How do I tell one from another???

[nhetzer]

Hello,
I'm new to Japanese guns and I just picked up a couple of barreled actions that I would like to make complete guns out of. How can I tell the difference between early, late, last ditch and what "series" they are? One has a smooth barrel and the other has tiny ridges in it. I'm assuming the ridged barrel is later because it is "less finished" than the other. I was going to post pics but I don't know how from a mobile device. Website has a totally different format on my phone and seems limited. Any basic pointers would be appreciated as I would like to get the correct parts for them. Thanks all!

Information

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[Patrick Chadwick]

There were several different types of Arisaka rifle. So I recommend that you first establish which type of barreled action you have - Type38, for 6.5mm bullets, or Type99, for 7.7mm bullets. Or maybe a Type100 or...or...

The type is clearly marked on the receiver ring, in Japanese characters. A photo or a sketch of what is on the ring would be a good start, so that we can identify which model you have! And a measurement of the barrel length!

[riceone]

Go to this web site and read and compare: http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html

This web site is posted at the top of this forum. You might look over the rest of the post up there that give out some very good information. riceone

[nhetzer]

Thanks for the help guys. One is definitely a type 99 according to the chracters on the receiver. However the other one has no characters, just the mum. The other symbols indicate it was made at Nagoya and is a series 10. It looks just like the other action and the barrel lengths are the same too. The one without the characters on the receiver is also the one I think is late war so maybe that's why it wasn't marked?
So now that we've got that out of the way I have a couple of other questions. As far as parts go, are they interchangeable from series to series as well as manufacturers? I had heard that a part from one manufacturer may not fit on a different manufacturers gun. Any truth to that? Thanks for all the help!

[fernleaf]

No characters could indicate a later Type 99 - as a time/cost saving measure they left off the model designation.

Most Type 99 parts should be interchangeable - there could be some variance encountered in the dimensions of later parts though.

There were a number of different types of stock fittings as the war dragged on, best to buy some books and gain some knowledge.

This thread names a few good ones... Building my Arisaka book collection

[Mohawk]

No Characters were also first production runs on some Nagoyas and Kokuras. Check the rifle features to see if it is early or not....

[nhetzer]

Mohawk, there really are no features
so to speak because all I have is the barrel and the receiver : ) I'll check out the book fernleaf, thanks!