WWII Type 99 Japanese rifle

[Yankee00]

Hello. I am NOT a gun enthusiast or collector, but with my Father's passing, I am now the owner of a WWII Japanese rifle that my Grandfather brought back from Okinawa. I am going to try to attach some pictures, and I would sincerely appreciate any information anyone may have as to what I have and if it has any value.

[Yankee00]

Sorry....I keep getting an error when I attempt to attach the photos.

[ligonierbill]

Run your photos through something like FreeImage first. Might help.

Value for rifles like this depend almost entirely on the condition. First, does it have the "mum". Most were ground off. Big plus with. Rust or lack of it is always a big deal. Is the bore in good shape? Most of these stocks are beat to snot. If yours is in good shape, another big plus. A pretty nice one, albeit with the mum ground off, went for $450 on Gunbroker last month.

[BillM]

Welcome to the forum

Reference here if you want to figure out the markings on your rifle:

http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html

[RickB]

Also, worth more with intact anti-aircraft sight, monopod, cleaning rod, and bolt cover; a lot of guns are missing all.

[Yankee00]

Thanks for the responses. I see the problem. I took the pictures with my camera phone and they are 6MB each. I will need to attempt to resize them to get them under the 244KB site limit. However, the chrysanthemum is still in place as well as what appears to be two Japanese symbols for "9", but the third one we cannot tell what it is. Based on the site that BillM suggested, we know it was manufactured at the Nagoya arsenal.

[JT-AR-MG42]

The third marking is the Japanese character for 'Type'.

That is a nice looking mid-war rifle.
If it's a straight Nagoya manufacture, I'm guessing it is an early or mid 5th series.
Series markings are to the left of the serial no.

Thanks for sharing your grandfather's trophy.

JT

[Yankee00]

Sorry....forgot to post the picture of the S/N.

[RC20]

Looks like a pretty decent one to me.

Not into them but always interested in Mil Surp so will follow

[Roamin_Wade]

Please tell me exactly how you got your pics to work. I’m having exact same problem. Please explain like I was about 12 years old because the only thing I really know about computers is that the help button never helps.

Nice rifle. Don’t sell it right away. It is a historic object not just a rifle. Refer to Collectors Firearms for price comparison. Collectorsfirearms.com

[Hummer70]

You can also get reloading dies and make ammo to shoot it. The best brass I have found to make the 7.7 from is the Lake City 30.06 match brass. It is heavy and will take expansion. I tried commercial cases and it is too thin. You will have to trim your cases as the 06 is about 3/16" longer than 7.7 brass.

[Mike Irwin]

That's REALLY nice condition.

It looks like the only thing missing is the sliding bolt cover, and that can be easily replaced.

Intact mum, intact rear sight with the ears...

The only real thing I see is the lack of the monopod, but you can also get those as replacements.

Very nice overall, I'd not be surprised to see that bring north of $500.


That said, the rear barrel band looks very different from the ones I've seen that have been intended for use in mounting the monopod. That one doesn't have the squared off lower profile that it should have....


Ok, from what I just found, it looks like there was another variation of the rifle that did NOT have the monopod, and which used a simplified rear barrel band.

Your rifle may never have been equipped with the monopod.

[RickB]

Ok, from what I just found, it looks like there was another variation of the rifle that did NOT have the monopod, and which used a simplified rear barrel band.

I did some googling of "type 99 monopod" and also was sort of confused by the "loop" on the OP's rear band, thinking it didn't look like the mounting point for the monopod.
My gun has faint troughs in the stock, where the monopod had been impressed into the wood, though the monopod is missing.

[44 AMP]

Nice looking type 99 considering what its been through.

Dust cover is missing (expected) Everyone reports that the Japanese soldiers threw away the dust covers whenever they could. (they rattled).

No monopod, which is also common, and there were rifles that never had them.

Intact "mum", which is a big plus to the collector value, and is assumed the rifle was a battlefield pickup, rather than a gun surrendered at the end of the war.

The AA "wings" on the rear sight (used to establish lead on low flying aircraft), and the style of the bolt knob show its not a late war production version, nor is it the fabled "last ditch" rifle.

The 7.7x58mm (7.7mm Jap) is the ballistic twin of the .303 British. Same bullets same speeds, same pressures. the only difference is the case dimensions. Brass can be formed from .30-06 cases (GI .30-06 is what I've used) or sometimes you can find commercial cases, I bought a 100 from Graf's some years back, so I didn't have to make any more 06 into 7.7mm.

As will all the 99s I have seen, the stock is made of several pieces. There's probably a joint under the forend band. Be aware, sometimes the glue has become "one with the ages" and I've seen one come apart when shot.
(didn't break, just came apart)

Arisakas don't command the $ that some more desirable milsurps do. Your gun is in pretty good shape, for a combat veteran, and the intact chrysanthemum marking means it should be near the top of the price range for rifles in the same condition.

I'm not sure, but I think the marking is for the Nagoya arsenal.

[Wyosmith]

My guess is about $1000 to $1200 in that condition. Your rifle is SUPER clean and in excellent condition from what I can see. If the bore is shiny my guess for value is probably pretty close.

Altered Type 99s can go as low as $150 to $200. Condition is super important. One in 99% condition is not worth 2X more then one in 50% condition. It's worth about 5X - 6X more.

[Yankee00]

I apologize for the delay, but we are still trying to clear out my Father's house. As far as how I was able to include the pictures, my brother told me about a free site called http://imgur.com. I am NOT endorsing this site or attempting to persuade people to go there, but after I set up a free account, I was able to upload my pics, resize them and include them in my posts here.

[RC20]

You are understandably busy and that kind of need takes first priority.

Thank you for the reference, good to get one as I don't have one.

I looked at it again and am impressed. It really is an outstanding example of an issue gun that is in great condition.

[Mike Irwin]

You know, it just dawned on me what that little loop is...

It's not on the bottom of the barrel band (which is how it looks in that picture).

It's the sling loop on the left side of the barrel band sticking below the stock.

The second picture in this thread (http://www.theguncounter.com/forum/v...ic.php?t=12753) shows what I'm talking about.

Sigh.

[RickB]

You are so right!

[COSteve]

44 AMP is spot on for his assessment of your Arisaka Type 99 above.

My son snatched up a great, 1940 Nagoya produced, Arisaka Type 99 Series III Rifle back in 2013. It's complete, with matching s/ns, anti-aircraft sights, correct monopod, matching s/n bolt cover, and intact Chrysanthemum on receiver. It's got a clean bore, crisp rifling, and a sling. His is worth north of $750.

The Arisaka Type 99 are said to have very, very strong actions but most have weak stocks made of inferior woods available to the Japanese during the war. The 7.7x58mm Arisaka ammo was a 175grn fmj fired at 2,440fps and is available from PPU. Even at 70+yrs old and fitted with mil sights and a less than target trigger, using PPU's 175grn ammo, we found it surprisingly accurate even out to 300yds.

Here is his with his s/n correct 1944 Nambu 2nd Series Type 14 Pistol. They are a part of his 'AXIS and ALLIES' collection of all WWII combatant's (German, Japanese, and Italian vs U.S, Great Britain, Russian, and France) main battle rifles and primary sidearms.

[Drm50]

About 5 yrs ago I sold a Jap with dust cover, mono pod, aa sight and Mum for $1K. It even
had the paper work a Marine bought during WW2. I think the rifles that were brought home
before surrender of Japan have Mum intact. McAuthur ordered Mums defaced as a political
deal to allow the Emporor to save face with Japanese public. Jap rifles have come along way
in value from when I was a kid. I don't remember mil surp ammo being available, I herd it
was dumped in the ocean. Norma was only one loading for it and a box of 6.5 or 7.7 Jap was more than value of the rifles at the time. I wish I had my Dads but he traded it for a
TV Rotor in early 50s. His was a early 6.5 carbine with folding bayonet. They still can be
picked up reasonable off individuals. Everyone is not aware they are now collectors items.
During 50s into 60s most gun shops wouldn't take them on trade. When 98 Mauser & Brit
303s were $10-$20 who would want a Jap, to shoot?

[Model12Win]

Very nice Jap gun!

[ernie8]

He is not really "spot on " as everything he said is wrong . The Rifle looks to be a very late Nagoya series 5 rifle [ photo is not clear enough to tell , but it has those features ] . It is not missing a dust cover as it never had one . It is not missing the mono-pod as it never had one and does not even have the band for one . It was made with a solid fore end to the main stock . Only later made rifles had a loose fore end and they were Never "glued " , just captive . The stock has been sanded and finished [ just look at the grasping grooves ] that really hurts the collector value . Worth about $300 due to the sum of the other parts .

[Mike Irwin]

" It is not missing a dust cover as it never had one."

It's likely that it had one when originally manufactured. There's no concrete information I know of as to when the dust cover was finally abandoned as an issue item, but it's likely around the time that the "aircraft ears" were dropped, sometime late in the Series 6 or early Series 7 rifles.

This gun has the ears, so I think it's a solid bet that yes, it had the cover.


"It is not missing the mono-pod as it never had one and does not even have the band for one."

Yep, that's been discussed in length.


"The Rifle looks to be a very late Nagoya series 5 rifle"

[ernie8]

That late of a Nag 5 rifle never had a cover . It is interesting as it is as late of a 5 with AA sights that I have ever seen . But you did figure out what a sling swivel was.