7.7 Jap anyone have one?

[IMAS]

This was the first gun I bought when I turned 18 because of its low cost. I only shot it once though because I realized how expensive and hard to find the ammo is after I burned through the two boxes I got with it.

I sold it recently and I kind of miss it. I doubt I would have gotten much use if any out of it but it sure was beatiful on the sport stock it was put on.

Out of curiosity anyone know a good place to find ammo for 7.7 Jap?

[Butch]

The Old Western Scrounger offers 7.7 ammo for about $28 a box, but unfortunately, the only 'good' place to get 7.7 ammo is to reload your own. Click--> http://www.ows-ammunition.com/ and type 7.7 in the search box.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid124/p93436d30e07da044fa95158445115edb/f8104f9f.jpg




;?

[Decguns]

Grafs offered some 7.7 ammo and reloadable cases for a while. Not sure if they still do. Ammo was about $18 a box.

The Arisakas are truly underrated. Every example I own is quite accurate and a pleasure to shoot. Of course, I form my own 7.7 cases from 30-06 brass. For plinking, I've had great luck using the 123 grain FMJ's for the 7.62X39. The Remington 180 RNSP for the British 303 also works well for hunting.

[Halo]

I have a 7.7 Arisaka that my grandfather brought back from the Pacific. Its previous owner no longer needed it.

Never fired it, because I've never had any ammo, but I also doubt it's in good enough condition. It is evidently a late-war production because the stock is crudely finished. The Imperial Chrysanthemum has been filed off, and the end of the buttstock was cut off and then put back on. My grandfather said they did that when they were captured, to inspect them for hidden explosives.

[kend]

Out of curiosity anyone know a good place to find ammo for 7.7 Jap?

The cheapest, and best, way would be to load your own. Lee makes a die set for it, you can make 7.7 brass by running 30-06 brass through the sizing die. IIRC it comes out slightly short but it doesn't hurt anything, I loaded some for my Dad like this and it shot great.

[Washington,D.C.]

The Norma 7.7 brass is .477 inches,the Graf 7.7 brass is .471 inches,the 8mm Mauser brass is .463 inches.The Lee and RCBS full length sizing dies size to .471 inches.The Norma brass can be sized but iss a lot of work.Fired brass is about .472 to .477 inches.With .472-.473 on low power loads and full power loads measuring .474-.477 inches.Using 8x57 Mauser brass requires no triming but the small(short) shoulder leaves a little bit too much headspace.Load 36.5 to 44.0 grains of H-4895 with 174 grain Hornady .312 bullet and Winchester large rifle primers.Some manuals say 40.0 grains max,some say 43.9 grains max.Can use starting load with 180 grain Remington .311 bullet.I have no seen over pressure with the max load but primers bulge slightly with too much headspace with 8mm brass.So might be best to stay at 40.0 grains of H-4895.
http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd77x58japanesearisaka.jpg

[handy8941]

Originally posted by Halo
I have a 7.7 Arisaka that my grandfather brought back from the Pacific. Its previous owner no longer needed it.

Never fired it, because I've never had any ammo, but I also doubt it's in good enough condition. It is evidently a late-war production because the stock is crudely finished. The Imperial Chrysanthemum has been filed off, and the end of the buttstock was cut off and then put back on. My grandfather said they did that when they were captured, to inspect them for hidden explosives.

More than likely you have a "last ditch" Arisaka. At the end of the war the rifle was manufactured using all sorts of short cuts and substitutions due to the shortage of most raw materials. One of those measures was to eliminate the metal butt plate and substitute a wooden one.

[MRex21]

I have one and I love it. Norma and Hornady both make factory ammunition for it. I've found the best value is to make the cases from cut down .30-06 cases. I use a Lee die set and have never had any problems.

Two fantastic articles that feature the .30-06 conversion and an 8mm Mauser conversion are here:

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/srtype99/index.asp

http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews2006/srtype99part2/index.asp

[DriBak]

Originally posted by Halo
I have a 7.7 Arisaka that my grandfather brought back from the Pacific. Its previous owner no longer needed it.

Never fired it, because I've never had any ammo, but I also doubt it's in good enough condition. It is evidently a late-war production because the stock is crudely finished. The Imperial Chrysanthemum has been filed off, and the end of the buttstock was cut off and then put back on. My grandfather said they did that when they were captured, to inspect them for hidden explosives. ;Z
;? ;?

[MrMurphy]

My brother has a Type 99 7.7mm. His was a Korean War capture. We had it checked out by a Arisaka expert and he said it was a post WW2 build from leftover parts, so not everything matched, and it never had a chrysanthemum to start with. But it fires, and functions fine according to my uncle. He got it from his friend who captured it in a rather odd fashion, at the beginning of the Korean War he was a P51 pilot who came across a (daylight) marching battalion of NK troops, who were armed with anything they could get. Being that Korea had been dominated by Japan for 40 years, Arisakas were common. He did several strafing runs on the battalion, basically wiped them out before they could scatter (no nearby cover), landed right on the road, grabbed half a dozen weapons, papers, intel etc and took off again.