Type 99 Arisaka
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 10:58 pm
http://www.mediafire.com/download/uf89t ... risaka.zip
Has variants with a sling, bayonet, and the leaf sight raised up. Also has a scoped verison. Be warned using the leaf sight, its much more obstructive and harder to use!
The Type 99 Arisaka is a bolt action infantry rifle used by Japanese forces during WWII. The rifle was designed by Kijiro Nambu, who also designed the horrible Type 14 Nambu automatic pistol, but got its namesake from Col. Nariaki Arisaka, who lead the commission to develop the rifle. The original Arisaka, the Type 38, was chambered in a 6.5mm cartridge, but after the experience of the Sino-Japanese war in 1937, the round proved underpowered and less effective compared to the 7.9mm Mauser rifles the Chinese were fielding. A 7.7mm round was developed in 1938, which was basically a rimless version of the .303 British cartridge.
The Type 99 was shorter and lighter than the Type 38. It used a Mauser-style bolt with locking lugs (notches on the end of the bolt that lock into place to keep it from being blown out when the rifle is fired) positioned at the front of the bolt body. The Arisaka has one of the strongest bolt actions ever developed, with test cartridges putting pressures of up to 120,000 PSI before it was concluded further testing would be redundant. A sheet metal dust cover was equipped to protect the action from mud and other debris, but when many rifles were brought back to the United States for the civilian market after the war they were discarded because they rattled. The rifle used a simple textured knob at the back of the bolt for a safety, similar to the Mosin Nagant but it differed in that it was actually possible to use it. An interesting feature of the rifle is that the leaf sight was equipped with two folding wings so that in theory a troop of soldiers could shoot at an enemy plane, but this would have little to no chance of shooting it down. On some rifles a wire monopod was added to help stabilize the weapon for a more accurate shot, but it was too flimsy and proved useless. In around 1943 Japan was losing hard, and many production shortcuts were taken. The safeties and other hardware were simply made, the stocks were crude, and the rear sights were just notches milled into the receiver. The junk rifles are commonly referred to as 'last ditch' or 'substitute' rifles
During the Japanese surrender in September 1945 the 16 petal chrysanthemum were grounded off all the remaining Arisaka rifles and dumped into Tokyo bay. Any surviving rifles that you can find on the market are typically war trophy bring backs by G.I.'s during the war. Ammunition, as with all old surplus bolt rifles save the Mosin, is expensive, but a decent shooting rifle missing the dust cover and chrysanthemum can be had from 400-700 dollars.
