So I went to a dinky local gun show this morning looking for some 54R ammo to buy, and came home with a new Arisaka instead.
This rifle started like as a Type 38 long rifle made in Tokyo. At some point it made its way to China, and was captured or abandoned. A Chinese shop converted it to 7.62x39 caliber by replacing the barrel and adding a block to the magazine well to hole the short round in place.
According to the guy I bought it from, it was then sent to Vietnam and brought back by a GI. That's possible (it's not import marked, and has an intact mum), but unlikely (a lot of these guns apparently were brought into the US in the 80s). But bringback or not, it will make an excellent companion to the Chinese 7.62x39mm Bren I'm working on.
I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but after some dry cycling, it appears to feed, extract and eject just fine. The seller claimed it was quite accurate, and I'm inclined to believe him on that, because the bore is in outstanding condition. It doesn't look like its been run over by a tank either, unlike some Chinese milsurps I've seen. This rifle originally had a serial number on the receiver and a different 3-digit assembly number on each major part, so it would not appear matching in any case. However, this one has mismatching assembly numbers as well. The dust cover is unmarked, so it may have been added on after the gun came to the US. It also has a late-style notched safety knob instead of the early style that would have had from the factory. No idea when that was changed.
Anyway, it's a really cute light little carbine, and should make a great hiking rifle. The more I see, the more interested I get in some of the interesting and funky guns made in China after WWII.
This rifle started like as a Type 38 long rifle made in Tokyo. At some point it made its way to China, and was captured or abandoned. A Chinese shop converted it to 7.62x39 caliber by replacing the barrel and adding a block to the magazine well to hole the short round in place.
According to the guy I bought it from, it was then sent to Vietnam and brought back by a GI. That's possible (it's not import marked, and has an intact mum), but unlikely (a lot of these guns apparently were brought into the US in the 80s). But bringback or not, it will make an excellent companion to the Chinese 7.62x39mm Bren I'm working on.
I haven't had a chance to shoot it yet, but after some dry cycling, it appears to feed, extract and eject just fine. The seller claimed it was quite accurate, and I'm inclined to believe him on that, because the bore is in outstanding condition. It doesn't look like its been run over by a tank either, unlike some Chinese milsurps I've seen. This rifle originally had a serial number on the receiver and a different 3-digit assembly number on each major part, so it would not appear matching in any case. However, this one has mismatching assembly numbers as well. The dust cover is unmarked, so it may have been added on after the gun came to the US. It also has a late-style notched safety knob instead of the early style that would have had from the factory. No idea when that was changed.
Anyway, it's a really cute light little carbine, and should make a great hiking rifle. The more I see, the more interested I get in some of the interesting and funky guns made in China after WWII.
I want one!
