Just left Claremore. Mum is crisp! Does that affect the value of the rifle?
Very nice, the mums were ground off all surrendered rifles. The intact mums were either a bring back rifle or Japanese officers retrieved them from the arsenal before the grinders were in place.
Or the rifle came from an Allied arsenal where they either missed the mum or didn’t bother grinding it off, for one reason or another. Keep in mind there were hundreds of thousands of Japanese firearms turned in to the arsenals. It’s not necessarily a bring-back, but if its stock was cut underneath the barrel band, it very well could be since that was done to sneak the rifle back in a duffel bag.
The krag could likely be restored to military trim. Mine is a cut down rifle to roughly carbine length. Stock reshaped as well
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Turns out the auction house didn’t do their research.. the markings say Type 38 with a 1,519,XXX serial number. Only two numbers I’ve found so far match. I also don’t love the sporterized look: front sights, stock, and not sure what else are not original according to my Google-fu.
Yeah that is a type 38 in 6.5X50 more than likely. Type 99 would have different marking on the receiver.
You happen to be an expert on these? I’ve done a bit of research tonight and it seems the auction didn’t do any! Could use your insight if so.
I’m measuring it to have about a 24” barrel, but Type 38s are supposed to have a 30” or 19.5” as a carbine. My research also points to this being produced in Tokyo around 1918.
For the record, the auctioneers also called my Springfield a Model 1894, but I think it’s actually a Model 1892 produced in 1894 that has been sporterized. They also gave my Remington the date code for May 1952 but listed it as 1940s production, when the real date code shows March 1951.
Quite off-putting that they didn’t conduct any research on these items people pay good money for online, trusting them to give accurate descriptions.
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I am a little knowledgeable about arisakas. Here is a good website to start :https://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
I think your T38 was made at Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo) going off the arsenal marking on the left hand side of the reciever behind the serial number.
I think your T38 was made at Koishikawa Arsenal (Tokyo) going off the arsenal marking on the left hand side of the reciever behind the serial number.
