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Arisaka Type 99

Action​
Calibre

Magazine

7.7 Jap

Bolt Action

Ten Rounds

Arisaka Type 99

The Type 99 rifle or Type 99 short rifle (九九式短小銃, Kyūkyū-shiki tan-shōjū) was a bolt-action rifle of the Arisaka design used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s, the Japanese soon found that the 7.7mm cartridge being fired by their Type 92 heavy machine gun in China was superior to the 6.5×50mm cartridge of the Type 38 rifle.

This necessitated the development of a new weapon to replace the outclassed Type 38, and finally standardize on a single rifle cartridge.

The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) developed the Type 99 based on the Type 38 rifle but with a caliber of 7.7mm. The Type 99 was produced at nine different arsenals. Seven arsenals were located in Japan, with the other two located at Mukden in Manchukuo and Jinsen in Korea.

The Type 99 was produced in four versions, the regular issue Type 99 short rifle, the Type 99 long rifle (a limited production variant), the take-down Type 2 paratroop rifle, and the Type 99 sniper rifle.

The standard rifle also came with a wire monopod and an anti-aircraft sighting device. The Type 99 was the first mass-produced infantry rifle to have a chrome lined bore to ease cleaning. All of these features were abandoned by mid-war.

The initial production rifle of the Type 99. Made only by Nagoya Arsenal and Toyo Kogyo under Kokura Arsenal supervision. Only about 38,000 were produced, 8,000 at Nagoya and 30,000 at Toyo Kogyo between summer of 1940 and spring of 1941 when production was switched to the much more common new Type 99 short rifle of which millions were made.

The long rifle was found to be more cumbersome than the short rifle, and provided only marginally better performance. Thus, it was sidelined in favor of the short rifle, which was much more practical, required less resources to produce, proving more than satisfactory. The long Rifle (this example is a rarer item and keenly sought after by collectors)

Like the early Type 99 short rifles, these Long rifles were made with a monopod, anti-aircraft lead arms on the rear sight and a dust cover.

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