What do you think happened to this Type 38 Carbine

[LTPayton88]

Good evening everyone,

So I picked this carbine up yesterday at an estate sell after its previous owner sadly passed away. His son told me that his father had owned this rifle for the past half century or so. So what is the good on the rifle: Mum is intact, all numbers match, original cleaning rod, not import marked and in overall very nice shape but I have not cleaned it yet. The bad: as you will see in the picture there is a massive gash in the side of the stock. By looking at the wood it looks to be a very old point of damage. I know there is literally no way to know what happened but what do you all think? What are your thoughts? Could it be shrapnel and a bring back? Could it be an angry wife who came home early and grabbed the closest thing in the corner and started swinging? What say you?

P.S.
Can anyone point to a site or any resource that I can use to figure out a production date for this rifle? Thanks in advance.

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