Got one of those 7.7 a while ago for short money. shells are aprox 35 bucks a box. is this a ok deer gun or junk? I have other guns to hunt with but dont know much about this. Wild lookin rear sight. peep slides WAY up and two flip down arms on both sides of rear sight. Anti-aircraft??? Shoots ok. had it checked with gunsmith. ok shape. also have barreinet..lol

The 7.7 Arisaka is a very strong action, the cartridge is roughly equivalent to the .308 Winchester in power and keep the brass, you can handload it for less than $5 a box.

You can hunt deer with it...and bigger stuff as well....but personally, I' d not spend a lot of money customizing it. Shoot it " as is" .

As Vapodog stated the Arisaka is a very strong action. In destruction tests conducted by U.S. arsenals the Arisaka was actually stronger than any other bolt action battle rifle. It outlasted pressures that destroyed Mausers, Springfields, and Enfields. On the other hand the Arisaka is a little more unwieldy and is certainly " uglier" . But it is a very servicable, safe, action.

I would do as Vapo suggested and use it as is! As long as you can " zero" your rifle and feel comfortable with it...go ahead and use it. I currently have a M48 (modified Mauser 98 action) that I intend to use as is. The " battle sights" present an extra challenge and there is nothing quite like " holding and using a piece of history" .

The 7.7 Arisaka is also a very servicable cartridge. It compares closely to the .303 British. (Lumped very well with other major service cartridges of that era...ie. .30-06, 8X57, .303 British, 7.62X54R, etc.) Or again as previously pointed out...the .308 Winchester. For a good source of reloading info...go to:

http://www.reloadersnest.com/frontpa...?CaliberID=217

Hope this has helped!

Thanx for the info! I have keep all the brass. I know nothing about reloading. maybe I can find someone close to home to help. Thanx again

Yep,those are anti-aircraft sights.Neat rifles.One in good shape goes for around 200-250$ around here, let alone the bayonet.Keep it as is and enjoy it.

I have several Jap rifles, but they wouldn' t be my choice for hunting. There' s nothing wrong with the cartridge, but the safety is very slow to work and not what I' d want in a hunting situation. If you don' t mind the sights and funky safety it will work fine for deer.

For the average Type 99, a ground mismatched gun runs $50 to $100.00 One with an untouched mum, matching numbers, and unsporterized by Bubba will bring $200.00 and up.

yup. all org. i realized I have had this since highschool got it about 1984 for about $100 so I guess todays market would be around what you posted. 200 and up. Not going to change anything on it. is nice to have a pice of History...Thanx.

I bought a Arisaka 7.7 recently just because of the price ,definetly not something I would want to hunt with . I got two boxes of Norma ammo and three boxes of brass along with a complete rifle for $50 bucks . Guess I didn' t get burned to bad if they are worth a hundred .

Actually, it was P.O. Ackley who conducted these destruction tests, and he used the 6.5mm Arisaka action for testing, not the later one in 7.7mm, which is a modification of the original Arisaka action. The 7.7' s aren' t quite up to the strength (or high quality level) of the earlier 6.5mm ones, but nontheless are strong, safe and serviceable, as long as they are not the " last ditch" cast-receiver variety. The 7.7X58mm Japanese cartridge case holds a lot more powder than the .308 or the .303 British, and in the Japanese front-lockup action, can be loaded to velocity levels somewhat beyond the .303 British round.

Thanks eldeguello,

It was the earlier Arisakas in 6.5mm. I thought P.O. Ackley conducted these tests while working at the Springfield Armory as part of military testing? (Or where they done later in his career?) I know the 7.7 Japanese was adopted in 1939 in the Model 99 Arisaka, though both it and the 6.5 Japanese continuted to see use throughout the war. What I am definitely not certain about...is how the two models differed. Though I was aware that the late war models were horrible in their " lack of quality control" . (Similar circumstances happened with late war model Mausers...though not as significantly.)

P.S. Can you recommend a good definitive source, (preferably on the internet)? Once I get back to AK, and settled, I' m looking forward to catching up on some reading.

Thanks again!