Quote Originally Posted by jangle View Post
Ok, I'll try to make this as brief as possible without trying to get confusing.
Your rifle was originally manufactured by the Koishikawa Army Arsenal in approximately the 1922 time frame, then was re-arsenaled at the Kokura Army Arsenal, 2nd Manufacturing Plant sometime after November of 1933.

When originally made in 1922 time frame, all of the small parts on your rifle were matched to the sub-assembly number located on the bottom of the receiver (549 on your rifle). When going through the re-arsenal process, they normally issued a new bolt numbered to the last 3 digits of serial and reused or replaced any other worn small parts without regard to numbering to rifle. Your stock is also an original finish replacement done at this time. The original rifle was in good enough condition to refurbish instead of turning it into a school marked rifle.
Your rifle is in original refinished condition and is a very nice representative of the re-arsenal process.
A couple of months ago, you helped identify my Type 38 as being manufactured in 1921. Only two parts (the safety knob and the magazine floorplate) have non-matching numbers with the rest of the rifle. Could this have occurred during an arsenal refurbishment as you described in this thread? Thank you for your help and I enjoy learning new things from your posts.