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Hi all,
Well I just made a purchase of a Siamese Type 66 Arisaka that a gun store had mislabelled as a Siamese Type 45 Mauser. Still waiting for it to get here but I am actually fairly excited to see it as it is somewhat of a mix of Arisaka and Mauser features (possibly a better arrangement of the Arisaka design in terms of sighting system).
Heres the photos I have of it, I'll take a few when it arrives. Siamese Type 45 Rifle
Curious as to if anyone has any experience with these rifles?
Very unique and interesting rifles. Stumbled across mine recently. Not common around here. Feel fortunate.
Very nice rifle.
Waiting for pictures of Eagles’ now.
There is some photos of the specific rifle I am getting on the link in the first post.
Nice Type 45/66 Mauser. Those are a bit more common around here as I think only a limited number made it into the USA before you guys banned them coming in. I am pretty excited for this Arisaka as I guess when they adopted the new 8x52r cartridge they also ordered about 50k of these Arisaka variants to supplement the Mausers they had. I have only seen about 3 of these Arisaka variants for sale over the years, one of them being this one. They advertised this example as a Type 45 Mauser, and I would have overlooked it myself if it wasn't for the fact I was just checking to see if it was a Type 45 or 45/66 by looking at the rear sight ramp and being completely surprised as the rear sight ramp on this looks nothing like the Type 45 or 45/66 variants from the side.
Interesting. I have one of the 45/66 rifles myself.
So my conclusions on handling it is this is a very effective military rifle design. Bolt is very smooth. Rear sight is a beefy and effective ramp sight. Bolt assembly/disassembly is fantastic as all the later Arisaka designs are. The magazine has a quick release floor plate (unfortunately not hinged though, but still better than the standard Mauser style plate). The sliding dust cover which would be very handy for a soldier. It does have some weirdness which I unfortunately can't learn much more on as the middle barrel band screw is seized in place and was partially stripped when I got it (front band was also seized but I managed to get the screw to move). I put enough downward forces and sideways torque to bend my screwdriver tip but still couldn't get it to budge and since Type 66 Arisaka parts aren't thick on the ground I am not going to try any more on it.
Overall I would say this takes the best features of a M98 Mauser and the Type 38 Arisaka design and blends them together. If it was a bit shorter, with a 100m zero and a better rimless caliber (say 7.65x53, or 7mm Mauser) I would be hard pressed to find a better military service rifle.
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...9&d=1609608434
That fantastic arisaka bolt design
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...8&d=1609608430
Floor plate release
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...7&d=1609608425
Nice rear sight
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...5&d=1609608389
Arisaka action with the sliding dust cover
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...4&d=1609608385
Siamese crest on the receiver
https://www.milsurps.com/vbpgimage.p...3&d=1609608381