The snow finally melted, but thunderstorms are coming in, so I thought I'd try some early morning light while it was still dry. The Arisakas always caught my eye, but I wanted an intact mum, and so many were ground. I think this is a vet pick-up, with the complete mum and dust cover. These are so short, with the bayonet extended, it seems like the carbine doubles in length. With the wear on the receiver, I think this one saw service for a while before it was "captured" I've seen similar wear on rifles carried by the plains Indians during the 1860's-1880's. I haven't shot it yet, but I'm still looking for a box just to try it out with.
It's in 6.5x50 mm, these were produced between 1911-1942 in 3 variations. I guess the easiest way to tell is by how many holes are drilled for the cleaning rod. I haven't tried to open mine yet, so I'm not sure. The tag info says it was made in the Koishikawa arsenal, and the bolt is mismatched. I'm not sure how to take off the dust cover, so I'm not going to tempt fate.
Somewhere along the line someone made a repair, looks nice, they saved the broken piece
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