[phatcyclist]

Walked into my local shop to purchase a knife I saw on the shelf the other day and browse as I commonly do. Saw this rifle sitting there, quite dusty. Looked it over and saw some interesting things, so I asked what the guy wanted. Since it's my birthday this weekend, he let me have it for $120 out the door. "Score" I'm thinking to myself, so I go home for a thorough cleaning and oiling.

Rifle

Other side

Ground mum, oh well. Look at that strange notch on the receiver...

Not a last ditch, the series and serial number put it early in 1940 production.

Oh snap, a US Cal .30 marking!

Well, I had no clue until I got the rifle home. It's apparently one of the 130,000 or so Type 99 carbines the US oversaw being converted to .30-06 caliber to be used in the Korean war. This rifle has no import markings either. I ended up buying a very strange, particularly rare (in this country) piece of Korean war history.

It's missing a few screws here and there, but they are on their way already. I couldn't be happier for $120 out the door.

 

[BradB]

You have a rare bird at a giveaway price! Congrats!

 

[roadmouse]

that receiver notch should have been a dead giveaway at purchase, but I understand why you did not notice it, I have to be carefull when I spot an arisaka too.
arisakas are pretty rare around here, so when I spot one i'm getting into the eager beaver mode.
and when an arisaka shows up, most of the time its one of those, converted to hell what do I care caliber!

 

[03man]

Great find if legit, these have been faked for some years. Really good price either way!

How about a picture from the top, of the magazine box with the bolt open, and the floorplate and follower folded down.

 

[phatcyclist]

Great find if legit, these have been faked for some years. Really good price either way!

How about a picture from the top, of the magazine box with the bolt open, and the floorplate and follower folded down.

Got a few pictures.

 

[phatcyclist]

that receiver notch should have been a dead giveaway at purchase, but I understand why you did not notice it, I have to be carefull when I spot an arisaka too.
arisakas are pretty rare around here, so when I spot one i'm getting into the eager beaver mode.
and when an arisaka shows up, most of the time its one of those, converted to hell what do I care caliber!

I made a huge mistake years ago before I knew much about milsurps. There was a gentleman at a gun show selling a Type 99, in tact mum and no import marks in very good shape for $75 USD. I passed on it because I didn't actually know what it was, when I found out later I felt a little stupid. I had cash in hand, only my lack of knowledge stopped me from buying it.

 

[BradB]

That's a legit conversion. Everything is correct.

 

[Ronin48]

Brad, The Nashville area faker does everything correct. The last time I saw him was at Tulsa 4-5 years ago walking around with TWO "Korean Conversions." An acquaintance bought one, the faker is getting a little careless, it still had metal partials in the mag box. The guy is about 5-6" or so, 140#, sometimes wears an "old man's" (golfing) style cap, sometimes a East German military cap. He's camera shy, if you are offered a Korean Conversion by some old fellow (not me) and have your camera ask to take his photo holding the rifle. If he says no save your $$$s. Doss

 

[smzeigler]

I too think it is legit. I think the finish condition and rust/debris in the US 30 CAL stampings look very old as well. Odd, my .30 CAL is missing the front screw as well. Great find.

Shannon

 

[03man]

I think it is ok, at least it has the correct magazine mods; congrats on a good find.

 

[Jack Blair]

I'm confussed on these. I have the Banzai special project #10 U.S., Type 99 book. On page 3 number 7 states Stamping "U S Cal 30" on the left side of the receiver. On page 7 Dispostion of the converted rifles it states some were disbursed as souvenirs after the "U. S. Cal. 30" was ground from the reciever. I have one that is a series 4 all parkerized with a series 37 stock. I didn't pay allot for it and it wasn't sold as a Korean conversion. Everything is correct including the 3 spot welds on the magazine box. Mine is stamped with "U. S. Cal. 30". The one in the tread looks to have a different color metal were the numbers were stamped. What I mean is not park'ed after it was stamped. What is correct "U S Cal 30" or "U. S. Cal. 30" ? I can't post pictures, but I will try to get somebody to help me. I hate to send them to someone to post them for me.
Thanks

 

[phatcyclist]

Well, I pulled the firing pin out of the bolt and checked this rifle with a live .30-06, and it chambers perfectly. Just snugs up a touch in the last few degrees. As soon as the hardware comes in, I'll be heading off to the range.

 

[03man]

With or without "periods" is a question up to dispute. Since these were individually stamped, could be either, IMO.

Not all were ground when souveniered.

I'm confussed on these. I have the Banzai special project #10 U.S., Type 99 book. On page 3 number 7 states Stamping "U S Cal 30" on the left side of the receiver. On page 7 Dispostion of the converted rifles it states some were disbursed as souvenirs after the "U. S. Cal. 30" was ground from the reciever. I have one that is a series 4 all parkerized with a series 37 stock. I didn't pay allot for it and it wasn't sold as a Korean conversion. Everything is correct including the 3 spot welds on the magazine box. Mine is stamped with "U. S. Cal. 30". The one in the tread looks to have a different color metal were the numbers were stamped. What I mean is not park'ed after it was stamped. What is correct "U S Cal 30" or "U. S. Cal. 30" ? I can't post pictures, but I will try to get somebody to help me. I hate to send them to someone to post them for me.
Thanks

 

[Jack Blair]

Thanks Don, It would be nice to get a survey going. Mine is a 4th series Nagoya number 91631 with periods U. S. Cal. 30.

 

[phatcyclist]

I took it to the range, with factory loads it was very uncomfortable to shoot, but it being such a light rifle I imagined it would be. I'll need to check accuracy some time, there seemed to be a big difference in point of impact depending on the load, but it was mostly vertical.

 

[Ronin48]

I was very interested in these when I was putting the "book" together and discussed the machining aspects with Jim Langley, an expert machinist and good friend. Jim allowed that the Army would have had a number of machinists making the conversions and if the use of "periods" (.)s was not specifically specified in the instruction each man could have done it the way he chose.

Some years back I had a call from a gentleman who said one way to tell a fake from the real thing was an Army conversion would chamber five rounds from the magazine box while a fake would not, the feed ramp on the fake was not ground to specifications. I have no idea if this is correct or not, but it would make sense that the army would have inserted a five round stripper with dummy .30-06 rounds and ejected the shells as a final check.

Thought I'd posted that the "faker" left a 5-page photocopy from something on libel, slander, etc on another table at Tulsa addressed to me. Me bad!

 

[PRIMO1]

I think a sticky on this with serial # survey would be great. I have one of these as well that I was told was an original conversion... It has the push button for the cleaning rod release - is this correct?

BTW - Never considered that the market for them would be large enough to warrant fakes.