Dove tail of a Japanese rifle.

I had never seen one!


https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...owerhalf-1.jpg

interesting. i never understood why they did that. surely it was simpler to just make the stock from one piece of wood...

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Originally Posted by kar98k

interesting. i never understood why they did that. surely it was simpler to just make the stock from one piece of wood...

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Simpler, but not better. ;)

Making the stock the way the Japanese did has two advantages: first, it is a more efficient use of wood with less waste. Second, the Japanese cleverly had the grain of the bottom of the buttstock run in a different direction to the rest of the stock, parallel to the bottom of the buttstock.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../2h4e3bk-1.jpg

That makes the toe of the buttstock stronger and less likely to break off. When stocks are made from one piece of wood with the grain running parallel to the long axis of the stock the toe is a weak spot that can be easily damaged. It often has to be arsenal repaired as seen in this Garand stock and Mosin Nagant stock

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo.../30rmt7s-1.jpg

Here is a view with the buttplate removed. BB

You see a ton of flat-buttplate mausers plagued by that same ailment...

I didn't realize the Japanese had another reason behind the dovetail than simply conserving hardwood.

The wood available to the Japanese was not of the hardness or quality of walnut. The dovetailing strengthened the butt by having opposing grain. They also used wrist tangs on the Type 99 to strengthen the wrist area for the same reasons.