Where and when was this Type 99 made?

I inherited this last-ditch 99 several years ago from my grandfather. His cousin, an American soldier in the occupation, shipped it to him. It has been fired only since then and no more. Ammo for it was unobtainable back in those days. My grandpa was a talented machinist by trade, but he knew nothing of guns. He thought he could bore it out to accept a .410" shotgun shell and he would have a great, long-range, repeating shotgun! This was in the day when killing rabbits and squirrels was the only way his family survived. I seem to recall him telling me that he fired one round through it and that was all. I'm sure it didn't feed right, nor eject. It's a miracle he didn't hurt someone. Anyway, getting back to my reason for posting: The rifle (shotgun) will soon be loaned to a local museum as part of a "Guns of WWII" exhibit. I'm writing a very brief history of the type (won't mention the "modification"), and would like to include the location and date of manufacture. However, the ONLY numbers/symbols I can find are the S/N that is on the receiver and the last two digits are on the bolt. The mum has been ground off, which I know is typical. Can anyone tell with this limited information the location, or at least the approximate date it was made? Thanks
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The stamp in front of the serial number and those after the serial number ID the year, the series of the rifle and maker of the rifle. I no longer have my list of these markings but I am sure someone will have the info for you.

Google "Arisaka Type 99 manufacturers." It will take you to a variety of sources including a brightly colored graph presented by The Firearms Forum. Click on the graph and match the symbols on the left side of your receiver to the symbols on the graph. It will provide you with the name of the manufacturer and approximate year of manufacture. Good luck and enjoy the research!

Photos of the entire rifle would be a big help as they will show the features which can be important in dating them. So long as it is not a training rifle, it is probably quite safe to fire unless you mean your grandfather actually did bore it out for 410. Probably still is but depends on the quality of the conversion. British 303's were bored out for 410 and they use a similar size cartridge.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Photos of the entire rifle would be a big help as they will show the features which can be important in dating them. So long as it is not a training rifle, it is probably quite safe to fire unless you mean your grandfather actually did bore it out for 410. Probably still is but depends on the quality of the conversion. British 303's were bored out for 410 and they use a similar size cartridge.

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Oh, he bored it out alright. But, with no magazine, bolt head, extractor modifications I'm sure it would not work very well.

I wonder if he took the bolt head off of it to prevent someone from firing it. The original bolt head should have worked fine. The magazine probably wouldn't, the 303 conversions are all single shots with a wood plug in the magazine to lay the shell on so the bolt can push it into the chamber.

A Type 99 does not have a removable bolt head . ?? I read that the grampa " did no modifications " to the bolt face , mag or extractor . The rifle is clearly not a trainer , it looks to be a poorly stamped Nagoya series 8 . It would date to 1944 - 45 .

Your rifle was made at the Toriimatsu factory of Nagoya Army Arsenal. It is an 11th series and was made in 1945.

Yes, I was wondering about that removable bolt head thing, too! I'm sure the rifle would fire, just not sure how it would feed and extract with that big claw extractor.

---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------

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Originally Posted by jangle

Your rifle was made at the Toriimatsu factory of Nagoya Army Arsenal. It is an 11th series and was made in 1945.

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Thank you very kindly, sir.

Nagoya Arsenal - Nagoya Type 99's were produced from 1939-1945 with a s/n range of 0-99999 for as many as 13 series (if I understand correctly).

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Originally Posted by jangle

Your rifle was made at the Toriimatsu factory of Nagoya Army Arsenal. It is an 11th series and was made in 1945.

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So this rifle is most likely a "last ditch" or transition to "last ditch" rifle? I am always uncertain where the early-1945 rifles land in the "last ditch' discussions. Mine is also an 11th series (in terrific shape with all matching numbers, #684XX, defaced mum) and has all of the "last ditch" features but still has the sling swivel on the stock.

The term "Last Ditch" is a phrase coined by US collectors over the years to identify with the late Type 99 rifles where the deletion of parts through the production period included:

front sight guards
cleaning rod
pinned bayonet lug instead of screwed on
shortened handguard
rear peep sight
cylindrical bolt handle
wooden butt plate
And in some series, the elimination of machining of dust cover grooves in the receiver, sling swivels, hole drilled through stock for rope sling and the just overall lack of finishing the metal and wood.

The Japanese used the term "Substitute Standard" in '43 when the Arsenals started making changes in first eliminating the mono-pod, chrome lined bores, sliding dust covers and Anti-Aircraft wings on the rear sights. They used Substitute Standard the entire war for the standard type 99 rifles, no matter what late features evolved to.
There were other manufactured 99 designs by the Navy and small rifle makers which did have markings applied to the receiver tops that translate to "Special", "Special Type 99" and "Emergency", that were made very late in the war.