Thai 66 Arisaka?

BMcK

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I've been tasked with the job of selling off a friends rifle collection who recently passed away. This is one of the last one, and it is out of my wheel house.
One of my buddies thinks it is a Thai 66 Arisaka. From cleaning it I can tell you it is a 30 caliber bore. The floor plate has a release button. I will let the pics do the rest of the talking. Bore is great.

I want to help my friends widow get a fair price for it, so any help with value is greatly appreciated.

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What weird inscriptions... on the sights, they're Thai numerals (starting right to left, 3 on top, then 4 on bottom, 5 on top and so on), except for the symbol in position 7 which I can't find anywhere.

Around the crest แบบ๖๖, it looks like "AABB66". I can't tell for sure, the "" symbol could be either two short "a" or a single long "a". I don't speak Thai, eh! About the date, if it's the Thai (buddhist) calendar, the last year that ended in "66" was 2466, which was 1923 for us. That would make it a 6.5×50mmSR chambering, I think.
 
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What weird inscriptions... on the sights, they're Thai numerals (starting right to left, 3 on top, then 4 on bottom, 5 on top and so on), except for the symbol in position 7 which I can't find anywhere.

Around the crest แบบ๖๖, it looks like "AABB66". I can't tell for sure, the "" symbol could be either two short "a" or a single long "a". I don't speak Thai, eh! About the date, if it's the Thai (buddhist) calendar, the last year that ended in "66" was 2466, which was 1923 for us. That would make it a 6.5×50mmSR chambering, I think.

Wrong about the chambering. If you do not know what a gun is chambered in, don't start saying out random chamberings (especially when they were never chambered in the 6.5x50sr round). That is how people get hurt.

To the OP it is a Thai Arisaka Type 66. The caliber should be 8x52r. If you want more information on the rifle here is a write up by forgotten weapons
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/saimese-mauser-followup-the-type-66-rifle/

For value I will echo what Antidote1985 said, with the 400-600$ range.
 
I have one of those myself - cool rifle and a WW2 vet - you can read some interesting accounts of the Thais fighting the Vichy French in Indochina in 1940-41 before the Japanese occupied them. Agree with the prices that have been thrown out, and it is an 8x52mm.

I don't know that it'll appreciate as much as an LE or Mauser though. They're quite rare but just too obscure to ever draw a ton of collector interest. Plus you'll never find ammo for it.
 
Wrong about the chambering. If you do not know what a gun is chambered in, don't start putting out random chamberings (especially when they were never chambered in the 6.5x50sr round).

To the OP it is a Thai Arisaka Type 66. The caliber should be 8x52r. If you want more information on the rifle here is a write up by forgotten weapons
https://www.forgottenweapons.com/saimese-mauser-followup-the-type-66-rifle/

For value I will echo what Antidote1985 said, with the 400-600$ range.


Random chamberings? Eaglelord, if it's an Arisaka type 30 or 38, it was chambered in 6.5x50SR. While I can be mistaken, I don't make up shyte for your entertainment, buddy, you can sit back down on your august throne, your imperious feathered majesty.

The Op said Arisaka and that threw me off. The rifle made by the Japanese for the Thai in 1923-28 are usually called Mauser type 66, not Arisaka, because they have almost no interchangeable parts with the Type 38 Arisaka they were supposed to be copied from. And yes, those Mausers were 8x52mmR.


To the OP: apologies for misidentifying your rifle.




BTW, something interesting:

Look at the sights of this Type 66: http://milpas.cc/rifles/ZFiles/Bolt%20Action%20Rifles/Japanese%20Rifles/Siamese%20military%20contract%20Type%2066%20Arisaka%20rifle/Siamese%20military%20contract%20Type%2066%20Arisaka%20rifle..html

ari_0065-12.JPG


This one has the correct symbol for the numeral 7. Compare the symbol on the sights to the one that the OP showed us. Maybe it's just a scratch on the OP sight, or the picture quality.
 
Random chamberings? Eaglelord, if it's an Arisaka type 30 or 38, it was chambered in 6.5x50SR. While I can be mistaken, I don't make up shyte for your entertainment, buddy, you can sit back down on your august throne, your imperious feathered majesty.
The Op said Arisaka and that threw me off. The rifle made by the Japanese for the Thai in 1923-28 are usually called Mauser type 66, not Arisaka, because they have almost no interchangeable parts with the Type 38 Arisaka they were supposed to be copied from. And yes, those Mausers were 8x52mmR.
Its ok that you are thrown off mistakes happen, however don't start talking about stuff you haven't researched (researched can simply mean, verified the OPs rifle). That is how accidents happen and people get hurt. This happens to be a Arisaka, not a Mauser. The Mauser was the earlier Type 45 rifles, which were also mostly updated to Type 45/66 form (the Type 45s using the 8x50r round, Type 45/66s using the 8x52r). The Type 66 was built from scratch as a Arisaka in the 8x52r caliber.

The caliber of the Type 30 and Type 38 Japanese Arisakas, have no bearing here. He asked about a Thai Type 66 Arisaka, not any other Arisaka. If you were unsure of the caliber, you could have done a quick google check to verify. That would have told you that it is 8x52r, not 6.5x50sr.
 
I know what you mean Eagle and I do appreciate your intent to keep everyone safe!

I did some research before I wrote about the Type 38s, you know. ;)

What I found was Type 45 Siamese Mauser, Type 45/66 Siamese Mauser, Type 46 Siamese Mauser, Type 46/66 Siamese Mauser (http://candrsenal.com/rifle-thai-mausers-type-46-and-4666/), Type 47 Siamese Mauser, Type 47/66 Siamese Mauser, Type 66 Siamese Mauser, and the Thai Type 83 rifle: a standard Japanese Type 38 Arisaka in 6.5x50sr that was sent as aid from Japan to Thailand in 1940.

Even Forgotten Rifles calls them Siamese Mausers Type 66. So when the OP asked for an Arisaka, I went with the Type 38 data, which was absolutely my mistake. I'll try to be more careful to research AROUND the question too, the next time! :p
 
This is the famous Siamese Mauser that everyone was making into 45/70 single shots in the 60s? Reputed to be the strongest mauservaction ever?

No the OP has an Arisaka. The 45/70 conversions are from the earlier type 46 Mauser and 46/66 conversions. Lots of confusion on the numbers the ammo was type 45, the rifle type 46 according to my research.
 
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