OK, I finally got the scoop on this mystery relic of mine, or pretty much so anyway. Last week when I tried to pour a mould to see what the chamber measured up to I found that it hadn't been properly milled for a round; One diameter chamber, then a hard shoulder, not a bevel for the neck, with another diameter which came pretty close to the actual barrel. Very confusing. On top of that I finally realized the bore was smooth, no lans and grooves whatsoever. I began to suspect this may have been one of those rifles that had been reported to have been issued to "schools". Today I asked a Japanese friend of mine what the writing was on the stock. It read "Nakashima", then "school", but he couldn't make out the last figure. On the opposite side of the stock was another blaze, the number "8" in Japanese. Sooooo, I'm gonna have to conclude that this is one of those school rifles manufactured in the Jinsen armory in Korea between 1931 and 1940, not a last ditch weapon at all, even though the star doesn't appear to have the extra do-dads within the marking. The book says that armory made 1300 of'em with serial numbers from 0-1300. I still can't explain the "D" in the serial number, but at least the numbers all match throughout the rifle. If anybody out there ever sees another one, I'd sure like to compare it with mine. As far as I'm concerned, case closed. Thanks for the various inputs.