New member, as of today.......so be gentle..........
The #4 rifle is, in my opinion, the pinnacle when it comes to a bolt action battle rifle. It's no target piece, despite being made into such by dedicated shooters in the "Commonwealth", but it was never meant to be. It was designed to be rugged, fast and accurate enough to take out the enemy which it did with abandon. There's an old saying......"The Germans designed their rifle based on a sporting gun. The Americans designed their rifle based on a target gun. The
British designed their rifle to kill people". Very true.
Having collected military rifles for many years, ALL of them are my favorites. However if I were placed in a situation with harsh conditions, few repair parts and long spells between servicing (a real end of the world scenario) I'd pick.........brace yourself.........a Japanese type 99 with the chrome bore. I don't base this opinion on "favorite" types of rifles, really cool sights, etc. No, the type 99 is simple and rugged. Parts breakage is not unknown, but is very rare. The bolt has fewer pieces than any other military rifle I can think of and disassembles in a heart beat for cleaning. The chrome bore scoffs at dirt or corrosive ammunition. On top of all this, it's light and handy making it easy to pack around. If the caliber (7.7 mm) bothers you, set the barrel back and rechamber it for something like .30-06 or .300 Savage.
The type 99 has one feature that no other bolt gun possesses. To the uninitiated, that big 'ol "oriental" looking safety knob at the back of the bolt is weird. That knob performs three functions:
1. It serves as a spindle to keep the parts together.
2. It serves as a very positive safety.....it's either on or off, no mistaking it for anything else.
3. It serves as an effective gas shield. If you examine the rear of the knob it's concave, so any gasses from a punctured primer are directed AWAY from the shooter's face. Now look at a Mauser, Springfield or Enfield and you'll see that gas can easily travel along the striker. I bring this up because I've actually had it happen years ago. A defective primer let go and the gas was released through the normal escape hole in the receiver ring, while the rest blasted sideways and away from me. I had glasses on at the time of course, but if not I would have survived unscathed. I changed ammunition and kept shooting.
The Japanese rifles are not "modified Mausers", they are IMPROVED Mausers. A lot of engineering went into providing the Emporer's troops with a good rifle.
I have a sporter in my collection, left to me by a departed friend, built on a type 99 action. He discovered that by machining the barrel collar and breech so that the barrel would screw in one more turn, it would now chamber the 7.65 Mauser (
Argentine) round without any chamber work at all. Since he had three surplus CASES of that ammo on hand, it gave him a rifle that would laugh at the corrosive priming. By simply pulling the bullets and seating a soft point, he had a deer rifle.
I "prefer" one of my 1903's, a 1917 or P-14, an Enfield #4, a '98 Mauser, even an SKS.........they're all wonderful. But for down and out conditions and possible abuse, an
Arisaka.