Type 99 matching, mum, dust cover and wooden tag

Good evening all. During my quest to add an Arisaka to my WWII collection I stopped in to a local pawn shop. There was a T99 there that a friend told me about. I found it included the dust cover and was completely number matched and had the mum. Very cool! It also had a wooden tag with Japanese writing. The attached leather sling was original but hard as a rock. The rifle is a 5th series Nagoya without the monopod. I don't think it ever had one as there is no corosponding marks on the stock from wear. From another discussion board a member thought the tag read "Platoon Commander Ishibashi." I found markings on the underside of the sling that have not been translated. An effort to soften the sling with Pecards failed, so I am leaving it as is, although when I fired it the hard sling made somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. I can't figure out how to post pics to this original post but will try in a reply. If someone can confirm the original translation I would appreciate it as I would a translation from the sling. Online translators have been no help. I am hopeful the sling markings will be unit information so I'll have a better chance at terracing the rifles history. Best regards - Bob

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Originally Posted by Rhpd201

I can't figure out how to post pics to this original post but will try in a reply.

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I guess my problem was related to accessing with an IPAD rather than a PC.....

Your translation of the characters are correct. Shiki Shotai = commanding platoon. The name is Ishibashi . The characters on the sling is shusan , don't know what it refers to, but translates to third highest.
Nice rifle, I hope you got it at a good price.

nice even with matching dust cover

Nice score..:thup:

Thanks or the confirmation and additional info! I was looking for something I could shoot and my only real requirement was an intact mum. I won't shoot this one much because I don't want to damage the sling. I hoped to soften it some to help preserve it and also be able to remove it. I picked it up for $399. My dad is a WWII vet and brought a K98 back, all matching. I know what his medals, etc means to me, so when I realized there was a connection to a specific soldier, the rifle had a lot more meaning. In fact, if the soldier has relatives in the States I would be willing to send it to them if they wanted it. I just need to figure out how to find info on him.

Rhpd201, nice of you to think of returning things to soldiers. I have had to deal with a few friends who had the same thoughts when they discovered a name on weapons from WW2. It is not a good idea though, weapons were not personal property of the soldiers.

I understand what you are saying and my feelings are based on what I would appreciate if it were something my father used in the war. Given how much I know I would treasure it, I guess I feel it would be wrong not to offer it. i don't know the circumstances of the rifle coming to the states. The soldier may have died or been captured. If he died, the family may not have anything. maybe just receiving the tag and sling would be good..... In any event, this rifle having a connection to a specific soldier is a new experience for me. I have over a dozen weapons from 7 countries from wwii and this one haunts me (for lack of a better term). Ultimately; however, I may never be able to find out if there are any relatives in the States.

Given the casualty rates of Japanese soldiers vs capture, chances of him surviving the war when his rifle was captured are extremely slim. Had he survived, neither he nor his family could now own the rifle in Japan.

You are probably right. Does anyone know the purpose of the wooden tag? I found when I fired the rifle that it has a tendency to try to wedge between the bolt and receiver. I doubt it would survive combat as a soldier would pretty quickly get rid of it. I read in a different discussion group that it was intended to make sure the soldier did not loose the rifle (because it was the Emperors property), maybe, but my firing of the rifle (in my mind) seems to dispute that. I wonder if it was used during long transports so the soldier would be able to get their issued weapon back. I have heard others say it was a "capture tag" but that doesn't make sense to me either. If we wanted to know what soldier had what rifle we could write it down in the soldiers POW file, but why would we label the rifle, and in Japanese?

a group of us had a firearms display with a group of WW2 transportation company re en actors at our local High school about 12 years ago several Jap flags were on display from several local vets along with brass tags letters and some wonderful weapons . pretty much all had no idea what the writing was . a group of Japanese students from the local university came out to look and we ask them they read the letters , flags and other things there. they were excited to help it was something watching the old men and these 19 year old kids talking ! you might photo and contact a local university .

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Originally Posted by Rhpd201

Good evening all. During my quest to add an Arisaka to my WWII collection I stopped in to a local pawn shop. There was a T99 there that a friend told me about. I found it included the dust cover and was completely number matched and had the mum. Very cool! It also had a wooden tag with Japanese writing. The attached leather sling was original but hard as a rock. The rifle is a 5th series Nagoya without the monopod. I don't think it ever had one as there is no corosponding marks on the stock from wear. From another discussion board a member thought the tag read "Platoon Commander Ishibashi." I found markings on the underside of the sling that have not been translated. An effort to soften the sling with Pecards failed, so I am leaving it as is, although when I fired it the hard sling made somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. I can't figure out how to post pics to this original post but will try in a reply. If someone can confirm the original translation I would appreciate it as I would a translation from the sling. Online translators have been no help. I am hopeful the sling markings will be unit information so I'll have a better chance at terracing the rifles history. Best regards - Bob

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I would say that the tag was placed on the rifle during racking of arms in the barracks. Since it has the platoon leader's name on it, I guess he had first dibs on this rifle. Could have been one of the best rifles in the platoon.

I don't have a military background, so I don't know what racking of arms is. I assume it is short term storage, over night, etc? I agree and believe it makes sense the tag would be used to get the rifle back to the soldier it was issued to, but tying the tag to the sling for very a very short term seems awkward to me since the rack could be labeled or ordered in some way. I am most likely over thinking this..

Racking is the placement of the firearms in racks for storage. It doesn't necessarily mean there were actual racks, but that they were located in a centralized location.

This being the platoon leaders rifle, it probably spent most of it's time in the rack. He was issued it but he was probably also issued with a sword/swords and a pistol and when leading his men in combat would probably been in possession of those rather than the rifle. That would explain how the tag survived. It was probably found where he had left it after the battle.

That is simply an educated guess. I doubt it is possible to ever truly know the history but knowing the responsibilities of a leader, his job was not to fight one on one with the enemy but to direct the entire force under his command.

Even US officers carried a variety of weapons often quite different than the men under their command. The 1911 pistol, the M1 carbine, the Thompson, etc were often carried by the officers and senior NCO's as they were smaller and allowed them to carry out their duties more efficiently. Others chose to carry what their men carried and there is at least one commanding general who carried an M1 Garand into battle on D-Day.

Being the military however, each unit was assigned weapons based on it's "orders" which specified what each member was to be assigned. The Japanese officer in question was probably assigned the rifle even if he chose not to carry it.

That's my best guess.

That makes perfect sense and explains everything. Thank you for insight!

That is one nice T-99 with all the goodies on it. Your 5th series did not come with a monopod.:)

Thank you - I understood some did not, but I did not know how to figure that out. I assume with it being late war production they discontinued the monopods but still had plenty of the bands.

If you want to continue to shoot your Arisaka, you could remove the rear band with sling along with the rear sling swivel. Be careful during removal to not scratch the wood up front, use WD-40 on the wood, it works very well protecting the wood from scrapes. Your sling is a canvas-rubber combination [like plywood] and cannot be made flexible other than for a short time after heating it up with a hot hair blower, not recommended! A similar period sling which will look like a Japanese one is a Swede sling from a mod 38 or 96, should be under $20.00. The front band and rear swivel for the 99 are readily available and not very expensive. Your existing front band should slip over the front sight [band upside down!] without having to remove the front sight. Hope this helps.

Chuck

Don't undo an screws that are penned,It's only factory original once... At least I wouldn't .

Warpig's thought is a good one, helps to maintain the rifle's originality to leave the screws un-buggerred and staking not disturbed. You have to decide, do you want to shoot it without damaging an expensive sling or do you want to leave it [possibly] as found. There are pros-n-cons for both positions.

Chuck

The screws on the rear sling swivel are not staked. However, the screws for the trigger guard (I believe) are. A previous owner really messed up the rear screw attempting to remove it. I like lambo35's idea of replacing the band and rear swivel as I would like to continue shooting it from time to time. His post also explains why Pecards had no affect on softening the sling! Thanks again for continued input - the knowledge here is extensive and appreciated.

I have a real nice 5th series vet bring back and the screws are still staked. No way I will booger them up either.