Last ditch T99

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sparky2726	Last ditch T99	Lead	[-]
Posts: 161 (11/28/07 03:55 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None I picked this up about a week ago for $20. Its in pretty much relic condition, with missing parts. Once I got it rubbed down with oil and fine steel wool, it looks pretty good actully, but still pitted. According to the markings, it looks like a Series 10 produced at the Nagoya arsonal. I know its a last ditch rifle, but where the ones from this early series safe to shoot? It is going to be interesting finding parts without paying an arm and a leg. What you guys think? Sparky
jimski		#1	[-]
Posts: 446 (11/28/07 08:51 PM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	It looks complete to me, what is missing? I would clean it up as you say, oil soak and steel wool but be careful to not remove any finish on the wood - I don't think there is any way to really replace that original finish. Then shoot it. I have been shooting my last ditch for a couple of years with very good results. I suppose it has the raw accuracy equal to anything I have except in my hands it is limited I think by its light weight and stout trigger. If you are lucky the barrel will not be ruined by the last person having shot corrosive ammo without washing afterward. But if it were mine I would still test shoot it even if the barrel is a sewer pipe as I have a very rotten t38 that will shoot bullseyes with oversized bullets. It might ease your mind to tie it down (old tire) and fire off the first few rounds remote with a trigger string. The wood work on mine, especially the inletting for the metal, is very crude, but the barrel and receiver are first class. It did want to shoot low and took some sight adjusting at 100 yards. T99 ammo is pretty cheap to reload, cases can be made from old mauser and 3006. Jimski
sparky2726		#2	[-]
Posts: 162 (11/28/07 11:32 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	The bore is good on it, but the fit and finish is terrible. The machining on the action is good, and smooth. The bolt body, extractor, and receiver all match. Also, where the stocks on these 2 piece? The forearm is seperate. I was thinking it was a duffle cut, but the front band appears to be fused to the barrel, and the stock could not be removed if it was all one piece. Its missing the cocking piece, firing pin, mainspring, magazine spring, and follower, as of right now. Might be a few small pieces missing that I havent noticed yet. Sparky
jimski		#3	[-]
Posts: 447 (11/29/07 12:52 AM) Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Very good about the bore. Maybe even the last ditch rifles were chromed. The stock is in two pieces - very modern. At first I also thought mine was duffle cut. The missing parts may be a problem. e-gunparts.com lists them but as currently sold out and I would think that means forever sold out for such an old gun. I should say that I also have a T99 that was made around 1942 and when its firing pin broke I quickly swapped in the entire bolt from mylast ditch and never could tell any difference, so they may have had pretty good quality control there - I've heard you aren't supposed to swap bolts like that. I would haunt gunbroker.com for the missing parts, but while you are there you might find a good last ditch will sell for $200 or less complete. Maybe someone else knows a good source. Jimski
riceone		#4	[-]
Posts: 455 (12/10/07 11:33 AM) Host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	If you will soak the metal in Kroil oil and then use 0000 steel wool you will be suprised at what you have. Your rifle is a substiture standard not a last ditch. Don Voigt has plenty of parts. Email him at Don Voigt "donvoigt@hotmail.com" The bore is not chrome, just probably has never been fired. For some reason this is not unusual for late in the war made rifles. riceone. Where's my hammer?
sparky2726		#5	[-]
Posts: 163 (12/13/07 09:57 AM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Riceone, I will have to look him up. Being a subsitute standard, rather than a last ditch, I assume its safe to shoot? Other than the crude welding on the barrel band, and the stock carving, it seems pretty well made. Sparky
riceone		#6	[-]
Posts: 457 (12/13/07 08:26 PM) Host Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I would take the rifle out of the stock and look at the bottom side. Not long ago someone shot a rifle they just got and it blew up - sometime before someone had bored a hole in the bottom of the barrel near the chamber. Also I would attach it to an old tire and fire it a few times with a string. Not being much of a shooter, if it were mine I'd clean it best I could and put it up. riceone. Where's my hammer?
WILDCATT2		#7	[-]
Posts: 4 (12/24/07 08:06 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	to many people have the idea that late guns are last ditch their not a last ditch has cast reciever with the bolt locking into the barrel.the ones that blow are not suposed to be fired they are cast and use chambers cut off and cold rolled barrels drilled from both ends.I have had them.jap rifles are stonger than any other. the list is jap-1913/17 enfield-mauser-springfield/carcano-lee enfield. I have 7 arasakas 2/6.5 and 5 /7.7
temperflash		#8	[-]
Posts: 19 (01/16/08 01:03 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I had a Jap training rifle with the barrel threaded into a cut off chamber. It was a smooth bore barrel meant for firing blanks only. The bolt was very odd and you could disassemble it both as a 99 and as a 38 would be disassembled. The stock was of one piece construction rather than of two dovetailed pieces, very odd looking wood and shaped like a 1905 stock except with a type 99 bayonet lug. Its not unlikely that some of these training rifles were blown up when tried with ball ammo rather than blanks. This particular blank gun was captured in battle when a Japanese dressed only in a loincloth ran at a platoon of Marines firing the blanks as fast as he could work the bolt. He ran among them so quickly he managed to shooot one marine point blank with a wooden bulleted training round ripping his bicep almost off and then jammed the muzzle under a relatives helmet and nearly scalped him with the muzzle blast. I figure the Japanese was left to guard the trail and told to fire his blanks as a signal but got caught up in the moment. Anyway from what I could find out about that battle a Naval Academy was nearby and the training rifles and blanks were issued to survivors of a sunken ship so they could at least have a weapon of some sort. That would explain the guy having no clothes. He probably lost his uniform escaping the sinking ship and would rather go naked than wear civilian clothes in battle. PS I cleaned up a last ditch rifle years ago, the owner had found it at a yard sale. The bore was almost completely plugged with dirt and grease but cleaned up like a new bore. It didn't look bright like I'd expect of chrome but it was very shiny with crisp rifling, perhaps it was chromed. The Stock was very rough and with a wooden buttplate, but mechanically the rifle was fine to shoot as far as I could see. When looking it up in a book the action matched one described as using a WW1 calvary carbine receiver with new bolt made to 99 Arisaka specs. Last Edited By: temperflash 01/16/08 01:20 PM. Edited 2 times.
03man		#9	[-]
Posts: 294 (01/22/08 03:59 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Sparky, I'm pretty much out of bolt parts; seems that is what everyone 'needs'. Bolt parts and the follower and spring will run about $100; you may be lucky and find a sporterized rifle for less. If the bolt matches, and an inspection shows no defects, it should be fine to shoot; just get somemore of that rust off;-)
keith		#10	[-]
Posts: 63 (02/05/08 10:33 PM) active member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	I just got a last ditch 99 and I really think it is cool looking. Sure wish someone would help me find a wood buttplate for it tho.