Type 38 Jinsen pre production teaching rifle

[Oldnavyguy2u]

I was given a few rifles by the widow of a friend. One of them is a Jinsen type 38. The breach does not appear to have ever had a mum on it. It does however have about a 1/2 inch circle with kanji symbols on it. I found out that it means "teaching" or for teaching. As to serial numbers, there doesn't seem to be one on the frame. Along the left side of the frame it has the Jinsen identifying mark, with a couple of other unidentifiable Mark's that may have supposed to be serial numbers but cant say. This rifle appears to be in pretty darned nice condition with good rifling and very little corrosion anywhere other than what's on the bottom plate right in front of the trigger.
Looking for help here. I bought a box of bullets and plan on shooting it after I give it a good cleaning, I have heard from an old friend that Jinsen only made about 13000 rifles, and that the ones with this "teaching" markings are pretty rare

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[Singer B]

1. Don't shoot it
2. Have it checked by a competent gunsmith

Type 38 and Type 99 rifles were often converted into training rifles. Part of the process was to alter them to ONLY FIRE BLANKS. If you fire regular rounds through it, you could have a tragic failure leading to your being injured. Your gunsmith can check to make sure it is safe to shoot (checking the bore to see if it has been altered by removing the rifling). Either way, sounds like you picked up a great piece of history. People shooting live rounds through training rifles is one of the reasons Arisakas received an incorrect reputation as being poorly made.

[Oldnavyguy2u]

I am aware of these types of arisaka training rifles. Those are rifles that have a bore but have never been rifled. I have disassembled this rifle and cleaned it as well as having checked the rifling of the barrel. Further, I have loaded it and cycled it to eject the shells. All is apparently in good condition. When I say that it was stamped as a teaching rifle, as i understand it, the first 350 or so of these weapons made were stamped with this emblem to be used to teach the factory workers how to build / assemble the weapons. Thus they are known as "pre production" weapons. Also, even though I am going to have a gunsmith check it out, I have a clip of blanks I plan on firing thru it before I shoot live rounds thru it

[Singer B]

That should be pretty cool. The minute you mention "training" and "Arisaka" in the same conversation, along with no Mum, the warning flags go up! Enjoy that new gun!