Hi All,
A friend of mine came across an Arisaka chambered in .30-06 while performing a house cleanout. I assume it was a Type 99 as when I showed him my Type 30, he described the one he saw as being shorter and lacking the anti-aircraft sight .

I know these, along with other military rifles, have been converted by civilians for personal use to shoot more readily available ammo. I did some research and found that in addition to being re-chambered by civilians, the ROKA re-chambered roughly 130,000 Type 99’s to .30-06 to be used by them during the Korean War.

He however is stating (although his information is from a 3rd party) that towards the end of WWII, when Japanese ammo supplies were limited, the Japanese manufactured last ditch rifles so they could shoot .30-06 ammo as they had stock piled ammo captured from the US.

He is also saying that the estimated value on the rifle (again from the 3rd party) was $3000-$4000.

I was unable to confirm that the Japanese did re-chamber their rifles for .30-06. Was this the case? On the chance that this was one re-chambered by the ROKA and not for civilian use, would it be this valuable? I assume there would also be some type of armory mark to show the ROKA reworked the rifle, or am I mistaken?

He unfortunately was unable to retain the rifle as the family of the persons house he was cleaning out kept it, which means no photos to share, but this has now peaked my interest.

Thanks in advance for your replies!