#65 japanese

More of the Type 38

So the Type 38 that bought recently is a, “Numbers Matching,” gun. Except for the dust cover, those never seam to match.

“Because Japanese Soldiers throw them away, I don’t care about what the internet says, I happen to have spare one and put it on this rifle, fight be…”

Anyways this is important, because these guns where still hand fitted. The only thing about it is that the gentleman that sold it to me said it was mismatched.

Here is something to remember with the Arisaka. They don’t have the same numbering convention as European firearms. Where the gun would be serialized and the last two or four digits of the serial number would be stamped on all the parts.

The Japanese would serialized the Rifle with a set number for book keeping purposes, for the Japanese Imperial Military, Government, and who ever else need to know how many rifles where being made. But then would number the gun to itself, by marking a Kanji followed but two to four numbers. They would then number most major parts such as the bolt, rear sight latter, tang, etc to that set number.

The Japanese, would change this numbering convention, with the 20th or 25th type (variation) I can’t remember exactly. The Tokyo Arsenal would change it post serial number 2,014,000. To a European numbering convention, where the last three number of the main serial number would be stamped on all major parts, such as the bolt.

Japanese Arms of World War Two