Need Help identifying this gun....

K

Ke 7

Inactive
I don't have hands on the gun at the moment, So I can't just take a picture.....I'm guessing it's chinese based on the symbols. I made a half-@ss picture of what i could see in microsoft paint....Laugh away at my drawings. One distinguishing characteristic is that the wood from the stock goes out and ends evenly with the barrel. These stamps were on the reciever. Thanks in advance for any help. (no idea what it's chambered in by the way)

418555_2470051690631_1832536747_1574431_1784127642_n.jpg
 
Witout pictures it is hard to know but in this case I would assume it is a WWII japanese rifle, as you have appeared to draw the imperial crasantinum.
 
It is a Japanese Type 99, the most common Japanese rifle of WWII and a popular souvenir for American troops. The circular stamp is the Chrysanthemum, or "mum", the "mon" or symbol of the Japanese royal family. The other characters read "9 9 Type". Rifles surrendered in Japan after the war had the "mum" ground off, a concession the U.S. made to the Japanese so they didn't have to turn over the imperial symbol to the recent enemy. Rifles with the "mum" intact were usually combat captures.

As to the rest of the rifle, some good pictures will be needed. Many of those rifles were "sporterized" in one way or another, so intact ones with the "mum" are fairly valuable.

Jim
 
"It is a Japanese Type 99, the most common Japanese rifle of WWII..."

Actually, the Type 38 FAR outpaced the 99's use in World War II.

Most arsenals that were intended to manufacture the 99 were never converted, and kept manufacturing the 38 and variants simply because the press of war was too great.
 
I should have said that the Type 99 was the standard Japanese service rifle in WWII, not that it was the most common. The Type 38 had been in production since 1906 and the Type 99 was only in service for 6 years at the most - late 1939 to August 1945, so we would expect that there would be more of the older rifle in use, even in combat zones.

But I can find nothing in any of my sources to indicate that Type 38 rifles remained in production throughout the war, or in Japan, beyond the introduction of the Type 99. The conversion of factories was done in reasonable time, made easier by the similarity of the two models. If Type 38 production continued even into 1943, there should be rifles showing signs of wartime manufacture; I have not seen any. AFAIK there are no "simplified", "modified" or "last ditch" Type 38's. All I have seen indicate normal peacetime production, and were of generally of good quality.

Jim
 
"But I can find nothing in any of my sources to indicate that Type 38 rifles remained in production throughout the war, or in Japan"

I'm pretty certain that the Type 38 carbines remained in production at Kokura. I believe that's in Hunneycutt's book.
 
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