Gents,
When did the Kokura arsenal quit making the TYPE 38? I DON'T SEE a series in front of the serial number. Here are a few photos of it.


I haven't pulled out other Type 38's for comparison, but here are a few MORE markings to view.








Lets move onto the other parts of the rifle.



Yes, the buttplate has gone missing! Probably an easy replacement, but something that is bothersome!



And yes, the safety and firing pin have also gone missing. The bolt body does NOT match the rifle SN, so this backs up some of the stories of vets having the bolts removed before they came back home... or not...



And yes, it has an original cleaning rod! The front sight looks short, but it is just the angle of the shot, not bubba!

The forestock does have a few "nicks" in it. Namely, it spells LMX and several crossed out lines. Perhaps a soldier marking off killed enemies, but more likely the number of deer taken post war.

As you can see, the stock is a deep red tint. This goes over some damage, so it could be post war, but all together the rifle looks nice.

I haggled with the seller for quite some time. He was sure that with a functional bolt and bolt cover, the rifle would fetch in the neighborhood of $400- $500 USD. I certainly didn't pay that much, but he fell back on the now "usual" statement that the rifle was worth quite a bit in parts!! Truly it would have been sad to see this one ripped apart!

This was solely a gunshow pickup, as I didn't see any other unmolested Arisakaicon's, and those were going to take some $$ to repair/ restore.

Thanks for looking guys!
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