are Arisaka type 99's hard to get?

when did most of the WWII Japanese Arisakas come into the country? are most of these bring backs? by us servicemen? or were they mostly brought in via commercial importer?

I have yet to see one with an import mark.  There were piles of them the GI's grabbed to bring home.  Most are probably bringbacks... especially if the mum is ground as that was the policy.  I imagine there are prolly some imports floating around too though.

I thought I read somewhere (maybe here) that the mum being ground off was the sign of a surrendered rifle, that way it was the solider surrendering and not the royal emblem surrendering. I always thought the rifles with the flower were bring backs, and I vaugely remember reading that there was one company who imported them a while ago and then didn't bring any more in after that. So all you see are private sellers giving up their imported ones (with no importat marks) with a rare GI bring back from time to time.

I could easily be very wrong though.

The problem is finding one that hasn't been Bubba'ed. Almost all of the T99's I have seen have been sporterized to some degree. It isn't easy to get parts for them to return them to as issued configuration either, like you can do with other milsurps that have met Bubba and his "tools".
I wish people would just leave the milsurps alone, if they want a sporter, they should buy a sporter.

i have 2 both are bring backs from my great uncle. He left one alone and it looks like a french used it, it looks like it was dropped once never fired, and then he converted one to shoot 30-06 for deer hunting, both shoot good the one in orginal condition looks likea collectors peice so that is probably why my uncle didnt mess with it,i have them now since he died however.

A very few Arisakas were imported from China in the late 90's.  When I mean a few, I mean a few.  They were also in very poor shape.  I'm not sure who brought them in.  It might have been Springfield Sporters, Navy Arms, or Century.

99.99% of Arisakas were either captured or surrendered.  If it still has the mum, it is most likely a wartime capture.  If the mum is ground, it is a post war surrender.

Quoted: i have 2 both are bring backs from my great uncle. He left one alone and it looks like a french used it, it looks like it was dropped once never fired, and then he converted one to shoot 30-06 for deer hunting, both shoot good the one in orginal condition looks likea collectors peice so that is probably why my uncle didnt mess with it,i have them now since he died however.

pics?

I have a bring back with the mum still on it. It has sat in a garage for 30 years or more before I found it. My dad carved his name into the stock when he was little. It is rusty as hell and the bore was filled with hard dirt.

I just bought one for $125. The wood and bore are excellent. All parts are matching. The monopod and bolt dust cover are gone. The antiaircraft sights are still there though. The mum was lightly ground and is readily discernable.  From what I have read, the rifle was produced in Hiroshima in 1941. I hope that I didn't get ripped off.hinking.gif

I've seen a lot of them going for double that on Gunbroker (still keeping my eye open for one with the mum still on it ), so I would say $125 for the rifle was a very good price.

I have a "last ditch" type 99 with no import mark that I can find. Mum is fully intact.

I think there has been some recent imports as I see quite a few at gun shows.  

here's my shooter.

Mum ground, all matching though, great bore,

I have a partially assembled 99 with the MUM intact, no stock yet for it though.

Going to have to go dig mine out of the safe. Really nice T99 w/mum intact still had the dust cover no AA sights or mono but it was in excellent shape.

Best part is that I have a Jap bayonet that my grandfather brought back with him from WWII.

Quoted: Best part is that I have a Jap bayonet that my grandfather brought back with him from WWII.

lol, same story here.

he got his off Okinawa. the previous owner was killed.

I love these rifles.  Not really into the type 38's for some reason.  

I need to learn reloading just for the 7.7 jap caliber.  Hopefully sometime soon.

Has anyone actually fired one of these rifles? Mine fits well in the shoulder and sights well. I was looking into reloading since new ammo is about $1 a round. Is it worth shooting? I also have a k98, a Mosin M1891-30, and an Enfield No. 4 mk 1. I shoot those rifles very cheap. What kind of groups can I expect from an all matching rifle with new ammo?

Quoted: Has anyone actually fired one of these rifles? Mine fits well in the shoulder and sights well. I was looking into reloading since new ammo is about $1 a round. Is it worth shooting? I also have a k98, a Mosin M1891-30, and an Enfield No. 4 mk 1. I shoot those rifles very cheap. What kind of groups can I expect from an all matching rifle with new ammo?

I've shot about 5 rounds out of this one, and I've had it now for maybe a year(?).

I don't kid myself into thinking that the Arisakas I build or buy are plinkers.  Collecting only.  If you don't reload, you'll never wind up shooting it.  

As for accuracy wise, with arisakas, probably more than any other rifle it varies GREATLY.  Some will give good groups, some horrible.  The reason a lot of people collect Arisakas, is because there were a lot of different qualities and makers in Japan, which means there's many different kind you can find.  Some factories pumped out great arisakas, others with poorer equipment didn't.  then you get into the last-ditch arisakas and they can a lot of the time be unsafe to shoot.

I'm assuming the shooter I have, gives pretty impressive groupings, I was able to without any trouble shoot some clay pigeons off hand at about 50 yards away.  That's the only time I've shot it.  An author in Guns and Ammo has a 99 that even has a slightly enlarged headspace, he says with handloads he gets about 3" at 100 yards.

-mark

Thanks for the info. I think that I will have to make some handloads and take it out to the range.

Yea, the 2 boxes of Norma that I have cost me about $35 each.

I know Grafs and Buffalo Arms hav the Hornady ammo and it's a bit cheaper.

yep Hornady on sportsmansguide.com is $20 plus shipping for 20 rounds of loaded rounds using graf brass.  Good stuff, just make sure you save the brass for future reloading projects.