Arisaka: Serial # or Assembly #?

otter6412

March 22, 2015 14:46

My WW2 Jap Arisaka has matching numbers on the receiver, bolt and dust cover. The number on the bayonet mount is different. Should this part also match the rifle?

Thanks

-Otter

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  charliemeyer007

  March 22, 2015 14:59

  I don't know, but the machine work on yours is way better than mine.

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  babun

  March 22, 2015 15:53

  I know that the bayonets were numbered and those numbers do not match the guns even as issued.
  So it is a possibility you have the correct mount.
  
  Here is the whole story on Arisaka markings.
  
  http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html

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  Fatstrat

  March 23, 2015 07:39

  Yes it should. All numbered parts should match to have a truely "matching" rifle. The good part is that not all front barrel band/bayo mounts were numbered. So if you find an un-numbered one to replace the mismatch you have, no one will know except you, me and whoever reads this thread. [:)]

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  yblockhead

  March 23, 2015 09:58

  Babun, That is an excellent link! Found out that my type 38 is a Nagoya concentric ring and possibly a second class arm according to the notes. Still shoots fine.

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  babun

  March 23, 2015 10:12

  quote:Originally posted by yblockhead
  Babun, That is an excellent link! Found out that my type 38 is a Nagoya concentric ring and possibly a second class arm according to the notes. Still shoots fine.
  
  
  There was a time in my younger years that I could remember lots of things like that.
  Now I have to use "bookmarks" on my browsers.
  [V][V][V]

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  45er

  March 23, 2015 20:05

  "Yes it should. All numbered parts should match to have a truely "matching" rifle." ???
  
  I'm not so sure, depending upon year, rifle model (Type), and arsenal maker. From McCollum's book "Japanese Rifles Of World War"...
  
  "Until the 1930's, rifle parts were numbered to match a rifle's assembly number.The assembly number differed from the rifle's serial number ... on many small parts."
  
  "During the 1930's, Japanese arsenals began using the last three digits of a rifle's serial number to match while others continued to be numbered to match a separate assembly number."
  
  After about 1940, the serial number was used almost exclusively for matching numbered parts". {Underlined by me, 45er}.
  
  So, my opinion, (and that's all it is with my slim knowledge), is it can be a crap shoot? More so if there were sub-contractors. If anyone else with a reliable source can add to better straighten this out, sure we'd all like to know.
  
  Also, please note, the great link given by Babun -- do copy & print, or paste the data elsewhere in your computer, for there have been web-sites that have had this info for years, but are now defunct.
  
  45er

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  Fatstrat

  March 25, 2015 04:00

  It would depend on the Arsenal/Series, which is not given. T-99's were pretty universally serial numbered. I'm not aware of any that weren't.

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  Grasshopper

  March 25, 2015 06:42

  Had some early and mid war ones and all matched -want to go crazy, try to get one of each series change, mind boggling- I gave up and sold 15 rifles and each had a difference on it somehow---

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