Type 99 TJK 37th series

I recently picked up a TJK 37 series rifle missing the monopod, cleaning rod, and bolt cover. The owner’s family looking for the rod. I really know very little about 99’s. All parts match it appears from what I’ve read. It’s in 17k range and one source says it may not have a bolt cover (would it be serial numbered) but others say to 21k. Would 17k have a monopod, it has the band for one and the forearm has some minor dents on each side which to me indicates it may have had one (sn?). I assume it’s a long rod, and are 37 series serial numbered or do they have a specific proof if the family cannot find it. I would like to restore it as the stock has a little damage(battle?) but otherwise it’s all in tack, mum, etc and none of the screws look like they have been monkeyed with as all the stakes are in place. Any comments would be appreciated. Regards

Early TJK rifles in this SN range should have all the goodies with full length cleaning rod as I believe the transition took place in the early 20k range. These early rifle parts should have came from Kokura arsenal and will bear those proofs. If you start looking for parts, they will not be cheap and remember a Kokura monopod will have a sharper bend (on top when in stored position) than the other arsenals.

Thank you for the information. I will try to find a cleaning rod for sure if the cannot locate it but may consider a monopod but doubt I will look for a bolt cover unless I stumble into one. Are any of the parts mentioned serial numbered?

Cleaning rod and monopod are not numbered, the dust cover should be.

J-rod, thank you for the additional information

You’re welcome. Glad to help.

If the screws are still staked, then the odds are the finish is original also. As such, it would not need to be "restored," rather it should be "preserved" (ie, metal cleaned and oiled while in the stock and clean the stock with water). You really cannot recreate the original stock finish. Trying to repair the damaged stock and/or trying to refinish the stock would destroy the collector value since it sounds as if it is in original condition. Sounds like a great piece of history and congrats on finding it!

I agree with Singer. I have many Japanese rifles and only a few have nice stocks. I have a few with bullet holes/frag damage on the stock and I won’t mess with it. It’s part of collecting milsurp rifles that have seen war….not some Mosin or Chinese SKS that sat in cosmo for 50 years.

Series 7 Nagoya hit with frag.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...a513ab8a-1.jpg

Type 38 carbine with bullet hole in the stock.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...bf93bd8a-1.jpg

No as you mentioned, I don’t intend to do anything to the rifles finish. It was poor wording and frustration on my part after fighting with auto correct trying to use Japanese words etc. the only restoration I was thinking about was adding a correct cleaning rod, and maybe a monopod and bolt cover. I like the original finish and character from what in my imagination could be battle damage verse just dropping the rifle in the closet over the years. It has a hole or small chunk missing in the cleaning rod channel about half way between the upper and lower band. Thank you for the comments!

Attachment 123824Attachment 123825

This is a common occurrence in Japanese firearms where there is not a clean cut designation in serial numbers between a change in components.
If your forestock wood and rear band shows no evidence of ever having a mono-pod installed, I would not be looking for one to put on it. TJK 37th mono-pods are proof stamped on the right side of the band spring with the "sha" stamp, and the foot of the pod itself is the standard rounded foot, not the flat foot of the Kokura 20th-21st series rifles. Look in the dust cover grooves for any bluing wear. If it was issued with a cover, you will see wear. Most, if not all original long cleaning rods I have observed are not proofed, but show a slight plum color in the bluing. I agree with Singer and J-Rod to leave the rifle "as is". If you are purchasing from the GI's family, it's a good chance that this rifle is "as manufactured".

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Originally Posted by cpc

No as you mentioned, I don’t intend to do anything to the rifles finish. It was poor wording and frustration on my part after fighting with auto correct trying to use Japanese words etc. the only restoration I was thinking about was adding a correct cleaning rod, and maybe a monopod and bolt cover. I like the original finish and character from what in my imagination could be battle damage verse just dropping the rifle in the closet over the years. It has a hole or small chunk missing in the cleaning rod channel about half way between the upper and lower band. Thank you for the comments!

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You did an awesome job with the Japanese words!

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Originally Posted by jangle

This is a common occurrence in Japanese firearms where there is not a clean cut designation in serial numbers between a change in components.
If your forestock wood and rear band shows no evidence of ever having a mono-pod installed, I would not be looking for one to put on it. TJK 37th mono-pods are proof stamped on the right side of the band spring with the "sha" stamp, and the foot of the pod itself is the standard rounded foot, not the flat foot of the Kokura 20th-21st series rifles. Look in the dust cover grooves for any bluing wear. If it was issued with a cover, you will see wear. Most, if not all original long cleaning rods I have observed are not proofed, but show a slight plum color in the bluing. I agree with Singer and J-Rod to leave the rifle "as is". If you are purchasing from the GI's family, it's a good chance that this rifle is "as manufactured".

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Thank you for the tip reference looking for wear in the dust cover channels. I hadn't thought of that.

That’s great to know on the pod. From what I was told by another collector he thought the pod should be a kokura with more of a (flat) triangle base instead of rounded. If you look hard there are slanted lines which could be monopod dents near the upper band. It looks like the rifle may of had a cover. At first I didn’t think so but looking on the opposite side of the groove I can see a small line where it looks like a cover may have touched but since I’ve never owned one before I don’t know if that area would be touched. I took a picture of the marks on the lower stock. One is fairly clear the other is not. Any idea what the little circle is between the kokura and tjk mark is? And thank you to all that have taken the time to comment or add information. Regards

Your stock is the correctly proofed stock for TJK.
It looks like the rifle had both, the mono-pod and a sliding dust cover at one time. You can see the faint lines, as you mentioned, in the lower forestock, as well as the wear on the right side band screw. You will also see bluing wear on the rear band where the mono-pod was installed. Depending on the known history of this rifle, the pod and DC could have been issued items, or they could have been installed and removed at a later time. The mono-pod definitely hadn't been on the rifle very long for it to show very light marks in the wood.

The small circle between the Arsenal symbols on your receiver is believed to signify "first quality".

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Originally Posted by jangle

Your stock is the correctly proofed stock for TJK.
It looks like the rifle had both, the mono-pod and a sliding dust cover at one time. You can see the faint lines, as you mentioned, in the lower forestock, as well as the wear on the right side band screw. You will also see bluing wear on the rear band where the mono-pod was installed. Depending on the known history of this rifle, the pod and DC could have been issued items, or they could have been installed and removed at a later time. The mono-pod definitely hadn't been on the rifle very long for it to show very light marks in the wood.

The small circle between the Arsenal symbols on your receiver is believed to signify "first quality".

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Thank you for the additional information and comments.