Type 99 arisaka cleaning rod problems

I am in need of some help. My type 99 arisaka is a beautiful series 7 nagoya rifle with original stock and all matching #`s. I managed to find an original cleaning rod after scavenging it from a more beat up rifle. My arisaka takes the long cleaning rod, not the shorter versions, but when i try to put it in i run into a problem. It seems that whoever brought it over from the war forgot to clean out the cleaning rod hole and now there is some kind of rotten packing material stuck all the way down the rod hole. I want to get it out so i can put the rod in but i can`t seem to find a tool that would fix this problem without damaging the stock. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how can i clean all of this material out? Any help is greatly appreciated.

You might try to JB weld a wood or metal screw (the appropiate size) to a metal rod and after soaking the packing, try to hook on to it and pull it out.AGB-1

Wire coat hanger with the twisty part left on.

Thank you guys. I have already tried the wire hanger but could only get out maybe an inch or two of material before the hanger bent up and could no longer penetrate the material. I probably couldn`t do the welding bit since i`m a young collector (i`m only 22) and i lack the experience of a true welder. i did managa to dtermine what the material might be. It looks similar to rotten rope or twine and it appears to be wrapped in a spiral pattern in the hole if that makes any sense. I think imay need some kind of hard sharp probe to poke through the material.

JBWeld is an epoxy. No skill required except mixing the two parts and applying. AGB-1http://www.jbweld.com/?gclid=CLaR3MLp07ICFROnPAoddm0APw

Try using an old Outters cleaning rod and .22 bore brush. Attach it to a drill motor and whittle away at it. Use Hopps #9 to pour into the hole. Use the drill motor on a very low speed.

i think i have it now. i poured a mixture of both hot and lukewarm water down the hole very carefully and now that i let the fibers absorb the water, they`re starting to break apart and now i`m getting out a lot more material than before. Thank you everyone for your suggestions and i know if i need help with my old warhorse again i can come here

I have done this before. I cut the threads off a drywall screw and epoxied it into the threaded end a length of old aluminum cleaning rod section. It will thread into the "stuff" and allow you to pull it out.

update: i have succeeded in pulling out all of the material that was stuck in the hole. Thanks to suggestions about using apoxy solution i cleaned it completely out usng a mixture of hot/lukewarm water and using the apoxy to get the rest off of the sides. I put the cleaning rod in yesterday and now it looks even more beautiful tha it did when i bought it a month ago. Thank you everyone and i`m sure i`ll have more questions in the future about different problems that might come up.

Well, we wouldn't know how beautiful it is without photos :D

Glad to hear it worked out for you. :super:

i`ll try to post some more updated pictures since the only ones i have are when i first got the rifle two month ago. Update: My cleaning rod broke at the screw end. apparently the metal there had been weakened over the years but thankfully i did find a spare last week that has a different head on the outside. it is shorter but it still fits somehow (don`t know how a long cleaning rod could fit into a short rifle but who knows?). I founda reproduction bayonet frog and a sling that is of the period that my rifle was made. Again i know pictures will help and everyones definition of "beautiful" when it comes to guns is different so i`ll show off the old gal`s finish when i can. Until then.........

here`s some photos of my arisaka for all who are interested. sorry they`re so late but i had to get a new camera. now you guy can form your own opinions on my definition of "beautiful" when it comes to this gun. (Note i did add a few things to the gun in the later month. I found an original sling (which is a different sling than the repop one i mentioned in an earlier post), a repop bayonet frog and belt with ammo pouches, and put the cleaning rod in. hope you guys like it. Also i took these pictures before i realized i forgot to put the frog on the bayonet and put the sling and cleaning rod on.

Nice rifle, though I notice thecleaning rod isn't in the pics? :)

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Originally Posted by Claven2

Nice rifle, though I notice thecleaning rod isn't in the pics? :)

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I forgot to put the cleaning rod back into the rifle before i took the pictures (foolish i know) but i need to take new pictures of all my guns anyway so i`ll repost some pics of the rifle with the cleaning rod in it very soon.

Remember, it never happened without pictures ;):lol::thup:

Finally after borrowing another camera ( i swear battery life these days!) here are the newest pics of this rifle with the cleaning rod and the bayonet frog attached and ready to show the world.

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Originally Posted by burb1989

( i swear battery life these days!)

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Rechargable batteries! Pay for themselves in very little time. I keep three sets in rotation.

I never seem to find Type 99s with matching numbers and the mum intact at the same time.

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Originally Posted by jmoore

Rechargable batteries! Pay for themselves in very little time. I keep three sets in rotation.

I never seem to find Type 99s with matching numbers and the mum intact at the same time.

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I`ll remember some more batteries next time i take pictures.
Anyway my rifle has all matching numbers but the mum is completely gone. I have yet to see a type 99 with a mum intact for sale down south here that wasn`t beat to almighty hell and back. The last one i saw with a mum intact did match but it was in such bad shape i just couldn`t try to buy it. The stock was dented all up, the buttplate was rusted beyond saving, and it was missing its cleaning rod and sling. The only reason i even considered buying it was that it had an orignal monopod with it (which from what research i found is expensive).

Rifles with intact mums are in rough shape much of the time due to the nature of their recovery- from the battlefield days or weeks after combat has ceased. Piled up and then rooted through by all sorts of military personnel. Rifles without mums were likely in some degree of controlled storage. Processed after the war ended.

That does make sense seeing as how they couldn`t really keep the rifles clean after they were captured. I`m lucky that the old gentleman whom i bought mine from kept it in such great shape. He told me he worked in a processing center where these rifles were coming in. He took the rifle and a bayonet that came in with it and brought them home. He had only fired it maybe twice in the years he had it. I met him at a gun show when i was looking for another enfield to add to my then growing collection. He saw how much i appreciated all he did during the war and he asked me if i wanted his rifle and bayonet. I asked him how much and he told me he wanted $250 for them both but since i showed a genuine interest in it he sold me both pieces for $150. Came to find out he served in the same navy unit as my grandfather too, which was even more special to me since my grandfather passed away three years ago.

also another thing that intrigues me about this rifle is if the Japanese had a set place where they put the kanji on the rifle itself. There are only two what appears to be whisklike splotches of white paint on the upper handguard and I`m not sure whether they are remnants of some kind of rack number or if that paint had made contact at a much later date. It just makes me wonder.....

These pics may help my quandry a bit. The first is from the closest position to the bayonet lug and the second is near the receiver. Any help will be appreciated.

In this case, it looks like the usual white house paint found on many "closet rifles". If there's little dots of paint scattered elsewhere, then that would be the "for sure" explanation.

But it's good to check first before removing such!

I agree with JMoore. It's the kind of mark you get when you go round a corner in the house/cellar/garage and scrape the rifle on the wall. Or from manoeuvering in a tight corner, like the cellar! Definitely accidental.

That makes a ton of sense. Always good to check with the advisory panel first though so that I don`t accidentally destroy something in the cleaning process right?

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Originally Posted by burb1989

That makes a ton of sense. Always good to check with the advisory panel first though so that I don`t accidentally destroy something in the cleaning process right?

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Certainly! More sets of eyes can't hurt. Virtual or otherwise.