Siamese Type 66 Arisaka

[Eaglelord17]

Hi all,

Well I just made a purchase of a Siamese Type 66 Arisaka that a gun store had mislabelled as a Siamese Type 45 Mauser. Still waiting for it to get here but I am actually fairly excited to see it as it is somewhat of a mix of Arisaka and Mauser features (possibly a better arrangement of the Arisaka design in terms of sighting system).

Heres the photos I have of it, I'll take a few when it arrives. Siamese Type 45 Rifle

Curious as to if anyone has any experience with these rifles?

Information

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[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

Very unique and interesting rifles. Stumbled across mine recently. Not common around here. Feel fortunate.

[Ovidio]

Very nice rifle.
Waiting for pictures of Eagles’ now.

[Eaglelord17]

There is some photos of the specific rifle I am getting on the link in the first post.

Nice Type 45/66 Mauser. Those are a bit more common around here as I think only a limited number made it into the USA before you guys banned them coming in. I am pretty excited for this Arisaka as I guess when they adopted the new 8x52r cartridge they also ordered about 50k of these Arisaka variants to supplement the Mausers they had. I have only seen about 3 of these Arisaka variants for sale over the years, one of them being this one. They advertised this example as a Type 45 Mauser, and I would have overlooked it myself if it wasn't for the fact I was just checking to see if it was a Type 45 or 45/66 by looking at the rear sight ramp and being completely surprised as the rear sight ramp on this looks nothing like the Type 45 or 45/66 variants from the side.

[Aragorn243]

Interesting. I have one of the 45/66 rifles myself.

[Eaglelord17]

So my conclusions on handling it is this is a very effective military rifle design. Bolt is very smooth. Rear sight is a beefy and effective ramp sight. Bolt assembly/disassembly is fantastic as all the later Arisaka designs are. The magazine has a quick release floor plate (unfortunately not hinged though, but still better than the standard Mauser style plate). The sliding dust cover which would be very handy for a soldier. It does have some weirdness which I unfortunately can't learn much more on as the middle barrel band screw is seized in place and was partially stripped when I got it (front band was also seized but I managed to get the screw to move). I put enough downward forces and sideways torque to bend my screwdriver tip but still couldn't get it to budge and since Type 66 Arisaka parts aren't thick on the ground I am not going to try any more on it.

Overall I would say this takes the best features of a M98 Mauser and the Type 38 Arisaka design and blends them together. If it was a bit shorter, with a 100m zero and a better rimless caliber (say 7.65x53, or 7mm Mauser) I would be hard pressed to find a better military service rifle.


That fantastic arisaka bolt design

Floor plate release

Nice rear sight

Arisaka action with the sliding dust cover

Siamese crest on the receiver