Type 99 prices

[Malygris]

I found a source for average condition Type 99s, mum neatly removed, normal handling marks and dings, original bluing, bright shiny bores, matching numbers.

I don't have any Japanese militaria or firearms, and after just finishing Letters from Iwo Jima, I've got to have one for my WW2 rifle collection.

What is a good price for one of these? Should I wait and hand select one from a gun show, or would you order one of these?

Thanks for replies.

Chris.

Information

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[Thompson28]

I picked this T99 up at a show last weekend for $250. Very good condition, all matching with neatly removed mum.

[Malygris]

Hmmm this place is asking $230 for one, $200 for two or more. Sounds like he's right in line there, not great, but not bad either. Thanks, that is exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

[Detroit-1]

You can't just say one price fits all. At that price they should be close to having everything, for the maker and series. Mums, monopods, and matching dust covers will raise the price. Rare makers and series will raise it even more. For 230.00 be sure they also have cleaning rods. Get a good book on Type 99's so you know what you are buying. I use " The Japanese Type 99 Arisaka Rifle" By Don Voigt. Go to http.//forums.gunboards.com, under Firearms of the Rising Sun. Good luck! I started getting just one, now I have 99's 38's and carbines.

[Malygris]

Yes, I realize the AA sights, mono pods, slings, mums, dust covers, etc will add to the value. These rifles have none of that. We're talking basically a shooter that hasn't been bubbaed. We're probably also talking the later series, without the better finishes, etc - the series that the exigencies of war had started to undermine the quality of. I just want an example to fill a hole, but definitely not one that Backyard Bubba has had his grubby fingers on. I'm going to have to wait on this rifle now anyway. I just dumped a grand into a commemorative Colt 1911 100th anniversary model. Yikes, there goes my gun allowance for the rest of the year!

[Aragorn243]

Type 99's with the mum ground off are bringing less than $200 at my monthly gun auction. Average is about $160-175. All matching with bayonet and mum brought $450. I figured the bayonet probably added about $150 to that price because it had both a wood scabbard and a bamboo type mesh frog. Mid $200's, I think you should be getting one without a ground off mum or an excellent condition otherwise matching rifle.

[tkarnes]

I just picked up a type 99 with intact AA sight, neatly ground mum, no monopod or dust cover, all numbers matching. Bore is nicer than most new rifles stock looks good but I beleive someone tried to refinish the stock. I picked it up for $200 on gunbroker then drove an hour from my house to pick it up. It shoots good, looks good besides the crappy finish on the stock, Im gonna strip off bubba's stain and put some kind of finish on it, cant be any worse than it is now.

[jeep]

200-300 dollars for clean shooting grade with out mum. Matching ##ser and mum &85-90 will add 200-400 dollars to price

[Patrick Chadwick]

It shoots good, looks good besides the crappy finish on the stock, Im gonna strip off bubba's stain and put some kind of finish on it, cant be any worse than it is now.

Whoa! Not so fast with the woodwork!

If you are not familiar with these rifles, learn a bit before you do anything.

Many are scratched, many scraped, many sanded. But just every now and again you get one with a proper Japanese lacquer finish. I have one such. It looked at first like what I call a "treacle" rifle - where Bubba has slopped floor varnish over everything. It is not. It is a beautiful, red-tinted, hard (but not brittle!) Japanese lacquer that would make an antique dealer drool. Just very, very, grubby, so I cleaned it very, very, carefully.

Such a finish is truly irreplaceable, so please check your rifle vey carefully and get to know what a real original finish looks like before doing anything irreversible! One clue is the joint on the butt where the "toe" is fitted in a tongue-and-groove. If you have an original finish, this joint can be practically invisible. Once anyone starts stripping etc, this joint tends to break open as the edges of the wood sections shrink along the join.

Go ask an antique dealer. He will tell you that preserving an original lacquer finish is well worth some care. And will cry if you say you want to strip it off!

Of course, the probability is that it has already been Bubba-ed. But just in case... check first!

Patrick

[303Nut]

Do what Patrick says... you might regret messing with the finish later on.