Type 99

Type 99

This Japanese M99 machine gun is a live, Amnesty registered WWII war trophy with battle marks indicating "who won the battle." Clearly, the Japanese soldier manning this lethal machine gun was raked with fire from an American machine gun. It has several bullet strikes, two on the left side of the receiver, the tip of the cocking handle (repaired) and the wood carrying handle. Yet the gun works flawlessly. The receiver damage could be reapired, but I believe these American bullet holes tell a very important story and are best left as they are, since they do not afect the operation of the machine gun. When I acquired it, over a decade ago, dried clay was still in the hollow grip attachment bolt. (I cleaned it out, not realizing what it was.) Shoots 7.7 Japanese ammunition which can be acquired as factory ammunition or relaoded from new, commercially available brass. Some collectors have the chamber sleeved to 7.62x51 (.308 Winchester) for ease of ammunition acquisition. A number of conversion kits have been sold converting this gun to shoot 7.62x39 AK-47 ammunition. I tried one on this gun and it worked very well. Lots of fun too!

THis Type 99 machine gun once had a small internal weld between the barrel and receiver, which has been removed. There are no external weld marks. It was manufactured by Hitachi Seisaikuso Company and has the Kokura Army arsenal approval mark. Its serial number, 183xx, dated 19.11 and is the 17th, "re" series. Overall exterior retains 85% of its original bluing. It was made with forward bipod and without the rear monopod. Barrel rifling is very good. This Type 99 exudes history! Interested in outright sale or trades. E-Mail what you propose on a trade. Thank you!

$12,000 with reproduction magazine, $13,000 with original magazine

SOLD August 2007