Arisaka Type 99 pressure test rifle
Hi! Recently I acquired a Japanese rifle which I have been able to identify as a Arisaka Type 99 pressure test rifle. Any and all information (history and value)is greatly appreciated. Thank you! Nez
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Nez....welcome to the GB forum and thanks for your question. Can't tell you a lot with the tiny bit of info you have given us. Suggest you post some photos so we can get a good look at what you have. There were 2.5 million or so Type 99's produced so telling you what you have is like you asking "I have a 1966 Mustang...what is it worth?" If you can't do photos, give us a detailed description of all the markings on the rifle. I suggest that you go over it with a glass top to bottom (including the dust cover, if it has one) looking for numbers and Japanese characters. Describe, for example, the arsenal mark on the side of the receiver. What is the design of the buttplate? Look at the saftey carefully and describe the design on the knob...Type 99's had several different designs. How do you know, for example, that it is "...a Arisaka Type 99 pressure rifle?" So, lot of questions need to be answered before we can give you full info. History? In service from 1939-1945 in several different styles. Produced in 45 series from eight different arsenals and several subcontractors. We can help you, but you must help us with more info. 0 -
To add on to what Gary stated, pressure guns don't look like standard rifles at all, in fact they are usually down right ugly. 0 -
Well, one thing is for sure,,,if you have one there is no mistaking of what it is! Photos a must,,,rare item in the states. mm8nambu 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Tailgunner1954
To add on to what Gary stated, pressure guns don't look like standard rifles at all, in fact they are usually down right ugly.
Darn it,,beat me by 26 seconds!0 -
This is exactly what the rifle is.
Thank you for the replies.
The only reason that was able to identify the rifle was because of "google" below is an article I found. The only thing is that I do not have the plug that screws in. Yes, it is ugly.[/img]
quote:
"West Palm Beach, Fla. "Gun Buy-Back Program" pays $75 for $5,000 rare rifle
CLICK HERE FOR OCShooters.com
GUN BUYBACK PROGRAM
And HOW TO TURN IN A GUN
A "Gun Buy-Back Program" horror story out of West Palm Beach, Fla. highlights one type of problem that these programs have. In West Palm Beach, the guy ended up getting back his rifle but that is only because the press reported the story and the police department got pressure to return the gun. This is the only time that I have see that someone got a gun back, no matter how rare or how much money it was worth.
I have seen stories of police replacing guns with a high value that they have taken in with junk guns or just stealing the guns. I have also see stories of police walking down a line of people waiting to go in and offering to buy the gun for the "Gun Buy-Back " price and then taking the gun for themselves.
Rare Japanese rifle ends up in buy-back program
By DON JORDAN
Cox News Service
Friday, July 15, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - He bought it for two packs of Chesterfield cigarettes. He sold it for a $75 Target gift card.
But World War II Navy veteran Bruno Filippelli never knew the Japanese rifle that collected dust in his closet for 60 years was a bona fide wartime treasure.
He turned it over to West Palm Beach police Saturday during the city's gun buy-back program, and the rare and valuable firearm - better suited in a polished museum or with a wealthy weapons collector - now lies alongside 450 other submitted shotguns, handguns and assault rifles in the department's evidence storage room.
"I feel like an idiot," said Filippelli, 79, four days after selling the rifle and just a few hours after discovering its worth.
And police say they're not giving it back. In fact, the gun could soon be melted down and destroyed with the others.
The controversy over the rare gun erupted when a picture of Filippelli turning over the rifle appeared in the Sunday edition of The Palm Beach Post. A Palm Beach police officer recognized the rare rifle, researched the gun and then delivered the bad news to Filippelli Wednesday.
"He told me, 'If I was you, I never would have turned it in,' " Filippelli said.
The gun, an Arisaka Type 99 pressure test rifle, is one of less than 100 ever produced. There are as few as 50 left, including about 20 in the United States, according to gun experts and dealers. The type of rifle was never used in the field. It was designed to test the chamber pressure and bullet velocity for the Type 99 rifle, which Imperial Japanese forces widely used throughout World War II.
Although the gun is not listed in most price guides, a piece in good shape could be valued by as much as $5,000, said Bob Adams, a rare-gun collector and firearms dealer in Albuquerque, N.M.
Adams, who sells Japanese rifles through mail orders and the Internet, said destroying the gun "would be a crime." He said West Palm Beach police should have identified the gun as a pressure test rifle that would not be used in violent crimes and should have never accepted it.
"That was a grave disservice to the guy that owned it and the whole collecting fraternity," Adams said. "That gun is history, and destroying history does not help the street crime problem."
The ultimate fate of the rifle is still up in the air, police officials said Thursday.
Police still need to determine if it is authentic, and then donate it to an interested museum or destroy it with the others in the near future, said West Palm Beach police Lt. Chuck Reed, adding that a museum has contacted the department in reference to the gun.
Either way, police will not return the gun to Filippelli, said Reed, adding that returning it would defeat the purpose of the program, which was to get guns off the street.
"No matter the value of any of the guns, we're not going to resell any of them," he said.
Fred Honeycutt has catalogued the gun, along with many others, in his book, "Military Rifles of Japan," now in its fifth edition. The retired engineer spent two weeks researching the book in Japan, where he met the gun's designers.
The Japanese produced the pressure test rifles in small amounts, and it is not known how many were assembled, said Honeycutt, whose wife spotted the picture of the gun in the newspaper.
"I didn't want it destroyed," he said. "It belongs in a museum."
Honeycutt contacted the police, and when they told him to find an interested museum, he contacted the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Va., he said.
"[The police department's] mission is noble and they do have a purpose, but this gun doesn't really belong in that effort," Honeycutt said.
Doug Wicklund, a senior curator at the National Firearms Museum, said the museum has two of that particular rifle, and he knows of a couple more at other museums around the country, but that's about it.
"You could probably count on fingers and toes how many you have left in the U.S.," said Wicklund, adding that he wouldn't try to appraise the gun because he's never heard of one being sold before. "They were not something the average soldier would have in his tent with him."
Filippelli, originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., said he spent nearly two years at war, including six months on a light cruiser patrolling the waters around the Japanese islands. The cruiser often faced attacks from Japanese kamikaze pilots, but "knocked out a few airplanes," in that time, he said.
Just days after the Japanese surrendered on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in September 1945, Filippelli purchased the gun and a Japanese saber at a small shop in Tokyo.
He said the rifle "struck him" because of its strange shape and how heavy it was. It was marked with an insignia and the serial No. 47.
"You could buy anything for a couple packs of cigarettes," he said.
On Thursday, Filippelli visited the West Palm Beach police department and met with a police officer, but had no luck retrieving the weapon.
The officer showed the World War II veteran his gun, and Filippelli showed the officer his initials - BJF - engraved on the bottom of its barrel, he said.
The ordeal has been disappointing, but Filippelli said he hopes the rifle's final battle will be won, and it will escape the melting pot and be exhibited in a museum.
"I'd feel really good about that," he said. "I'd hope I'd get some connective recognition with it for bringing it over from Japan.
"That's all I'm asking for."
WPB police return rare rifle
By Don Jordan, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 15, 2005
UPDATED: 6:36 p.m. July 15, 2005
Sixty years after he helped the United States defeat Japan in World War II, Navy veteran Bruno Filippellicq won a small battle of his own Friday.
The 79-year-old Delray Beach man retrieved the rare Japanese rifle he turned in to West Palm Beach police Saturday for a $75 Target gift card, as part of the department's gun buy-back program.
Filippelli didn't realize his rifle could be worth as much as $5,000, according to one rare gun collector.
The Arisaka Type 99 pressure test rifle was set to be melted down and destroyed, along with about 450 other firearms collected by the police last weekend.
"I feel like a kid again," said Filippelli, on his way into the department to pick up his rifle. "It's like Christmas in July."
The week-long debacle began when a picture of Filippelli and the rifle appeared in Sunday's edition of The Palm Beach Post. The picture prompted local collectors and gun aficionados to contact police and request that the gun be spared from destruction.
The rifle is one of less than 100 ever produced. Gun experts and dealers say as few as 50 left, including about 20 in the United States.
On Thursday, officials from the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Va., called the West Palm Beach police department and asked about acquiring the rifle, West Palm Beach police Lt. Chuck Reed said.
The final decision came down to Chief Delsa R. Bush, who eventually decided to make "a rare exception to the rule" and return the gun with Mayor Lois Frankel's blessing.
Bush said police had to verify that the gun was Filippelli's, but were convinced once they examined the man's initials - BJF - engraved on the underside of the rifle's barrel. Filippelli was not asked to return the gift card, Bush said.
"He can keep it," she said. "Tell him it's a gift from the city for being a veteran."
As of Friday, Filippelli said he hadn't used the gift card.
He said a secretary in the mayor's office informed him of the good news, but asked him to "keep it cool" when dealing with the press. City spokesman Elliot Cohen said he talked with the secretary, who said she didn't tell Filippelli to try to avoid media coverage.
Filippelli served in the Navy for 22 months during World War II, including six months on patrol in the waters around Japan. He purchased the rifle in a Tokyo store for two packs of Chesterfield cigarettes, just days after the war ended.
Filippelli said he kept the gun in his closet for 60 years, unaware of its rarity. When he heard that West Palm Beach was conducting a buy-back program to curb violence, Filippelli wanted to get involved, he said.
But Friday morning, the teary-eyed veteran walked into the lobby of the West Palm Beach police station, filled out a form and left with the weapon he once brought from across the Pacific.
He said he felt sorry for troubling the police, but was happy to have his rifle back. He has a new appreciation for the gun, which will eventually be given to a museum, Filippelli said.
"It reminds me of what I went through in the war, and the people who died over there," he said. "I'm going to hold on to it and hug it for a while."0 -
Nez......thanks for getting back to us. Great articles! Great gun! Great piece of WWII history! I guess the old guy did part with his piece of WWII! Lucky you! 0 -
Thanks nez,,good story/////// 0
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