Type 38 Arisaka Trivia

[LVSteve]

I formed a lot of 7.7 brass from .30-'06 cases using a .303 FL die. It's a fact - you can reload 7.7 Jap with .303 British dies as the case dimensions (aside from the .303 being rimmed) are so close.

Rumor has it the Japanese saw a demonstration of .303 MKVII ammo and were so impressed they returned to Japan to make their own version. 7.65 Mauser is pretty much equivalent but in a shorter case.

 

[Bacon]

I have a Type 99 with intact mum brought back by an Army vet from Guam. Although it lost some blueing from my cleaning, it is in very good condition. This rifle was also given to me.

 

[DWalt]

I need to correct a grievous error I made earlier. I was using 7.7 Jap dies to reload .303 British, not the other way around. It was well over 25 years ago I sold my 7.7 Type 99 and got things backwards. I checked my reloading dies and I do still have a 7.7 Jap set and that is what I used to form 7.7 cases from .30-'06 cases - and also to load .303 British.

Back then I normally used .308" bullets for loading 7.7, .303, and 7.62 Russian. It worked OK.

 

[KEN L]

Rumor has it the Japanese saw a demonstration of .303 MKVII ammo and were so impressed they returned to Japan to make their own version. 7.65 Mauser is pretty much equivalent but in a shorter case.

I believe the Japanese Lewis guns were in .303 British caliber. By the way the metric equivalent of 7.7mm is .303 caliber.

 

[desi2358]

In response to a previous post, the grinding off of the mum on Japanese rifles seems to have been due to the desire to remove the symbol of the Emperor when the rifles were surrendered. There has been a lot of discussion on various military forums on the subject, quite a few stories from vets of Japanese soldiers and arsenal workers grinding, filing or otherwise defacing the symbol during the process of turning over weapons and equipment to the occupying forces.

The general consensus seems to be that an intact mum is more likely to be found on a battlefield pickup or a weapon that was surrendered somewhere other than the home islands (where such niceties as removing the Emperor's symbol might not be followed). Some may have missed being defaced in Japan but probably not many. As to why it was actually done? Lots of speculation but little documentation... While popular belief is McArthur ordered it no such documentation has been found.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

A lot of neat historical info here that I had no idea happened.
Learned something today.

 

[DWalt]

Having seen a number of ground-off Mums, they all look about the same to me. They appear to have been removed with something like a die grinder with a small diameter abrasive wheel. That suggests they were probably removed in a shop somewhere, not out in the field.

 

[LVSteve]

Having seen a number of ground-off Mums, they all look about the same to me. They appear to have been removed with something like a die grinder with a small diameter abrasive wheel. That suggests they were probably removed in a shop somewhere, not out in the field.

Most I've seen are like that, but every so often you see one that has been defaced by what look like multiple chisel strikes.