303 British Bolt? NOT!

[B24]

I hope my pics load, this is my first time to try from my
phone. I was making Pawn Shop rounds Saturday and
stumbled on a Type 99 tagged as a British Bolt 303.
Priced at $249 I wound up with it for $150 OTD. The
Guys did not have a clue as to what is was.

It is a 9th series Howa late war. The rifle looked as if it has been standing in the corner of grandpa's closet
for the past 70 years. Dusty with a brown patina and
a little surface rust but nothing bad, it is cleaning up
quite well. Matching numbers and a unmolested mum.
I need some ammo!

[Junk Yard Dog]

Cool. I just scored some nice Norma 7.7 last weekend, but I need that for my 99's, plus I will be reloading the brass once I shoot them.

[awalker1829]

Sweet!

[Longcolt44]

Nice catch, that's what an antique dealer gets for trying to be a gun dealer. An illegal one at that. I don't collect Arisakas but I have eight of them.

[Sonny]

Call me Jelly.

[B24]

Nice catch, that's what an antique dealer gets for trying to be a gun dealer. An illegal one at that. I don't collect Arisakas but I have eight of them.

They are a legal FFL. There was a sported type 99 setting in the rack next to it tagged as 7.7
Japanese priced at $349. Go figure. This is my 2nd Arisaka, my other one is a 7th series Nagoya
transitional, matching with a ground mum.

[qz2026]

Nice catch, that's what an antique dealer gets for trying to be a gun dealer. An illegal one at that. I don't collect Arisakas but I have eight of them.

I don't collect Arisakas but I have eight of them.

[qz2026]

Nice snag. I reload for my japs...

[Junk Yard Dog]

Happens a lot when non milsurp people have to sell milsurps. They take a five second glance on the internet under " army bolt action rifle" , or just " army rifle" pick the one they think it looks like and sell it as that. The less they paid for the rifle the less they care what it is. Years ago I bought a rifle at the flea market, seller and I both looked at it and thought " old Russian rifle". After bickering over the price ( come on, $75 for an old Russian rifle?) We settled on considerably less and I took home my M28/30. Mind you it wasn't until the internet came along that I figured out what it was, I shot it for years thinking it was an old Russian rifle that was surprisingly accurate. Back then there was a lot more information in books about Japanese Arisakas that any Finn rifle, or Russian one. Most books back then, if they mentioned Mosins at all, couldn't even agree on how to spell it. The huge influx of Arisakas after the war, and the favor it found with Bubba, made sure there was at least the basic knowledge available. You would be hard pressed to decode the arsenal markings, but you could identify the basic type 38, 99, and M44 folding bayonet carbine. I bought all of these nearly 40 years ago and knew at the time what I was buying. Your guy was a lazy seller, maybe stupid if he had the same rifle, even a Bubba job, right there on the rack correctly identified, and still couldn't figure out what he sold you. Lazy sellers cost themselves money, but are best for you and I , the collectors.

[B24]

Here are some more pics. Our first Grandchild was born about a month ago and I finally ditched the flip phone
for one with a camera so forgive my photography skills while Iearn this thing and how to post. I have some
interesting [to me at least] rifles I have acquired since joining the board in 2013 that I'll be posting pics of.

[B24]

Somehow they are inverted.

[Thagomizer]

Looks great to me-even upside down.........Nice find at a great price.

[lthilsdorf]

B24,

That's a steal of a deal on a Howa! It's very difficult to find this series and maker mummed and matching. $150 is amazing. I just picked up an example last month from a lead on Facebook, at a shop in New Hampshire. Mine is also mummed and matching, but I paid about $350 and was very happy at that price.