Questions before images.

[Patrick Chadwick]

The writing and numerals are Siamese.
It is, as already mentioned, a Japanese-made Mauser.
For enlightenment as to the markings, go here:
http://oldmilitarymarkings.com/japanese_markings.html
where you can see that the "Heaped cannonball" logo was used by Koishikawa (later: Kokura) arsenal.


Take off the buttplate, and you will very probably see a dovetail joint. The apparent crack right through the butt is, in fact, the line where the butt was assembled from two pieces of wood, and it is very common on Arisaka-style rifles that this glue joint has failed because of wood shrinkage. A repair is quite feasible, if you have the time to clean up the wood and scrape off the old glue.


The bad news, if you are a shooter. These rifles were chambered in 8mm Siamese, NOT 8mm Mauser. Reloading material will be difficult to obtain = expensive.