Japanese Rifle, .300 Savage, 20.5″ Barrel

A sporterized WWII Japanese Arisaka Type 99 rifle that has been aftermarket rechambered to fire .300 Savage cartridges and fitted with (or cut down to) a 20.5-inch barrel. During the post-WWII era and through the 1950s and 60s, hundreds of thousands of Imperial Japanese Arisaka rifles were brought back to the United States by returning GIs. Because original 7.7x58mm Japanese ammunition was virtually impossible to find in the U.S. at the time, gunsmiths and hobbyists frequently "sporterized" these rifles. The .300 Savage became one of the most popular conversions for the Type 99 because the case dimensions are remarkably close to the original 7.7mm Japanese round. To make the conversion, a gunsmith would typically unscrew the barrel, cut back the threads slightly, set the barrel back, and re-ream the chamber to accept the shorter, high-velocity .300 Savage round.