Arisaka Type 44 cavalry carbine

[Stinkpotpete]

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

[ww2relichunter]

i like it a lot it is a very nice rifle looks to be in good shape too !!

[Bill Grist]

Great Looking 6.5mm Japanese Type 44 Carbine....BILL

[KMMorris]

Nice to see one with the flick bayonet still attached, a very nice addition.
Morris

[Eric Zentner]

Very nice Paul and looks to be in great shape

Eric

[dramos]

I had the chance to pick up an arisaka a couple months ago, had the dust plate and intact mum, but sadly had been sporterized. Oh well. Great gun, the finish on it is beautiful.

[Stinkpotpete]

Thank you. It does have a nice patina, it's much darker than some of the other rifles at the show that day. I do like more it the more I handle it. I was doing some more research and found that the hook on the side was meant to be used as a quillon in the bayonet fighting style the Japanese used at the time. I thought it was a fancy stacking swivel. Learn something new every day

[mauser9]

It looks fantastic with some truly great features. Thanks to your post I have gained some knowledge of this model. Am familiar with Type 99 in 7.7 but yours looks like a more rare and valuable find. Thanks for posting.

[mikethemover]

beautiful rifle...i bought the same model with an intact mum a year ago and cleaned it very carefully as to not touch the patina !!! i found some interesting revisions and damage to the stock and it turns out there were atleast 5 different grenade launcher designs for this rifle, the drilled holes in my stock were for the grenade launcher and the minor crack was from extended grenade launching !! i am missing the dust cover, if you know of any place with one for sale i would love to hear from someone, Mike.

[Mikel]

The variation is determined by the bayonet mount configuration.
The cleaning rods are accessed by simply turning the screw head.
Rods will add a couple hundred bucks to the value.
The dust cover simply slides off when you withdraw and remove the bolt. Nothing to it.
One must remember most all basic small arms were designed to be used and maintained by simple peasants.
Many of these saw hard use in China and it is common to see the sling side if the stock to be worn nearly smooth.