Type 99 auction rifle

[Aragorn243]

I am working to get a representative rifle for each of the major powers in WWI and WWII and have been missing both Japan and France's battle rifles. I knew from this months auction listing that there were about a dozen Arisaka's available today. Went to look at them yesterday and all of them had the "mum" ground off. It has been my goal to get one with the mum intact but as I've been after one for three years with no luck in my price range I decided to go for one in decent working condition with a good bore. There were five in this condition today. Four had stocks that basically looked bad. The kicker was that there was also a French MAS 36 built prewar and in very good condition. And worse, this rifle was listed after all the Arisaka's. Based on the condition of the rifles and my very limited budget, I figured I could afford the MAS 36 alone.

The first 4 Arisaka's sold for between $90 and $120. Number 5, the last of the decent ones and the one with the nicest stock was coming up and I decided I couldn't let it go for that price as they have not sold for this cheap in the last three auctions when one was available.

It listed as:

Japanese “Type 99 Arisaka”. 7.7mm bolt action military rifle made at the Kokura Arsenal. Receiver “mum” ground off. Missing the cleaning rod and dust cover. Mismatched bolt. Good bore with shine. Excellent action. Dark brown dirty, rusty, metal. Good/very good hand guard and full length stock showing the usual dings and scratches. Correct swivels and metal butt plate. (C&R)

I got it for $90, I'm pretty happy about it. Unfortunately it busted my budget for the MAS and I had to back off at $350 and lost it. I know I can probably get a post WWII built MAS for less than that but prefer the pre WWII type.

Anyway, brought it home, didn't do much with it until this evening. Bore had some grease and dust in it but cleaned out spotless. Action was a bit stiff but that was because of heavy dried grease all over it. Looks like cosmoline but I wouldn't expect that on these. Interior of the action has no rust at all, including inside the magazine and the spring. Rifle has never been disassembled although someone tried as they messed up the rear trigger guard screw trying to break the staked screw. Bolt does not match but after oiling and wiping it down it works perfectly. Light surface rust on some of the exposed barrel and on the receiver. Should come off with fine steel wool and oil. I haven't had a chance to determine if it will accept a cleaning rod or not yet, will do that tomorrow. Magazine plate does not appear to have been blued. Only place with pitting appears to be a small pencil eraser sized spot on the top of the bolt handle. There is a lot of grease on this, seems to be squeezing out from the stock as well so I wouldn't expect rust under there. Hate to take it apart as the screws are still staked. May replace the messed up screw at some point.

These are the before cleaning photos. I don't plan to do much to it other than get the rust off and wipe the stock down. Looks like original finish on the stock.

















Will probably work on cleaning the grease and rust off tomorrow and if I get it done I'll post after photos.

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