Help with Arisaka

[4x4ff]

Hi All,

New member here. I have what I believe to be a Model 99 Arisaka. My grandfather brought it back from WW2. I am trying to identify some details on it including what it may be worth. It is in real good condition, It has the aircraft sights, the monopod, dust cover and leather sling. It also has a bayonet and scabbard. It has a serial number of 3789 and an intact chrysanthemum. It has the marks from Tokyo Juki Kogyo. If I can figure out how to post pictures I will. Any idea where to start????


Steve

[kilimanjaro]

Post your pictures, that will help.

The last intact Jap rifle I saw, really nice condition, mum intact, all the wires and sights, was priced at $650, a few years ago. I believe the dust cover was present, but no bayonet.

The bayonets used to be as common as dirt, now $100 and up for average specimens.

My Dad brought two home with him. Three or four thousand sailors got off the fleet carrier Antietam in Tsingtao, where literally a mountain of rifles, helmets, web gear, awaited. Every sailor got a rifle, bayonet if they wanted it, and chiefs and officers got a rifle or pistol, if available. The top brass got a pistol and a sword. The mums were ground off right there on the bund for each sailor, but you could walk it past the grinders for a buck and a smile, they would rather not grind rifle receivers all day. Before they got them back on the ship, the deck officers checked them and dropped every round of ammo over the side.

Lots of card games sailing for the USA, bayonets were pegged at one dollar, rifles two to five, and pistols were twenty. One guy got off the ship in San Diego with a duffle bag full of pistols, had to pay a couple of shipmates to help him carry it. One of them was my Dad, who got a Nambu for his muscles. I have his two rifles, no idea what happened to the Nambu, although it existed through my school years. The rifles bounced around from one closet to the next for sixty years.

You couldn't give me a thousand dollars for one of Dad's beat-up Jap rifles.

[4x4ff]

Lets try this for pictures

[Gunplummer]

The last three digits of the serial number should be stamped on the bayonet lug, the bolt, the safety stud, the firing pin, and the back of the dust cover. This will bump up the value if they all match.

[Blindstitch]

Do you have a picture of the whole rifle?

[NavyVet1959]

My father brought one back from WW-II, but unfortunately, he had it sporterized. Used to hunt deer with it quite a bit. Not sure exactly where it disappeared to. Probably got lost in a move somewhere along the way.

[tahunua001]

well, lets see, it looks a bit pitted from rust so I wouldn't call it excellent condition. assuming all of the serial numbers match I would place it around $450 value or so, and that's assuming grampa didn't have it reamed out to 30-06 so he could actually shoot it when he brought it back.

[Pahoo]

WOW !!!
You've got it all and not many survived, this complete. Check your sling to see if it's real leather or rubber impregnated belting, as well as being reddish, in color. All you need is the ammo, in stripper clips ....

$450-$500

Be Safe !!!

[Blindstitch]

Is the bore clean? Is it a shooter. As mentioned the converted to 30-06 would kill the value but there are many 7.7's out there so maybe it was put in a corner.

My grandfather use to buy them cheap and sporterize them back in the 80's. I have a 6.5 Jap type 38 that has been sporterized by him and it's accurate as hell all day long.

[4x4ff]

More Pictures:








Not sure how to resize these

[Blindstitch]

With photos that size it's hard not to see the details.

[4x4ff]

No kidding. Not sure why they were so big.

[4x4ff]

So what do you guys think???? 500ish??? more??...Less???

[51.50]

If you a patient, you will get top dollar.

[4x4ff]

Now the million dollar (ok...500 dollar) question. Where is the best place/way to sell it??

[NavyVet1959]

Well, you could go put it on gunbroker and list it with no reserve and then you might find out what it is *really* worth to someone. But then again, I'm sure that there are other people just like me who never bid on anything on gunbroker and prefer to just buy FTF locally so that they can see what they are getting. The last 4 or so handguns that I've bought have been off of people who listed them on Armslist, but that is not an auction site, so you set your price and then get to haggle with the potential buyers. As a buyer, I actually like to haggle -- probably because I spent too much time in third world countries where that is the custom.

Where you located?

[4x4ff]

Illinois, close to St. Louis MO

[doofus47]

I would troll gun and auction arms and watch similar Arisaka type 99s with intact mums. The maker is going to be less important for price than the intact mum. There's a hard core group of collectors who will want a specific maker AND unmarked mum to complete their collections, but the bulk of the buyers out there just want an Arisaka "with mum!" They are the ones that will drive the majority of the bidding. Collectors might add some 10-20% on top.

Truth be told, I didn't look at your pictures to see if the serial numbers were all matching. It looks like a fine rifle. The huge sized pics were making me a bit dizzy. But matching/with-mum/with-accessories probably will net you about $500-$700.

Or keep it to pass down...

[tahunua001]

Now the million dollar (ok...500 dollar) question. Where is the best place/way to sell it??

probably armslist or gunbroker but in those cases you are pretty much stuck either being the jerk 5 states away that wants a money order before he'll ship or you'll lose money to paypal's horrendous service charges for non business members.

I would not put the value any higher than $500 and that's pretty steep, although not impossible. patience is the key. I personally wouldn't sell anything that had so much family and world history tied into a single object, be it a gun, car, or other item.