Type 99 matching, mum, dust cover and wooden tag

[the old gringo]

a group of us had a firearms display with a group of WW2 transportation company re en actors at our local High school about 12 years ago several Jap flags were on display from several local vets along with brass tags letters and some wonderful weapons . pretty much all had no idea what the writing was . a group of Japanese students from the local university came out to look and we ask them they read the letters , flags and other things there. they were excited to help it was something watching the old men and these 19 year old kids talking ! you might photo and contact a local university .

Good evening all. During my quest to add an Arisaka to my WWII collection I stopped in to a local pawn shop. There was a T99 there that a friend told me about. I found it included the dust cover and was completely number matched and had the mum. Very cool! It also had a wooden tag with Japanese writing. The attached leather sling was original but hard as a rock. The rifle is a 5th series Nagoya without the monopod. I don't think it ever had one as there is no corosponding marks on the stock from wear. From another discussion board a member thought the tag read "Platoon Commander Ishibashi." I found markings on the underside of the sling that have not been translated. An effort to soften the sling with Pecards failed, so I am leaving it as is, although when I fired it the hard sling made somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. I can't figure out how to post pics to this original post but will try in a reply. If someone can confirm the original translation I would appreciate it as I would a translation from the sling. Online translators have been no help. I am hopeful the sling markings will be unit information so I'll have a better chance at terracing the rifles history. Best regards - Bob

[seabot2]

I would say that the tag was placed on the rifle during racking of arms in the barracks. Since it has the platoon leader's name on it, I guess he had first dibs on this rifle. Could have been one of the best rifles in the platoon.

[Rhpd201]

I don't have a military background, so I don't know what racking of arms is. I assume it is short term storage, over night, etc? I agree and believe it makes sense the tag would be used to get the rifle back to the soldier it was issued to, but tying the tag to the sling for very a very short term seems awkward to me since the rack could be labeled or ordered in some way. I am most likely over thinking this..

[Aragorn243]

Racking is the placement of the firearms in racks for storage. It doesn't necessarily mean there were actual racks, but that they were located in a centralized location.

This being the platoon leaders rifle, it probably spent most of it's time in the rack. He was issued it but he was probably also issued with a sword/swords and a pistol and when leading his men in combat would probably been in possession of those rather than the rifle. That would explain how the tag survived. It was probably found where he had left it after the battle.

That is simply an educated guess. I doubt it is possible to ever truly know the history but knowing the responsibilities of a leader, his job was not to fight one on one with the enemy but to direct the entire force under his command.

Even US officers carried a variety of weapons often quite different than the men under their command. The 1911 pistol, the M1 carbine, the Thompson, etc were often carried by the officers and senior NCO's as they were smaller and allowed them to carry out their duties more efficiently. Others chose to carry what their men carried and there is at least one commanding general who carried an M1 Garand into battle on D-Day.

Being the military however, each unit was assigned weapons based on it's "orders" which specified what each member was to be assigned. The Japanese officer in question was probably assigned the rifle even if he chose not to carry it.

That's my best guess.

[Rhpd201]

That makes perfect sense and explains everything. Thank you for insight!

[303Nut]

That is one nice T-99 with all the goodies on it. Your 5th series did not come with a monopod.

[Rhpd201]

Thank you - I understood some did not, but I did not know how to figure that out. I assume with it being late war production they discontinued the monopods but still had plenty of the bands.

[lambo35]

If you want to continue to shoot your Arisaka, you could remove the rear band with sling along with the rear sling swivel. Be careful during removal to not scratch the wood up front, use WD-40 on the wood, it works very well protecting the wood from scrapes. Your sling is a canvas-rubber combination [like plywood] and cannot be made flexible other than for a short time after heating it up with a hot hair blower, not recommended! A similar period sling which will look like a Japanese one is a Swede sling from a mod 38 or 96, should be under $20.00. The front band and rear swivel for the 99 are readily available and not very expensive. Your existing front band should slip over the front sight [band upside down!] without having to remove the front sight. Hope this helps.

Chuck

[WarPig1976]

Don't undo an screws that are penned,It's only factory original once... At least I wouldn't .

[lambo35]

Warpig's thought is a good one, helps to maintain the rifle's originality to leave the screws un-buggerred and staking not disturbed. You have to decide, do you want to shoot it without damaging an expensive sling or do you want to leave it [possibly] as found. There are pros-n-cons for both positions.

Chuck