Q on a Type 99... (Help)

[Adam M Geer]

When I was little my grandfather had, a gun in his gun case I always eyed up. I asked about it and he said it was an old Japanese rifle from WWII. Over the years, it sat there and collected dust. About 2 years ago, I asked him about it again and he went and got it, and said, “Here it’s yours, I have no use for it.” It was a long, rusty, old, heavy rifle. I took it home, cleaned off the rust, and took it apart cleaning everything. I started to investigate the markings and symbols on it. I found out it was a Type 99 Infantry rifle with the Imperial mark filed off. By the markings and writing on it, I found out where it was made and the year. Now the gun is retired of course, but I want to shoot it just once, before I retired it permanently. I heard that towards the end of the war The 99’s were made sloppily and were prone to miss firing or blow apart. I am afraid of this happening since it has not been shot in probably 50 years, and it just sat around collecting dust and rust. What do you think? Should I throw caution in the wind and shoot the old basterd, or just retire the old gun? I also have an M-1 Carbine that I shot a bunch. I am thinking of retiring that gun soon as well. What is your opinion on the Type 99?
Thank you for your input.

Adam

[wizzegun]

http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html

You probably found this website during the research of your markings. What series and arsenal? It would help if you posted pics so an educated guess on the condition could be made. Pics of the bolt, back of the safety knob, receiver top with rear sight and overall rifle should do. Do the numbers match the receiver and bolt (check the bolt on the bottom side of the stem...there should be 3 digits.)

There is a huge urban legend about these rifles that goes around about them being unsafe. Yes as the war wound down, the Japanese ran short of raw materials (like steel) and cut corners but the actions are some of the strongest you will find. After the war, lots of the rifles were converted to .30-06 and other calibers. I suspect the "blowing up in your face" was some Bubba firing hot loads in their "junky old rifle." T99's are very accurate and fun to shoot. In fact, I just had mine out today.

[Adam M Geer]

how could i tell what ammo it takes?
Could i take it to a gun shop and have them look at it? or is it to old for them to know for sure if its safe to shoot

[pred]

I think it takes the 7mm round, But bring it to a shop and have them eye ball it for you! It could have been converted at some point of time! I have one in 762x39,,,,,
SHOOT IT!

[egon12]

The Japanese type 99 is a very strong and robust rifle design. The bad rap that was given to the "jap" guns was because of someone trying to fire regular rounds in a school training rifle which had a cast iron receiver and was only designed to fire blanks. This resulted in catastrophic failure. I would not have a problem in firing a Japanese rifle as long at it was not a a trainer and it was in good condition. The Type 99 was chambered for the 7.7 japanese cartridge. Some were reamed out to take 30-06 during the Korean war to help supply the south koreans with arms to fight the communists. But more than likely it is still chambered for 7.7 Jap. If you would feel comfortable taking it to a gunsmith to check it out them by all means do so. I give all my guns a good going over to see if there are any major flaws like cracked bolt lugs, excessive pitting, or any thing that would compromise the strength of teh rifle. I also check to see if the bolt matches the gun. This is done by looking a the the base of the bolt handle near the bolt body. There should be a three digit number. Check this number with the last three digits of the serial number on the side of the reciever. If they match you are lucky and have a matching bolt. If is doesn't match no worries I usually test fire mine by just tying my rifle down and fire it with a long string and check the brass for any problems (blown primers, excessive stretching, etc). If you don't see any problems you should be good to go.

I think Wolf makes 7.7 jap in their gold line of ammo which is brass cased and reloadable, and it runs about $15 for a box of 20 rounds. You can also get 7.7 brass from Graf & sons or you can form your own from 30-06 brass by running the 30-06 brass through a 7.7 jap sizing die and trimming to lenght.

If you can post some pictures it would be good to see what you are working with. And by all means if you are leary of shooting it don't shoot it and put it on display The best judge is the brain between your ears. If you got any other qwestions please feel free to ask.

[wizzegun]

The type 99 shoots 7.7mm Japanese. Hornady makes ammo. Its roughly $20/box and can be ordered from Midway or Grafs. Cabelas also carries it but its a few dollars more per box.

Taking the rifle to a qualified gunsmith would be a good idea if you are worried. By qualified, I mean one that is used to dealing with milsurp (military surplus) rifles. Too many times they only deal with remchesterby's and won't touch a milsurp or just repeat the same wrong info they heard while sitting around the shop. Don't worry about the age. I think most people her regularly shoot firearms much older than WWII era.

[Noah_Zark]

Adam:

PM sent.

Noah

[phill]

After WWII the Nra ran blow-up tests on the normal war trophys. If I remember right they did something like stuck bullet and case of hot powder(Bullseye?). All of the Mauser types blew the 99 never did. Maybe a search of Nra records would have a record of this test.
The 7.7 and 6.5 rifles that are late war are easy to tell, bolt handle looks like a fat nail and safety is uncheckerd and looks like made out of sheet metal.
If yours is a good one shoot and enjoy.

[Noah_Zark]

Originally Posted by phill

After WWII the Nra ran blow-up tests on the normal war trophys. If I remember right they did something like stuck bullet and case of hot powder(Bullseye?). All of the Mauser types blew the 99 never did.

True, the Japanese receivers held strong when other receivers failed, including Mauser 98 and US 1903 Springfields among others.

Those tests are documented in the late Roy Dunlap's "Ordnance Went Up Front," an account of the famous gunsmith's experiences as an armorer in the European and Pacific theaters during WWII and postwar. The book is available in reprint from R&R Books in Avon or Rochester, NY.

Gen Julian Hatcher makes mention of the Japanese receiver tests in his book, "Hatcher's Notebook."

Noah

[SteveWag]

The tests were done by Parker O. Ackley after WWII. Roy donated some actions to Parker. The tests are documented in Dunlaps book and in the two-volume set "Handbook for Shooters and Reloaders" by Ackley. The tests were done at the Trinity School for Gunsmithing.

Steve