Hey guys,
For quite a while now I have been meaning to take my Type 99 Arisaka out to do a range review on (sort of). Luckily today I had some spare time so I headed up to the range with my 8 rounds of 7.7 Japanese
The rilfe itself is a 31st series Toyo Kogyo (manufactured mid 1943 in Hiroshima - modern day Mazda Motors) which is not matching. What makes this rifle very interesting is that it has an intact chrysanthemum, which was the symbol of the Emperor of Japan. Typically rifles had their "mums" ground off post war, leading me to believe that this may possibly be a rifle that was "captured" as opposed to "surrendered". As with any milsurp however it is not definite. This rifle also has its anti aircraft sights intact and a dust cover (mis matched but has been with this rifle a long time by the looks of it). I was also lucky enough to find the proper Type 30 bayonet.
The Arisaka has an alright bore, it is very clean and shiney (chrome lined), but somehow still has random deep pitts I have scrubbed chunks of what literally looked like dried grass and caked on mud out of the bore. The rifle originally had a darker stock on it, which unfortunately has a large crack running along the left hand side of the rifle rendering it un shootable. Much of the old stock has rotted away. After I took the old stock off I noticed lots of black ish mold on the inside of the stock with no finish remaining. The outside of the rifle is a reddish brown with a bare silver under where the dust cover sits. Wherever this rifle has been, it has a story Im sure... Quite the piece of history. As a side note I do have the original stock tucked away for safe keeping
Shooting The Arisaka:
The Type (or model) 99 rifle operates like any other bolt action rifle of the era. 5 rounds are inserted into the top of the reciever either by hand or stripper clip. The rifle is a Mauser action but is #### on close - much like a hybrid of a Kar98 and a Lee Enfield. Aparently the Arisaka's are among the strongest actions ever built! The action is surprisingly smooth, MUCH smoother then any Enfield, Kar98, Mosin etc... Perhaps the bolt is very worn down? The rifle is also exceedingly light, it shoulders very well and the fixed peep rear sight comes up to the eye very nicely. The rear peep and the pointed front post actually make for a nice sight picture. Luckily for me this rifle fired fairly point of aim with the Norma ammunition.
Action (minus dust cover)
Striker
Overall the rifle fed perfectly with 0 issues (only fired 5 rounds) The ammunition I was using was standard 180gr Norma stuff - pretty old judging by the box. These rounds are difficult to find and very expensive when you do - hence the 5 round only test. I have no idea if handloading would tighten up the shooting, or if this is good/bad ammo or not. The rifle kicks quite a bit - much more then its older brother the Type 38 in 6.5. The short, shot gun like trigger does not lend itself well to accuracy and recoil was comparable to a No.4 give or take.
Ammo:
Backed out primers and bulged cases... headspace?
I fired a total of five rounds at 50m on a fig. 11 off a front rest. Although the target from today is NOT the target pictured below (shot with same rifle/ammo/distance a while back) results were exactly the same - patterned This rifle isnt a tack driver by any means, but the mixmaster old rifle with random Norma ammo still had all rounds on taget. I fired one round standing with the bayonet and managed to score a hit roughly 4 inches below point of aim. The bayonet is quite heavy and throws the balance right off.
AA sights deployed
Peep Sight
I didnt bother to measure the group size as I was just happy to have rounds on paper. Although not one of my best shooters (probably my worst!) it sure is one of my most interesting pieces. These rifles are not common up here and even less so with intact "mums" - and even fewer of them get shot!
Thanks for reading
For quite a while now I have been meaning to take my Type 99 Arisaka out to do a range review on (sort of). Luckily today I had some spare time so I headed up to the range with my 8 rounds of 7.7 Japanese
The rilfe itself is a 31st series Toyo Kogyo (manufactured mid 1943 in Hiroshima - modern day Mazda Motors) which is not matching. What makes this rifle very interesting is that it has an intact chrysanthemum, which was the symbol of the Emperor of Japan. Typically rifles had their "mums" ground off post war, leading me to believe that this may possibly be a rifle that was "captured" as opposed to "surrendered". As with any milsurp however it is not definite. This rifle also has its anti aircraft sights intact and a dust cover (mis matched but has been with this rifle a long time by the looks of it). I was also lucky enough to find the proper Type 30 bayonet.
The Arisaka has an alright bore, it is very clean and shiney (chrome lined), but somehow still has random deep pitts
I have scrubbed chunks of what literally looked like dried grass and caked on mud out of the bore. The rifle originally had a darker stock on it, which unfortunately has a large crack running along the left hand side of the rifle rendering it un shootable. Much of the old stock has rotted away. After I took the old stock off I noticed lots of black ish mold on the inside of the stock with no finish remaining. The outside of the rifle is a reddish brown with a bare silver under where the dust cover sits. Wherever this rifle has been, it has a story Im sure... Quite the piece of history. As a side note I do have the original stock tucked away for safe keeping Shooting The Arisaka:
The Type (or model) 99 rifle operates like any other bolt action rifle of the era. 5 rounds are inserted into the top of the reciever either by hand or stripper clip. The rifle is a Mauser action but is #### on close - much like a hybrid of a Kar98 and a Lee Enfield. Aparently the Arisaka's are among the strongest actions ever built! The action is surprisingly smooth, MUCH smoother then any Enfield, Kar98, Mosin etc... Perhaps the bolt is very worn down? The rifle is also exceedingly light, it shoulders very well and the fixed peep rear sight comes up to the eye very nicely. The rear peep and the pointed front post actually make for a nice sight picture. Luckily for me this rifle fired fairly point of aim with the Norma ammunition.
Action (minus dust cover)
Striker
Overall the rifle fed perfectly with 0 issues (only fired 5 rounds)
The ammunition I was using was standard 180gr Norma stuff - pretty old judging by the box. These rounds are difficult to find and very expensive when you do - hence the 5 round only test. I have no idea if handloading would tighten up the shooting, or if this is good/bad ammo or not. The rifle kicks quite a bit - much more then its older brother the Type 38 in 6.5. The short, shot gun like trigger does not lend itself well to accuracy and recoil was comparable to a No.4 give or take. Ammo:
Backed out primers and bulged cases... headspace?
I fired a total of five rounds at 50m on a fig. 11 off a front rest. Although the target from today is NOT the target pictured below (shot with same rifle/ammo/distance a while back) results were exactly the same - patterned
This rifle isnt a tack driver by any means, but the mixmaster old rifle with random Norma ammo still had all rounds on taget. I fired one round standing with the bayonet and managed to score a hit roughly 4 inches below point of aim. The bayonet is quite heavy and throws the balance right off.
AA sights deployed
Peep Sight
I didnt bother to measure the group size as I was just happy to have rounds on paper. Although not one of my best shooters (probably my worst!) it sure is one of my most interesting pieces. These rifles are not common up here and even less so with intact "mums" - and even fewer of them get shot!
Thanks for reading
