Arisaka Takedown Questions

[Squaregrouper]

Yesterday I was at a client's house and we were talking hunting and fishing when I mentioned my like of old rifles. He showed me his "takedown Mauser" he inherited and I immediately recognized it as an Arisaka takedown. It is in good condition and includes the anti-aircraft rear sight. There is no mum, but it doesn't appear to have been ground off. It is a Nagoya arsenal rifle, but I'm unsure of the series.
Does anyone know about these- their rarity and value? It was the first time I have seen one.

 

[mgbill]

Very likely this is a Type 2 paratroop rifle, a modification of the Type 99. Approximately 22,000 were made at Nagoya Arsenal, beginning in late 1943. The early production rifles had rear sights with the anti-aircraft feature and two drain holes in the stock. It was marked with the standard mum so the one on this example has been ground off.

They are rare and significantly more expensive than other Arisakas. I'm not conversant with current values and would hesitate to guess as to what they're going for.

Hope this info help a bit - it came from Duncan McCollum's book, Japanese Rifles of World War II.

 

[dancnr]

I have seen them list at shows for the 1500-2500 range dependent on condition, although I remember seeing one on Gunbroker for less than that not too long ago, but the stock had some post war initials carved in it.

 

[Easytarget18]

I am going to assume it is a Type II Arisaka Paratrooper. Nagoya would be the correct arsenal, as they are the only ones that manufactured the Type II. I believe there were only around 20,000 produced (so only 1 series, no mark) so compared to the 3+ million Type 99's, so yes they are much rarer.
Value? That depends on condition, serial numbers (are front and back matching?), dust cover, cleaning rod, etc. I find it strange that there is no evidence of a mum (at least grind marks). I've seen them go from $750 up to over 2k.
Obviously pics would help on the value...

 

[mawkie]

Yep, gonna need photos! The first thing I look for on a Arisaka para is matching assembly numbers on the two halves of the rifle. You'd be surprised to see just how many are mismatched and that just kills the value.
I'd be suspect as to a missing mum. My thought is that someone smoothed the metal and re-blued it as I can't remember ever seeing an unmarked T2 receiver in anyone's collection.

 

[Squaregrouper]

Yep, gonna need photos! The first thing I look for on a Arisaka para is matching assembly numbers on the two halves of the rifle. You'd be surprised to see just how many are mismatched and that just kills the value.
I'd be suspect as to a missing mum. My thought is that someone smoothed the metal and re-blued it as I can't remember ever seeing an unmarked T2 receiver in anyone's collection.

The two halves match, but they don't jibe with the last 3 digits on the receiver. If the mum was ground off, it was very shallow to begin with, as the receiver's "roundness" doesn't seem disturbed. Albeit, there were some faint file marks seen with a magnifying glass. The bayonet is one of the rarer ones with the "fleur de lis" style of crossguard on the hilt.
Pictures aren't likely, as this was a customer's house I'll likely never return to. The questions are more for my curiousity.

 

[mawkie]

No worries. Early Japanese rifles had 3 digit assembly numbers to keep part sets together during production until a SN was assigned to a completed rifle. So the assm. number normally wouldn't match the SN. As long as the two halves match you're good.