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The first edition of MRoJ made no mention of the Type 99 Arisaka fabricated at Mukden. I foolishly sold me 2nd-4th editions when the 5th was published so do not know when Fred first mentioned them.
The first Chinese Arisaka imports were in 1985 and these were all 6.5mm rifles, 38s, Chinese 38 copies, some 8mm 38 conversions, T 44s and some "I"s. The 99s were not imported until the late 80s early 90s when SOG (Southern Ohio Guns) imported a batch,
I was still collecting data on 99s with the idea of updating the tables in the 1985 99 book and wrote SOG asking about a possible visit to examine the 99s and sent them a copy of the book to show that I was "serious." Of course, I received no reply.
In the meantime, they ran across around 8-12 Mukden 99s that all (?) went to the same person, I know he got the lion's share. I talked to him later and learned they also gave him my book! If I ever knew how he came to be on the receiving end of the Mukdens I've forgotten, but guess he had a hunch that the Mukden Arsenal may have made 99s and sent SOG a copy of the Mukden logo with an offer to pay a remimum for any they found. One other Mukden was in a West Coast shipment of Arisakas, it was pictured in a pre-1985 Banzai.
I've only handled two and both were, "rode hard and put away wet - NRA wretched" condition, mismatched parts, dark, cracked wood, rough metal. It's my underastanding that most had early features, only one is reported to have been a "Substitute Type 99" (last ditch) and this is just hear-say. Some of the very low serial number examples have both the Jensen and Mukden logos stamped on the receiver indicating that Jensesn was supplying parts until Mukden could reach full production.
On a tangent I once examined a Kokura 99 LMG that had the Kokura logo and serial number lined out and the Mukden logo and a new number stamped on. I say "examined" because the gun was "wild" and it would have been illegal to own it, so I "examined" it for a while.
So when it comes down to the Mukden 99s, as Forest Gump would say, "And that's all I know about that."
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The content of any post made by me is not meant to insult, offend, P.O. or otherwise upset any reader. The content of any posts made by me reflect my views only and do not reflect those of other members of this Board. So don't get your briefs/panties in a twist!
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