VERY nice, with Mum and anti-aircraft sight ears still intact! Even the stock is in good shape. Only thing its missing is the dust cover (and a bayonet, of course).Bought this at a LGS about 3 weeks ago.
You have to remove the cover before the bolt, too, making cleaning a bit more tedious.xring3
Very nice find, especially at your local gun shop! It's in great shape and still has the mum intact.
There are a couple of schools of thought regarding the missing dust cover. Some believe that Japanese soldiers discarded them because they had a tendency to rattle somewhat, possibly giving away their position. Others have put forth the theory that American G.I.s, once they acquired a Japanese rifle, saw little value in the dust cover and simply took them off and threw them away.
The lower band on the OPs gun doesnt have the monopod attachment point. As Shimitup's data sheet illustrates, they used many different band designs.Some info on the 99 in general......the OP's seems to be missing the mono pod as well. I like them, they are a little like the swiss army knife of guns....everything is hung off the thing.
Now some "real" on the stupid dust cover.
No the japanese did not remove them because they rattle....in most armies they tend to frown upon the rank and file tossing bits they don't want away. And they did not rattle if matched to the rifle....yes they are SN# to that gun. The japanese took great pride in their equipment....remember it is not theirs it belonged to GOD.....you know the skinny guy on the white horse in the photos.
At the end of the war it was like most things....rifles in one pile, bolts in another, you want one go pick.
Most battlefield pickups (intact mums for the most part) went back with GI Joe and they did what americans do.....they played with it, in our army we did not have that stuff, so big deal, just a nothing enemy rifle....some kept it, some did not....if....IF cleaned it was cleaned like all that stuff was, chuck it in a can of gas with your friends stuff and fish it out.....matching.....who cares, it is an enemy rifle, matching smatching.
But no, they did not discard the covers, that would be frowned upon.
i think it was the model 44 that had the bi pod i could be wrong, that is a nice jap. i had a good friend that like to customize japs, they were ugly compared to mausers, he used to buy for 30 bucks back in the 80's, 6.5 swedes for 75.00, 98 mauser's went for 125.00
I know very little about these Japanese rifles, but almost all of those I've seen seem to have a cracked stock. Were they a two piece stock, or did the design just tend to crack?
Two piece, however they are also prone to cracking across the wrist area where the wood is thin-I know very little about these Japanese rifles, but almost all of those I've seen seem to have a cracked stock. Were they a two piece stock, or did the design just tend to crack?
Bought this at a LGS about 3 weeks ago.
Not hard to reload ammo for the 7.7x58 Japanese.