Help! Unusual Stock Marking on Type 99

[Noozeyeguy]

I bought this Type 99 a couple years ago in a package deal, mostly for the intact mum and the lack of import marks. It's a Toyo Nogyo Series 30, low 8k serial number, in very rough shape. Almost no bluing, no accessories or sight wings, and the stock looks like it was used to club sharks... but it has this stamp on the left side of the stock:



Can anyone shed any light on this?

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[burb1989]

Reminds me of similar marks found on some training rifle stocks showing which school or academy it was given to. I've also seen something like it on naval issued Type Is.

[Aragorn243]

The mum would have been removed if it were a school rifle. With that in mind, I'd place odds on it being a Chinese capture or end of war recovery. The Chinese marked their rifles also. I read neither Chinese or Japanese however.

[AZPhil]

The mum would not have been removed but it would have a ring of circles going around the mum. That is how my Type 38 school rifle is marked along with the added kanji denoting school next to the Type 38 on the receiver

Semper Fi
Phil

[Noozeyeguy]

Thanks for the insights. I can't determine if the characters are Japanese or simplified Chinese. They appear more Chinese to me, which would lean towards a Chinese capture. There are no additional marks on the receiver other than the factory ones.

[Big_Al1911]

Here is a translation of the stamp, a co-worker has a wife from Japan. I think he mentioned she got some help from a friend in Japan also.

Attachment 72633

If I did this right, the jpg of the translation is above. Sorry about the small size, the translation is "Education Practice Item" or in other words "Training Item". Backs up the training academy lineage.

Big Al

[Noozeyeguy]

Here is a translation of the stamp, a co-worker has a wife from Japan. I think he mentioned she got some help from a friend in Japan also.

Attachment 72633

If I did this right, the jpg of the translation is above. Sorry about the small size, the translation is "Education Practice Item" or in other words "Training Item". Backs up the training academy lineage.

Big Al

Outstanding! Just to be clear, the inscription is in Japanese not Chinese?

A training rifle would jive with the early production date. One would assume a classroom gun would see a lot of handling but not a lot of time on the range... I need to give the bore a closer look, I remember it being decent. I haven't shot it but I believe it's functional; I have ten empty casings of Norma 7.7 brass along with ten live rounds that came with it.

I'll post up some additional pix tomorrow.

[Big_Al1911]

I believe he said it is written in Kanji. Kanji - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Noozeyeguy]

I believe he said it is written in Kanji.

So it could be Chinese, then.

Scratch what I said about the bore being "good." It still has rifling but it's pretty shot out. Not a great pic but you get the idea:



A few more pix:











The sling is pretty weathered. Could it be original? Dunno.

[vintage hunter]

[quote=Noozeyeguy;363518]it's pretty shot out.[/quote
Arisaka's have Metford rifling and it looks shot out compared to other rifling types. Probably nothing wrong a good cleaning won't cure.