as the quality went down on these as the war progressed.

That said, these are great shooting little rifles and personally I would hang onto it a while and shoot it first before you flip it. Ammo isn't on the Wal-mart shelves, but it IS out there. Check Gunbroker if none of the local reloading shops or gun shows in your area have any.
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Old 10-18-2013, 01:57 PM   #17
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I tried take it all the way down, but I wasn't sure about how. I found some instructions earlier today, so I may take it apart tonight and give it a thorough cleaning. All I did last night was lightly clean up some rust on the outside of barrel & receiver, cleaned & greased the bolt, swabbed the inside of the barrel pretty good, and then light coat of oil on all the metal. I didn't do anything to any of the wood, the bayonet, or the scabbard.

This must be an oddball gun with all the differing reviews. If anybody lives in the Carolinas and wants to possibly pick up this gun, tomorrow may be a good opportunity. There is a fairly big gun show in Charlotte this Sat. and Sun. Oct. 19th & 20th. I will probably go Sat. at least and bring this gun along.
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Old 10-18-2013, 02:08 PM   #18
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FireEater. That is in beautiful shape.. Think? mine is 7.7?? Bayonet for it was $125.
Mine has the "aircraft leading sights." Plus the cheap bi-pod..
Bought some old WWII ammo for it, one in 5 rounds went bang.. Damn those bullets are big..
Traded an old AK for it..
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Old 10-18-2013, 02:24 PM   #19
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FireEater, that appears to be a Type 99 rifle. The trigger guard is different from a Type 38. If all of the numbers match I doubt that it is a LD rifle.

For more info about your rifle check this site out:

//oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
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Old 10-18-2013, 02:32 PM   #20
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FireEater. That is in beautiful shape.. Think? mine is 7.7?? Bayonet for it was $125.
Mine has the "aircraft leading sights." Plus the cheap bi-pod..
Bought some old WWII ammo for it, one in 5 rounds went bang.. Damn those bullets are big..
Traded an old AK for it..
4th your rifle is nice looking from what I can tell.

How come you didn't shoulder fire it? I thought you guys from the 2nd Brigade were fearless.
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Old 10-18-2013, 02:40 PM   #21
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4th your rifle is nice looking from what I can tell.

How come you didn't shoulder fire it? I thought you guys from the 2nd Brigade were fearless.
Fearless..? Hell as soon as I landed I grabbed a guys shovel and starting digging..
For real had no idea what the hell caliber this thing was? So we put it on the saw-horse in the swamp, got back behind a tree and pulled the rope..
Damn thing did not go bang.. Gave a guy two beers to pull the bolt..
3rd round went bang and the bullet came out. Cleaned it and heaved it in the gun room.. Damn thing scares me.. Heavy as hell..
How the hell did those little Nips hold and aim them????
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Old 10-18-2013, 08:26 PM   #22
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How the hell did those little Nips hold and aim them????
Quite well based on the number of U.S. Marines, and Army troops they killed with them.

The rifle is heavy, but reasonably well balanced (for a battle rifle). I have fired hundreds of 7.7 rounds through various Type 99 rifles. Less than 100 through Type 38's, but that is more because until recently, I had limited access to 6.5 x 50 Ari. I now have the dies to make my own 6.5 x 50 cartridges, so I plan to correct that little oversight, and work out the bugs in my 6.5 children.

The rifle in question is most definitely a 7.7mm Type 99 LD "Last Ditch" rifle. The problem with them is the lower quality of the steel more than anything else. By 1944, the US Army Air Force was bombing the living daylights out of Japan, and so steel production dropped. As such, much of the steel became either poor quality, or mixed quality from miscellaneous sources. The use of slave labor did not help the quality. (Just ask the Nazis about slave labor building highly sophisticated ballistic missile components, IE V2 rockets)

Anyway, if you clean the weapon really well, and inspect it thoroughly, including scoping the bore if possible, or if you know someone in the medical field, see if you can get the metal X-rayed. If that does not show any serious defects in the steel, you could try underpowered 7.7 rounds, but I would never charge ammo for an LD over 50% of normal.



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Old 10-18-2013, 09:44 PM   #23
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Mea culpa on that one. It is indeed a Type 99 last ditch. I was thinking of the Type 99 having the anti-aircraft "wings" on the sight, but forgot that the last ditch rifles dropped those and other details like the metal buttplate, etc. As such, it would be a 7.7 caliber and not a 6.5Jap caliber. Thanks to Horse and RTO for correcting me on that.
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Old 10-20-2013, 08:44 PM   #24
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Default New home for collector rifle

This rifle belongs in a better place.

I bought it as possibly an inexpensive shooter while helping out a buddy. Now that I know more about it, I want to find it another place to reside because it just isn't the gun for me.

I have already listed it locally, but I thought that I should at the very least speak to the people who are kind enough to offer their knowledge on the rifle for free about their possible interest in the classic.

I haven't posted it for sale here because I don't do paypal so I'm not sure how comfortable any of you would feel about sending a money order to the noob with no reputation. Also, I worry about sending this piece of history with some of these couriers these days. However, I am open to suggestions if anybody here is interested in giving this rifle a better home.

PM me if we need to discuss further or if you want me to e-mail all the pics I have of the gun and bayonet.
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Old 10-20-2013, 10:07 PM   #25
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FireEater, thanks for the offer. I have enough Jap rifles though.

Rack up a few more posts and put it in the "Wanted to buy/sell/trade" section. You might get a bite.
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Old 10-20-2013, 11:11 PM   #26
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This is a great thread, ive been wanting to get one, for a historical piece, never would have thought there were unsafe ones!

thanks
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Old 10-24-2013, 11:42 AM   #27
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Yesterday the Arisaka found a new home, and I think it worked out fair. I got my money back out of it with a little profit on top, and the buyer said he is a collector that wants to add the rifle to his collection. The brief conversation with the buyer did encourage me to ask you C&R aficionados about sales etiquette you may or may not use.

When selling to someone, do you always try to divulge as much information about the product as possible even if it disputes what the buyer thinks it is? When I bought this rifle, I knew next to nothing about it, but thanks to posters here, using other www sources, and talking to people more informed than me at a LGS I was able to absorb much knowledge on the subject. The most crucial information I gained about the rifle was the "Last Ditch" version stuff like no cleaning rod, reduced material used on sights, different front barrel band, and wood buttplate on stock.

Anyway, the buyer asked what I knew about the Japanese Arisaka so I started telling him. I didn't get far until he took the conversation over telling me that the rifle was missing part of its rear sight. At that point I tried to inform him of the specific LD attributes that make them unique, but he didn't seem to want to hear it. I wasn't there to argue or even debate with him, so I just let him say his peace then hand me the money so we could go our seperate ways.

Should I have forced him to listen to what I knew and he didn't in this specific instance? I don't want him to get hurt firing a possibly dangerous weapon, and I do want him to know everything I know about it. Maybe a post-sale email is in order. What do you think?
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Old 10-24-2013, 11:54 AM   #28
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He 'KNEW' more than you.
Let it ride.
Caveat Emptor!
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Old 10-24-2013, 02:16 PM   #29
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Fire;

Self proclaimed experts don't want to hear squat.

Just make sure you save a link to this thread, in case he blows the rifle up in his face, and tries to sue you.



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Old 10-24-2013, 05:08 PM   #30
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He 'KNEW' more than you.
Let it ride.
Caveat Emptor!
Exactly...

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