Japanese Historian Needed!
Hi ...I have a question on Arisaka rifles. I know that when Japan surrendered, as a face saving jester they ground off the Mum on the receivers (the emperor's symbol). But I've found a weapon that has the Mum but it's over stuck with the arsenal's mark! Is this an attempt to de-face the Mum or is this something else? THX! ...Mark
"FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"
"FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"
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What you are seeing is not an arsenal mark, but rather probably a school mark. When the weapons were transfered to a school (usually type 30 or 38), the mum was not defaced, just stamped over. There are a couple, but if it looks like Kokura, you will have three circles in a pyramid shape. You may find double zeros in front of the serial number too and a kanji character signafying "school" 0 -
p3skyking ...it is the 3 circled that you spoke of. I was thinking it was the Kokura arsenal stamp. SO ...would they issue the "state of the art" 38 carbine models to schools? I though they only issued 30 model smooth bores there. ...Mark
"FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"0 -
These guys were funny. Making good weapons to SHOOT BLANKS! That take a dull bayonet! Actually, the 38 carbine (along with the horse cavalry) was obsolete by 1939 when the Germans cut down the Polack horse soldiers with MG-34's. The Type 99 was state of the art. 0 -
p3skyking ...I recall they were trying to change out cartridges from 6.5 to 7.7, I was just thinking a carbine would be more desirable in the jungles of the Philippines as apposed to a long rifle. But maybe they were worried the "kids" couldn't handle the long rifles? *G* THX. for the info! ...Mark
"FEAR the Goverment, that fears your ARMS"0 -
Actually, the training rifles built as training rifles were 7/8ths regular size. When you consider that due to diet, the average adult Japanese male was around 5.2-5.6, this rifle would tower over the kids! Thankfully, here in America, the New Deal guys were handing out commodity cheese and other wholesome staples to fatten up the soon to be GI's.
Anyway, back to the rifles. Although they tried, they could not completely change to the 7.7 and fought the war with both. I used to deploy to the PI on a regular basis (USN) and there's plenty of room to swing a rifle there, but a good SMG sure would come in handy!
You have a neat little rifle that is really a hoot to shoot! Just make sure they didn't ream it out (no rifling) or cut the firing pin. You should have 3 or 4 Kanji on the breech and none should say "for blank ammunition only" If you need help decyphering the kanji, let me know.0
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