By John MarshalThe Arisaka Type 99 rifle was one of the key

firearms facing the U.S. and its allies in the Pacifictheater of war during World War II. It was thestandard battle rifle of the empire of Japanthroughout those years, and it extracted a heavydeath and injury toll from our troops. Althoughdenigrated as crude and rather primitive by some,the Type 99 was actually powerful, reliable,rugged, fast firing, accurate and easy to maintain.In comparative tests conducted in the years fol-lowing the war, Arisaka actions proved superior instrength to U.S., English and German bolt-actiondesigns of that era. Many thousands came into theU.S. as war trophies. As a major WWII classic, ithas now become a popular collectible.

In 1894, Japan sought to replace its obsoleteMurata rifles. Accordingly, the Imperial Armyauthorized a commission headed by Colonel Nari-akira Arisaka, superintendent of the Tokyo Arsenal.The lead designer was Captain Kijiro Nambu, whoalso designed the Nambu pistol. The rifle resultantfrom this collaboration was called the Type 30 (thenomenclature representing the 30th year of thereign of Japan’s Emperor Meiji), first produced in1897. This rifle was found wanting to some degreeduring the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, so animproved design was developed in 1905-1906.This became known as the Arisaka Type 38. Itchambered a 6.5 x 50mm semi-rimmed cartridge.There were a number of variants, mostly long riflesand carbines. Its turnbolt action was a spin-off ofthe then-standard Mauser pattern.

Following experience in battle with China inthe 1930s, the Japanese wanted to provide itstroops with a harder-hitting caliber. They settledon a 7.7 x 58mm round, nearly identical to theBritish .303 cartridge, but rimless instead ofrimmed. It provided a muzzle velocity of around2390 feet per second.

This round was then used in rifles and inmachine guns, including aircraft-mounted types.The rifle to chamber it was based on the Type 38,but with some interesting changes. The Type 99was adopted in 1939, which was the Japanese year2599. The last two digits gave the rifle its type num-ber. It was simpler to machine and had somestamped parts. There were several variants: a longrifle, a short rifle, a carbine, two takedown rifles,and sniper models equipped with 2.5x or 4xscopes. The short rifle was adopted as standard in1940, replacing both the long infantry version andthe shorter carbine. The standard rifle had a lengthof 44.1 inches, a barrel length of 25.87 inches, andweighed approximately 8.2 pounds. The takedownrifles were for issue to paratroopers. The first ver-sion had an interrupted screw joint between barreland receiver. A later version was adopted in 1942that utilized a cross-wedge lock, and it went intoproduction in 1943. Made in small numbers, bothtypes are very collectible. All Arisaka rifle produc-tion ceased in 1945 at the end of WWII.

Type 99 rifles had some intriguing features. Thebolt action is cock-on-closing, and the knob at therear of the bolt is the safety. Push it in and turn itclockwise to make safe. The early production mod-els had radiused-edge lands and grooves. The boresand the bolt faces were chrome plated for ease ofcleaning and rust resistance. The rear sight incorpo-rated flip-out “wings” designed to give calibratedlead points for shooting at low-flying aircraft. Theseearly models also had a fold-down monopod and asliding dust cover over the bolt. In battle, the dustcover rattled a lot, and the monopod was essential-ly useless. Soldiers in the field usually removedboth. The butt stocks were made in two pieces, anupper and lower, which were dovetailed and gluedtogether. This enabled use of smaller stock blanks.As the war progressed, manufacturing shortcutswere implemented, resulting in what collectors call

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40 CCLLAASSSSIICC MMIILLIITTAARRYY RRIIFFLLEESS:: TThhee Japanese Type 99 Arisaka

““In tests conducted after the war, the Type 38 and Type 99 Arisakas proved to have the strongest actions of any bolt-action rifles used during WWII.”

May 10 Blue Press Section 2 3/13/10 11:16 AM Page 40