Arisaka Type 38

The Arisaka Type 38 was chambered in 6.5 x 50mm and was produced from 1905 through 1940 for the Imperial Japanese Army. The Arisaka rifles were designated with the year of the current emperor's reign. Thus, the Type 38 rifle was designed in the 38th year of the reign of Emperor Meiji, which began in 1905.

The Arisaka Type 38 was heavily influenced by the Mauser design, but it did have a few features that were unique to it. One of these features was the sliding bolt cover, which protected the receiver openings from the unforgiving pacific climate. This feature though wasn’t always welcome as it often rattled when the bolt was operated. It was fairly common for soldiers to remove these covers.

Another defining characteristic of Arisaka rifles was the 16-petal chrysanthemum (the symbol of the Japanese Emperor) stamped on the receiver. These chrysanthemums indicated that the rifle belonged to the Emperor. It was common for surrendered rifles to have these stamps either partially ground off or pinned out to preserve the honor of the Emperor. Below the chrysanthemum you can see the Type designation stamped in the shiki characters . The translates to "Type", to "3", and to "8".

This Type 38 was manufactured by Jinsen (Korea) and was part of series #30. It was manufactured in either 1939 or 1940 and though there were over 3 million Type 38 rifles manufactured by various arsenals, Jinsen only manufacture 13,000.