A sniper rifle 47 years in the making

[Miller Tyme]

This story starts in June 1968 when my dad visited on of his favorite gun shops, Elgin Arms. He had bought dozens of mil-surps for them to sporterize and this rifle was going to be no different. The stock had been sanded by the previous owner and there was a crack in the stock by the pistol grip but that didn't matter to him. The owner told him about the rifle and told him if he found the proper scope it could be worth considerably more. So dad plunked down his $15.60 for the rifle , took it home and hung it on the wall in the basement man cave along with his other rifles only handling it to clean and oil it once a year. Christmas 1976 he gave me the rifle along with the receipt and the story about the scope and over the next 29 years I would look for one anytime I went to a gun show, but with no luck. But in 2005 I stepped into the 21st century and got on line and began to search more actively for a scope, always coming up a day late or a dollar short.

But that all ended last Thursday when I found me a 4x scope made by the Nippon Typewriter Co. for my rifle. I took it down to show my dad today and he laughed about how his former rifle was sporting a scope that cost almost 80 times what he had paid for it.

So without further ado, here is my latest Sniper



(Note, the gun shop got the caliber wrong on the receipt)

















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[joseyclosey]

Great story MT, I don't think I have ever even seen a Jap sniper before. Nice to see your Dads old rifle finally scoped up with something very suitable after all these years.
Thanks for sharing those super photos.
Joe

[Niner]

The crack in the stock doesn't look to be where the real crack in the stock ought to be. Those Japs had those butts made out of two pieces of wood glued together at an odd angle. Take a look at my fence post grade Type 38 with the big crack.

Never seen a real Japanese Sniper rifle. You could probably trade it for a case of "real" Russian refurb sniper rifles with matching scope numbers.

[dhtaxi]

Great stuff thanks for posting.

[NLMosin]

Wow thats awesome! I love a good story as much as I love any sniper rifle!! Was the scope mount on the rifle when your dad got it? And it looks like a 99 not a 38?....

[PeterN2]

I have not seen a 7.7mm Japanese sniper rifle but I have seen a 6.5mm one on the range once. It was brought by Martin Peglar who used to work at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. It vwas his own rifle, not one from the collection. I once saw a Japanese sniper scope for sale in the Gunmart magazine here for £300. I offered £280 but he already had an offer at the full asking price so I didn't get it. A nice rifle you have and nice to see it scoped again. Thanks for showing it.
Regards
Peter Newhouse.

[Miller Tyme]

Wow thats awesome! I love a good story as much as I love any sniper rifle!! Was the scope mount on the rifle when your dad got it? And it looks like a 99 not a 38?....

The rifle was complete matching and all there except the scope.

[Miller Tyme]

I have not seen a 7.7mm Japanese sniper rifle but I have seen a 6.5mm one on the range once. It was brought by Martin Peglar who used to work at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. It vwas his own rifle, not one from the collection. I once saw a Japanese sniper scope for sale in the Gunmart magazine here for £300. I offered £280 but he already had an offer at the full asking price so I didn't get it. A nice rifle you have and nice to see it scoped again. Thanks for showing it.
Regards
Peter Newhouse.

Thanks Peter, a sniper in 6.5 would have been a Type 97 with a 2.5x scope. The Type 97 was just a Type 38 that had been made into a sniper and was the most produced sniper rifle the Japanese made, and even then they are very hard to find.