I bought
this Arisaka from an old WWII veteran walking around a gunshow in Dayton,
Ohio.
His tale was that he was stationed
in Japan at the end of the war, and that this rifle came to him directly
out of an arsenal there, and had seen little use. It was apparent that the
blueing on this rifle was immaculate. The mum was intact, and the wood was
nearly flawless. The stock had obviously been worked over with something
to give it a nice sheen, but still, the asking price and condition were
such that I could not pass it up.
The pictures below show the action
cover in open and close positions, the mum intact, the SN and arsenal
markings, and beautiful (albeit non original) finish on the wood. The
stamp after the serial # indicates that this rifle was made in the
Koishikawa Arsenal
In
actuality, the Mum has been overstamped with the arsenal mark indicating
that it had been released from Imperial Japanese Army service. Most
likely, it went to school for training.
I
have another one of these in my Sporterized Rifles section (click
here)
