Japanese Arisaka T99: What must you watch out for when buying?

K

Kimio

New member
So I'm in the market for a Type 99 Arisaka, however, I'm a little worried about getting a lemon.

I was wondering if there any pit falls I should keep an eye on while shopping for one of these rifles, besides the usual quality control checks that go along with firearms that are this old.

Furthermore, I am curious about who may still manufacture the 7.7mm Japanese cartridge, I'm pretty sure Privi Partizan makes some ammo that is safe to load into these old rifles.
 
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I haven't seen any PRVI in Japanese cartridges. the only people I'm still aware of is Hornady. Grafs has two store brands, one is made by hornady and has not been produced since the ammo and components shortage started, and the other is remanufactured ammo. Arisakas have pretty loose chamber tolerances so the cases tend to blow out a lot, if you're full length sizing your brass will wear out quick and I wouldn't trust any remanufactured ammo in a japanses caliber. the only thing to really look out for with arisakas is late war production on the type99s the japanese were desperate to get rifles in hands by the end of the war and gradually they began cutting corners and bypassing quality control. first they stopped checkering the metal on the safety knobs, then they stopped adding the monopods and anti aircraft sights.... by end of the war they had a non adjustable peep welded to the gun(instead of ladder sight pinned), non-rounded bolt handles, and wood buttplates(instead of the standard of the time which was metal). get prewar to early war production type99 and you'll be fine. get any of the 6.5mm variants you'll be better.
 
my japanese t-99,s are not loose chambered and if you shoot proper 7.7 japanese norma-prive ammo and load them with in reason you will have no problems. i even have one rechambered into 3006 that i load for useing .311 bullets and with the original sights will shoot 1.5-2 inch groups at 100yds. as with any milsurp rifles have them checked by a gunsmith to insure they are safe to fire, be they mauser-springfield,enfield,carcano or t-99. in blow up tests ackley found the t-38-t-99,s to be very strong. eastbank.
 
read that some folks were re-sizing -06 brass, how safe would yoy say this practice is
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Very safe, people have been using .30-06 brass for years. After sizing the brass needs to be trimmed as it is too long.
 
So ultimately the older the rifles the better the quality will likely be.

Is there any real significance to having an intact Mum on the rifle? To my understanding this makes them a little more desirable just from a collectors point of view.

Is there any particular time frame of manufacture that I'd want to keep am eye out for in regards to getting the best example of the T99 at the height of their production in regards to quality of construction?

As others have mentioned, shortcuts were made over time as war necessity demanded more and more rifles as others were lost to the war.
 
An intact "mum" indicates a rifle captured in combat (not necessarily by the American who brought it back) vs. one taken from a depot after the Japanese surrender, which adds some historical value. Also, of course, it is a part of the original markings. Both add value to an intact "mum".

The early rifles will have full adjustable sights, be reasonably well made and finished, with "plum shaped" bolt handles and nicely finished safeties, with well finished stocks. A complete one will have the monopod and dust cover. Late guns will have cylindrical bolt handles, non adjustable "peep" sights, rough stocks, and even buttplates of tacked on wood. No Type 99 is of the quality of a good Type 38; all Type 99's were made under wartime conditions. But there are still some nice ones out there; the trouble is that most owners know what they have. The day of $10 Arisakas (and $15 Lugers) is no more.

Jim
 
7.7 Jap

McAurthur gave order that war souvenir guns had to have Mum defaced to let
the Emporor save"face", out of occupied Japan. Mum adds to value.
I have been forming 7.7s out of 3006 for years with no problems. Used in
many Japs I have owned.
 
the gunbroker listing is a beautiful rifle but not exactly a prime specimen. the dust cover and monopods obviously do not match, those are either replacement parts or were pilfered off other rifles as the bluing on them is pristine and does not match the wear on the rest of the metal. the mum though intact, is defaced, so it is likely a depot gun surrendered at the end of WWII so that does drop a bit of the collectability and slightly diminishes the monetary value. I would say it's worth about $300 which the bids have already driven beyond so I would probably pass on that particular rifle.
 
Hmm, I'm not particularly worried about how collectable it is I suppose, since I'm looking for a rifle to shoot rather than something to put up on a wall
 
not a problem, but also keep in mind that collectability directly drives the monetary value of these rifles. even if a person spent $1000 on modification of one of these rifles and turned it into a beautiful tack driver, the monetary value is not going to be equal to the price of the rifle+ the price of the modifications, it's going to be the original price of the rifle-50%. the intact mum, does absolutely nothing to increase the safety, accuracy, or reliability of the firearm, it just serves to drive the price up $50. the AA sights are useless unless you plan on camping out at the end of a runway and try to take out planes as they are trying to land and take off, but they add about $25 to the price. the monopod is half useless for trying to stabilize the rifle, but that also adds $50. dust cover? also pretty much useless but if you have it, that's additional $50. parts matching does nothing except prove that no parts were ever replaced on the gun, but lack of all matching serial numbers can cut the value by as much as $150. so a person that has all 5 of those features intact pretty much has gun worth 60% more than most of the other rifles out there just because of the rarity in which guns like that are encountered, yet they are no more or less functional than any of the other rifles that demand a lower price.

so if I were you; a fellow looking for a shooter with a bit of history but care nothing for the collector's value of it, I would look for a early war production rifle, that has had the MUM removed, is missing the dust cover, AA sights, monopod, and maybe has a few mismatched serial numbers because ultimately it'll cost you about $250 whereas a perfect specimen will cost you double that and has no more potential to be any better of a rifle than any other.
 
i bought my japanese rifles at good prices,but it took some looking., you can full lenth resize 8mm mauser brass in the 7.7 resize die to may 7.7 cases, a little short in the neck but ok. i just bought a byf 98 mauser with matching numbers that was made into a sporter(original stock cut), drilled and tapped with bolt bent and a cheesy 4x scope for 150.00 with a ex bore. that rifle with out any modifcations would have been worth 700-800 dollars, now its just a target or hunting rifle. eastbank.
 
kimio
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=472314409
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First of all, be cautious of the grey blanket. Look here and search 'blanket' for more on that.

I bought a T99 shooter myself. They're great, way-overbuilt rifles with decent sights and moderate kick. I looked for a ground-mum rifle built from 1940-42. That way there were no questions about quality control issues during production. Take your time; you can do the complete research on which series in those years should have what features you'd like to have. (aircraft sights vs ladder sights, particular manufacturing location, monopods, etc).
If you want the pricey bells and whistles (e.g. monopod, dust cover, un ground mum, original sling, muzzle cap, etc) they're out there, but they will cost you and not add a lick to the functionality of the rifle.

Take your time and you should find a really fine rifle in whatever specs and condition you're looking for in the 250-350 price range. Be patient.

Ammo: Hornady, Norma, PCI make ammo; usually it is produced seasonally (another word for 'infrequently').

reloading: I've been saving up my 30-06 to cut down, but you can also buy spec T99 brass and I've heard (but not tried, so I don't recommend personally) you can fire-form 8x57 brass to 7.7 specs. The known-best option is to buy caliber-correct brass, imho.
 
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