Firearms Talk banner

7.7 Jap

2K views 14 replies 6 participants last post by  W. C. Quantrill 
#1 ·
My daughter scored a nice 7.7 Jap rifle, looks to be unfired, still gummed up with cosmoline. It has the artillery sights and the Crysanthemum stamp. I suspect it to be about a 43. The only problem is, no ammo.

Have any of you made 7.7 ammo from a .30-06 case>? The process seems to be to run it thru the dies then load it and fire form it. The Jap case is 2.3 and the 06 is 2.494. Of course 0.2" of case neck has to be trimmed before loading and fire forming.
 
#2 ·
I make my 7.7 brass from '06... The Military stuff works a little better than commercial.. Just cut it down and resize.


What are "artillery sights"? Do you mean the Anti-Aircraft sights? All the earlier Type 99 had them..

Wheres the pics? I wanna see it!!! :)
 
#6 · (Edited)
Do you trim it before or after you resize it?
I trim it once before, and then double check and trim again after sizing if necessary..
Slug your barrel too, mine doesnt seem to like any bullets bigger than .3105..

The "last-ditch" models started in 1942 - 43.. So it does AA sights.. Does it have the monopod, dust cover, and cleaning rod? Do all the numbers match?
It may be in cosmoline, but I would be very surprised if it was never fired.. Towards the end of the war the Japanese were trying to get all the guns they could in the hands of solders.. Thus the crude "last-ditch" models, even refurbishing worn out "training" rifles..

Heres a great site to figure out some more info on the Arisaka.. http://www.radix.net/~bbrown/japanese_markings.html
 
#7 ·
Serial numbers match, it has sling and hooked quillion bayonet with sheath, no monopod, dont remember if she got the cleaning rod or not. Bore is like new,,,so with the cosmoline and the rumor that it came from the Tokyo armory, I thought perhaps it might be unshot, but there are no papers. The stock shows signs of use. so its hard to tell, but I think its going to get shot.

Thanks!
 
#8 ·
Would be VERY rare to find an unfired Arisaka- especially with intact mum. Those that were surrendered at war's end were defaced by having Mum ground off- generally, only the guns taken in combat have intact marking.
 
#9 ·
The old guy that had it, got two. She got them both. One is the 7.7, and the other was a 6.5. The 6.5 was ground, the 7.7 wasnt. This old guy was in the group that came into Japan after the surrender, and he got the rifles and some samuari swords and managed to get them shipped back here. Oh, she got the swords too, all of it for very little, as he considered the stuff old Japanese war junk. Ah,,,that's my girl!!!!,,,,

She has it at her house, I cleaned and lubed the 7.7 a while back, havent gotten to the 6.5 yet. Anyway, the story from the person she got it from was that he liberated it from some storehouse in Tokyo after they landed after the surrender. So, I dont know what the situation was then, I think that there were some rifles that belonged to the home guard, or were stored for the home guard that did not get ground off before the surrender. I think he got in there and grabbed stuff before it got demilled, maybe. Anyway, she has one of each, now.
 
#10 ·
One of the most important parts of the forming process is anealing the case necks. The anealed necks are more malleable and form more easily, without creases, crinkles and collapses. I form 8mm from .270 cases all the time. If they are anealed, they do not split.
 
#11 ·
I am still trying to obtain some proper 7.7 brass, but if that fails, then I will make some, as I am knee deep in -06 brass.

Yes, good point, I did intend to do that, I watched a feller annealing brass a while back, he used a cordless drill with a 1/4" short extension and a 5/8" deep socket, he could drop the case in the end of the socket, then run the drill and spin the case in front of the torch, then when it heat marked, drop it in the water bucket by just tipping the drill,,,,it was pretty efficient.
 
#13 ·
I watched a feller annealing brass a while back, he used a cordless drill with a 1/4" short extension and a 5/8" deep socket, he could drop the case in the end of the socket, then run the drill and spin the case in front of the torch, then when it heat marked, drop it in the water bucket by just tipping the drill,,,,it was pretty efficient.
If you want to anneal cases with a torch hold the base with your bare hand. You'll drop it before the base gets hot enough to soften. It would be easy to overheat the case using the method described above. It doesn't matter if you water cool or not.

Watch Graf's website. They have PRVI 7.7x58 from time to time at a reasonable price.
 
#14 ·
Thats for sure, he spun the neck in the flame, and when the heat mark got to the shoulder, he dumped it. The commercial annealing machines heat the necks to a dull glow before dropping them.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top