Conrgratulations on a great buy. I thought you might be interested in the background of the Model 99 Arisaka. I have a Model 99 that my father-in-law brought back from WWII. It was an early war model, with chrome bore and commercial grade bluing. The dust cover was still intact, which indicated to me that it had never been in the field, as no soldier with a lick of sense would have a rattle to attract attention. Unfortunately, the chrysanthemum had been ground off. We had a group that shot military weapons of particular conflicts in simulated battleground conditions, and I won a shoot using the rifle, shooting against M-1 Garands, 1903 Springfields, Russian M-91, and Mk III Enfields. Late war models had fixed sights, plain bores and cast iron receivers, and are only good for garden stakes, but the early models are good guns. If you reload, cartridges can be made from 30-06 brass and the bullet diameter is about the same as the .303 British.
I also have good memories of the Browning A-5. A friend of mine used to hunt with a 16 gauge and it was a great gun. I'd love to have one myself.
