best rifle

I have everything photographed and cataloged for insurance, but it's all on paper. I spend a good portion of time travelling to gunshows (thanks to a patient family who have no interest) and the Thompson I actually got at a Dunham's Sporting Goods store! I had to save my nickels up for that.

 

Does your Arisaka have the chrysanthimum on the barrel? Mine doesn't, which means it's either a replica or a post war. I'm not sure, I don't have any history on it.

 

130,000 Japanese 6.5mm rifle were used by the Britsh and these went to Imperial Russia as military aid in 1916-17, I have heard that the chrysanthimum would not have been on these rifles as it is a "sacred" sign and also would be removed from any exported post WW2 for the same reason.

 

Here is some info on the Type 99 Arisaka:

Markings on Japanese Arisaka Rifles and Bayonets of World War II

from this site:

Collecting and Shooting the Arisaka Type 99 Rifle

A very good friend has an Arisaka with the "mum" on it as did a neighbor when I was a kid; he was a radio operator on a B-25 in the PTO.

My understanding is that the "mum" was to imbibe the spirit of the Emperor to the rifle and those with the intact "mum" were actually taken from the battlefield, whereas those that were taken after the surrender had the "mum" removed so as not to dishonor the Emperor.

Here is a link to another site, that I frequent, with pictures of a receiver that the owner d*cked up:

BroncoFix receiver :: For the 1966-77 early Ford Bronco

 

Here is the most detailed answer I have ever seen about THE MISSING MUM MYSTERY

 

Sadly the mum on my arisaka has been filed off. The stock of the rifle shows countless beatings but is definitely original. Also there is a bayonet that goes along with it. It's kind of funny to think of how, especially with the bayonet equipped, how much longer the rifle must have been than so many of the soldiers carrying it.

 

In terms of military effectiveness it really has to be either the StG-44 or Garand M1. Other bolt action rifles was capable of only complementing the light machine gun crew and generated too little fire. At house-to-house and trench fighting, which was the one job that no one else can do, the infantry really needed something better than their service rifles.

 

Gentelmen:

If I am allowed I would like to throw my comments in this dicussion. You need to look at the tactical side of a combat unit before you decide on arms. In WW II I was a platoon and company commander. My two favorite weapons were the Garand M1 Rifle and the Thompson M1A1 Submachine Gun. The feature I used in the Thompson was it would fire simiautomatic and was accurate to 100 yards. The M1 was accurate to 800 meters but most shots were taken between 300 and 500 meters. My M1 had a Weaver 4 powere telescope sight. I was considered a well trained marksman. The US Army still today place a great emphasis on marksmanship. The early day of the republic their regiments of rifleman made the difference in combat.

As Ever,

W. Marlowe
( Airborne all the Way)

 

Sounds like a Garand Man to me....

 

Thank you for your service and real world insight!

 

SMLE

 

What is wrong with that... I like the M1 Garand.

 

Yeah but it was a horrible pun.

 

Important lesson learned today....never, NEVER take a M/N M91 out to shoot it for the first time without bringing your broken shell extractor with you. I bought another M91 from a buddy at work for a song last week and took it out to shoot today with my step son. This gun is decent, 1943 made, in ok shape. I have about 1000 rounds of Czech military surplus 7.62x54 that I got off a guy for a trade. First shot, the brass split and jammed in the gun. Super lame. I couldn't even pound it out with the cleaning rod (a trick I had to use before I got my extractor tool for my good rifle) and so I don't even know how it shoots. I did manage to blow through 200 rounds of .45 though. Put the new forestock on my Thompson so it's more military style now...made a big difference in the weight. You could have easily beat a drifter to death with it before.

 

First shot, WAY lame. i have never had the privilege of getting to remove a broken shell, ha ha. Where to you get your 30-06 surplus from? Do you do much reloading?

 

I don't buy much surplus .30-06 but I've always had good luck with cheaperthandirt.com for a lot of ammo. I want to buy a reloading set up but I've heard primers are getting as hard to get ahold of as handgun ammo...though I imagine that it's the handgun calibers that are in high demand. The surplus ammo is NOT suitable for reload....it's barely suitable for shooting, haha.

 

I plan on getting into reloading as soon as i have enough time to be shooting as much as i want. I had fired some commercial 150gr loads through my Garand when i first began shooting, however i was very quickly told NOT to do this since military M2 ammo for the garand uses as specific type of powder. Other types of powders can apparently bend the operating rod, something i have no interest in doing. So until I start reloading i guess ill be on cheaperthandirt, or joining the CMP...

 

You can buy an adjustable gas plug for your Garand which will allow you to safely shoot commercial ammo.
M1 Garand M14 Vented Gas Nuts

 

I hope you are kidding as the Garand is a fantastic weapon. For you guys shooting the Garands, you can try an adjustable gas plug for firing non-USGI ammo.

M1 Garand M14 Vented Gas Nuts