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OfcrFek

To mum or not to mum... Arisaka

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Been looking at Japanese Arisakas lately and think I may pick one up off gunbroker. The question becomes, do I want one with a mum, one that's been scratched off, or one that's defaced but you can still see the mum? Been thinking about this for a couple days now, and can't decide. What's everyone else's thoughts on this? If you were going to pick one up, which would it be and why?

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The mark being there is definitely a plus, but being defaced isn’t a bad thing, either. It was a known procedure done after the war... if the rifle is good, I wouldn’t worry about the defacement. It has the history of the last Japanese soldier doing it prior to turning in the rifle or a US soldier doing it as ordered. Big difference over someone sporterizing it.

If I had two identical rifles, one with it defaced and one not... I’d probably go with the clear one. Just don’t turn away a good rifle over it.

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There is a common misconception that the Mums were ground off by the Japanese soldiers, this is generally not true. Most of the Mums were ground off by US soldiers after they were turned in as part of an agreement between McArthur & the Japanese govt.

That being said there were some that have a very thin line through them - those were possibly done with a bayonet by the soldier prior to surrender.

The pecking order (as least for me) would be as follows:

Battlefield P/U - Mum intact, no import marks, possibly some very dark stains, almost black (Possibly blood)

Good condition, only light defacement with partial mum intact

Defaced mum

Things to look for are intact sights, especially Aircraft sights (They are usually broken), intact dust covers (They were usually removed because they rattled, intact mono-pod (Type 99).

If you find a numbers matching rifle with Dust cover, mono-pod & sights intact and the Mum not defaced, you got a winner!

Everything else it subjective - what you like (maybe you want a beat up, battle worn example)

I personally like the type 99 rifle, but there are other modles to consider

Here is a good read on the Type 99:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/10/16/a-brief-history-of-the-japanese-type-99/

Good luck in the search & have fun!

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There is a common misconception that the Mums were ground off by the Japanese soldiers, this is generally not true. Most of the Mums were ground off by US soldiers after they were turned in as part of an agreement between McArthur & the Japanese govt. That being said there were some that have a very thin line through them - those were possibly done with a bayonet by the soldier prior to surrender. The pecking order (as least for me) would be as follows:

Battlefield P/U - Mum intact, no import marks, possibly some very dark stains, almost black (Possibly blood)

Good condition, only light defacement with partial mum intact

Defaced mum

Things to look for are intact sights, especially Aircraft sights (They are usually broken), intact dust covers (They were usually removed because they rattled, intact mono-pod (Type 99).

If you find a numbers matching rifle with Dust cover, mono-pod & sights intact and the Mum not defaced, you got a winner!

Everything else it subjective - what you like (maybe you want a beat up, battle worn example)

I personally like the type 99 rifle, but there are other modles to consider

Here is a good read on the Type 99:

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2015/10/16/a-brief-history-of-the-japanese-type-99/

Good luck in the search & have fun!

 

 

 Bayonet has been disproven. Blade will break before Mum is defaced.

 

Depends on the Series. Many never had a monopod or dust cover. Also a good amount didn’t get a bayonet mount or aircraft sights.

 

OP this was the best Milsurp advice I’ve ever been given. Spend a couple hundred on books to save a couple thousand in mistakes. There is an Arisaka bible out there.

 

The Japanese Type 99 by Don Voigt. Don is an active member of the Japanese Collector Board at gunboards.

 

There is also a Type 99 Long and Type 99 Sniper both are much more expensive than the Standard Type 99. Besides those there are many other Japanese rifles

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

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