Toyo Kogyo Type 99 Long Rifle

[Phosphorus32]

There were some exceptional items offered at Centurion Auctions four weeks ago from Col. Walter Buie's estate, including an ultra-rare Type 5, which is a reverse engineered M1 Garand with Japanese adaptations. Well, I was not the winner of the Type 5 (didn't even bid), which brought a final bid of $37.8K, including the premium 

However, this Type 99 long rifle slipped by for a song (1.66% of the Type 5 price). About 2.5 million Type 99 short rifles (the standard version) were made but only about 39K long rifles were made, i.e., 1.5% of total Type 99 production. They were the initial style early in production, but quickly abandoned for the shorter barreled version. Only Nagoya (8.5K) and Toyo Kogyo (30.5K) located in Hiroshima, made any of the long rifles. They had chrome-lined barrels, as did many of the short rifles, and a chrome bolt face. The aircraft sights have shorter arms (longer barrel) than on the short rifles and they are thicker. The photograph of two Toyo Kogyo rifles shows a late 1944 version of the short rifle next to the long rifle. After the war, Toyo Kogyo became Mazda.

No bring back paperwork with this one but it does have the original shipping crate, stuffed with old newspapers and army documents as padding. I'm really pleased with this one and I hope you enjoy it.

[astronut]

Nice rifle except for the grinding on the top of the reciever.  That would have definitely distracted me from purchasing it. 

[Justin Hell]

Nice rifle except for the grinding on the top of the reciever.  That would have definitely distracted me from purchasing it.

Most likely a mum removal, when arms were surrendered, anything related to the emperor was scrubbed...and finding Japanese weapons with intact mums usually meant capture without the chance of removing it.  IIRC anyway.  It is quite common to see defacement.

[Phosphorus32]

Nice rifle except for the grinding on the top of the reciever.  That would have definitely distracted me from purchasing it.

An intact mum is preferable, but as scarce as these are, that didn’t bother me. Probably about half of my Japanese rifles have an intact Emporer’s chrysanthemum symbol.

[astronut]

Nice rifle except for the grinding on the top of the reciever.  That would have definitely distracted me from purchasing it.

An intact mum is preferable, but as scarce as these are, that didn’t bother me. Probably about half of my Japanese rifles have an intact Emporer’s chrysanthemum symbol.

Okay, I hear you.  I am just a picky "female dog".   

[Phosphorus32]

Nice rifle except for the grinding on the top of the reciever.  That would have definitely distracted me from purchasing it.

An intact mum is preferable, but as scarce as these are, that didn’t bother me. Probably about half of my Japanese rifles have an intact Emporer’s chrysanthemum symbol.

Okay, I hear you.  I am just a picky "female dog".   

 

[Larry D.]

That's an amazing find.
Too bad about the mum. Although if the mum was intact, a rifle in this condition would have cost a fortune.

You need a bayonet, a sling, and a dust cover.

[MxwllBkr]

Beautiful Rifle! The ground mum is part of its history.....  Nice have some rifles  untouched but ground is ok too! Love that shipping crate..... I would almost rather a crate then “papers”

[Larry D.]

Beautiful Rifle! The ground mum is part of its history.....  Nice have some rifles  untouched but ground is ok too! Love that shipping crate..... I would almost rather a crate then “papers”

The crate and papers are a terrific addition to the rifle.
I'd love to see more of the papers and the booklet. The comparison between the Japanese soldier and the American is particularly interesting. 
Even the cartoons are a pretty neat snapshot of how things were going. The DI with the Dutch girl tells us how the war in Europe has progressed.

[Phosphorus32]

That's an amazing find.
Too bad about the mum. Although if the mum was intact, a rifle in this condition would have cost a fortune.

You need a bayonet, a sling, and a dust cover.

Yeah, that'd be nice. I have a few Type 30 bayonets, though none are 99% like this rifle. I balk at shelling out $150-300 for a poor to fair/good quality Japanese sling, though someday I may have to have just one  I have a spare dust cover but it wouldn't match and isn't 99% blue so it wouldn't be right on this all matching T99LR.

[Phosphorus32]

Beautiful Rifle! The ground mum is part of its history.....  Nice have some rifles  untouched but ground is ok too! Love that shipping crate..... I would almost rather a crate then “papers”

The crate and papers are a terrific addition to the rifle.
I'd love to see more of the papers and the booklet. The comparison between the Japanese soldier and the American is particularly interesting. 
Even the cartoons are a pretty neat snapshot of how things were going. The DI with the Dutch girl tells us how the war in Europe has progressed.

Thanks MaxwllBkr and Larry!

Yeah, this is my first "crate gun" and I'm tickled. There's no doubt of it's provenance since it sold among others from Col. Buie's collection with an addressed crate long enough for the long rifle.

In Don Voight's book on the Type 99, he includes the numbers from the documentation from MacArthur's demobilization and governance force, of which Col. Buie was a member, which shows 2,468,665 rifles and carbines "captured and surrendered", 1,242,519 "destroyed" and 1,226,146 "disposed of: trophy, museum, technical use". With most of the rifles on the main Japanese islands having received the defacing, it's no wonder there are so many defaced mums out there. Most of the intact mum guns likely came from captures along the way in the islands and SE Asia.

I thought the period documents and newspaper were fascinating too. Definitely will be flattening and keeping the ones that are relatively intact and the rest will remain in the crate.

[Bob_The_Student]

Beautiful Rifle! The ground mum is part of its history.....  Nice have some rifles  untouched but ground is ok too! Love that shipping crate..... I would almost rather a crate then “papers”

I'm with him, I think the crate is awesome and it has the Col's name on it. I like it and the newspaper. Rifle is phenomenal and you are "en fuego" this last year, P32.

[Phosphorus32]

Beautiful Rifle! The ground mum is part of its history.....  Nice have some rifles  untouched but ground is ok too! Love that shipping crate..... I would almost rather a crate then “papers”

I'm with him, I think the crate is awesome and it has the Col's name on it. I like it and the newspaper. Rifle is phenomenal and you are "en fuego" this last year, P32.

  Thanks Bob!

[Larry D.]

Si.
En fuego, indeed.