Type 99 late war with bayo

[bearhunter]

I recently picked this rifle up at a gun show. It is as nice inside as it is outside. Bore is perfect and the Mum is still present. Might be one of those from a warehouse. Doesn't look like it laid in a field or saw any use. The bayo isn't quite as good but retains the leather frog and is in very good, unsharpened, unground condition.
I was happy to find it at a reasonable price, along with a bayonet made in the same period of the war. Wartime cuts are obvious on both.

Thanks Harlan for posting the pics for me. (later)

Information

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[Harlan (Deceased)]

Here they be -

[fernleaf]

I don't think its that late war....

Can we see a decent clear photo of the markings around the serial number??

[bearhunter]

Send me a PM with your email address and I will try to get some clearer pics for you. By late war, I was implying mid 1944 and later. The reasoning behind this is the bolt shroud is not milled but plain and welded in place and the trigger guard/floorplate/bands are left rough. The machining marks are still evident on the receivers.

[Arisaka99]

There are some good reference books out there on Japanese rifles. Toyo Kogyo 33rd series. Stock may have been stripped and lightly sanded. Toyo Kogyo rifles from mid series on had a distinctive deep red color to the stock. I am on the road and don't have my books to check crossbolt confoguration, but it may also be an earlier Nagoya stock rather than TK (which would explain color). Rifle was produced in late 1943 and is generally referred to as a "transitional" model. By mid 1944, most makers had gone to full substitute standard (often called "last ditch") configuration with fixed peep, half length upper guard, fixed front band and wooden buttplate. TKs maintained the best finish and fit through wars end of the different makers.

[jeep]

Yes a trans 1943-1944. Does it have a chrome bore?????

[bearhunter]

Sorry for being so late getting back to you.

No, it doesn't have a chrome lined bore. No monopod. No provision for anti aircraft sights. The bolt does match but the saftey is plain, not machined with knurling. No dust cover either.

It seems to be a mixture of well finished and interim finished parts. The bore is bright and shiney. At first I thought, as did a few others, that the stock had been refinished. The cartouches are sharp and there are several dings in the finish. The wood feathers in the finger grooves are still intact as they are on the butt.

I did take it out to shoot and as mentioned in other threads, it groups very well but with .313 diameter bullets. I have a stash of CIL .311, .312, .313, .314 diameter bullets. They used to come in plastic trays of 50 in their own individual compartment. They were also quite common. No one I know makes the different sized bullets anymore. I got them from an estate sale of a fellow that owned a gun shop in Rutland, BC, Canada, many years ago.

[fernleaf]

Here's a photo of my Series 34 to show the reddish hue that TK stocks have.....