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Thread: This rifle really doesn't fit with general theme of the rest of my collection

  1. #1
    Site Supporter CleverNickname's Avatar
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    This rifle really doesn't fit with general theme of the rest of my collection

    This is my paternal grandpa, in 1943.



    He joined the Navy in August 1942. He'd gotten his draft notice and didn't want to join the Army, so he joined the Navy. He'd tried to join the Navy in May 1941, right after he graduated high school, but they said he was 10 lb underweight and refused. However, in that intervening year, the requirements were relaxed somewhat, so off he went to boot camp, and then to the heavy cruiser USS Salt Lake City, where he served for the duration of the war as a 40mm antiaircraft fire control director. But this thread isn't about 40mm AA guns. I'm here to post about a different gun, namely his bringback Type 99 Arisaka.

    Back in the 90's he wrote an 80-page memoir about his service in WWII which he gave to all his grandkids, so I'll let him speak for himself:

    Quote Originally Posted by My grandpa
    We covered troop landings in Aomori, Hakodate and Otaru, and it was nice not to have fired a shot to do so. After the troop landings were completed and we were anchored in Ominato, we were granted a liberty to go ashore on the mainland of Japan. We were allowed to wander around in only a small area and there wasn't anything to do, but we did get our feet on the enemy's mainland. While we were anchored in Ominato, the captain had Japanese rifles brought aboard and anyone who wanted one as a souvenir could have it. I decided to take one and brought it home. I still have it and it means a lot more to me now than when I first got it.
    (click for bigger images)




    The mum is intact. The first two characters are "9", and the last character means "Type" or "Model."


    The marking on the right after the serial number is for the Nagoya arsenal. The marking on the left is a series mark, in this case for the number 4, so the serial is actually something more like 4-29644. Apparently this dates it to 1939 or 1940 manufacture.


    Flip-up rear sight goes out to 1500 meters.


    I had someone tell me on another board that these characters are numbers (a rack number?)


    The hooked guard on the bayonet is the earlier style. The mark is for Kokura arsenal.


    Bayonet mounted, monopod extended.


    Here he is with the rifle in 1993, still fitting in his old uniform from 50 years earlier.


    I bought 100 rounds of 7.7 Japanese and shot it last month. It shoots a little high and to the left, but the group isn't terrible.


    As far as I know, it was the only firearm he ever owned. I'm sure I'm the first person to fire it in in ~75 years, my uncle said grandpa never fired it and I have to reason to doubt him. I don't think 7.7 Japanese was readily available at the time, anyways. Grandpa wasn't a hunter so luckily it wasn't sporterized or rechambered in another cartridge like so many other bringback Arisakas apparently were. When I was a kid, I knew the rifle existed, but I never actually saw it myself until 2005, a couple years after it had been given to my uncle & younger cousin, and a couple years before my grandpa died. I really wanted it, but my grandpa chose who he'd given it to, so respected his decision and kept my mouth shut, hoping that I might have a chance at getting it in the future. After my grandma died last year, the extended family began divvying up family memorabilia, and the rifle was offered to me. So this is now the bolt-action wood-stocked C&R oddity in my collection full of modern polymer-stocked NATO-caliber semi-autos.

  2. #2
    Very cool!

    I also have a Type 99 Rifle, my grandpa brought it back from WW2. Yours appears to be in really good condition. Do you have the paperwork with it from when he brought it back?

  3. #3
    Frequent DG Adventurer fatdog's Avatar
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    Very cool, many of the bring backs I have seen including the one floating around in my family have had the emperor's mum ground off. Many are also missing the dust/mud cover. Great that yours is intact!

  4. #4
    Site Supporter CleverNickname's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CWE View Post
    Very cool!
    I also have a Type 99 Rifle, my grandpa brought it back from WW2. Yours appears to be in really good condition. Do you have the paperwork with it from when he brought it back?
    It's in pretty good condition because it sat in a closet for decades in Socal & Arizona. No paperwork that I know of, I'm sure my uncle would have shipped it with the rifle if he had any.

  5. #5
    Thank you for sharing.

    I recently acquired a type 99 made in that same Nagoya arsenal, also with a Kokura bayonet. Mine was made in late 1941 when they were just starting to have to make compromises due to a lack of materials and time. Mine lacks the monopod and that cool sling. Your post reminds me I need go actually go shoot it!

    Edit to add this resource for dating and other info on these rifles:

    https://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html

  6. #6
    Site Supporter CleverNickname's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TicTacticalTimmy View Post
    Edit to add this resource for dating and other info on these rifles:

    https://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
    That's the same page I found about a month ago.

  7. #7
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    Very cool. Thanks for sharing.
    Semper Paratus,

    Steve

  8. #8
    "While we were anchored in Ominato, the captain had Japanese rifles brought aboard and anyone who wanted one as a souvenir could have it."

    Sigh.

  9. #9
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    What a damn fine bringback Arisaka, and the family connection makes a world of difference!

    Thank you for sharing its story!

  10. #10
    I Demand Pie Lex Luthier's Avatar
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    That is a good looking example.
    There is a type "I" Arisaka
    in our family (Italian built & delivered to Japan via cargo submarine!) But it's not in anywhere near as pretty a shape as yours is, and is missing a buttplate and cleaning rod, if I recall correctly. Your bayonet is a bit nicer, too.
    "If I ever needed to hunt in a tuxedo, then this would be the rifle I'd take." - okie john

    "Not being able to govern events, I govern myself." - Michel De Montaigne

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