1917 Remington Armory M91, converted to a single shot Japanese Trainer rifle.
The stock is the original Remington, and the barrel is stamped with the later 1917 "sans serif" arsenal marks.
The cartouche on the underside, just in front of the trigger guard, and the painted mark on the buttstock represent Meiji University of Tokyo (source: seinin of Gunboards and http://www.gunboards.com/sites/banza...ainer_markings ). The rack number on the right side has been translated to 587, by CW of Gunboards. The one mark on the inside of the stock is located behind the cleaning rod lug, and appears to be stamped B29. The original Remington cartouche is also intact under the rack number.
The original mag is removed in favor of a "plate" that allows only one shot to be chambered at a time. Rifle still chambers a 7.62X54 round, and the bore is medium bright with sharp rifling. I have not fired it. The converted trigger guard is made from three pieces, and different thickness of cold rolled steel. The rear trigger dust guard support is riveted, and the front screw lug appears to be welded or braised to the outer trigger guard.
The remainder of the rifle is matching Remington in moderate patina. Everything appears operational, if I so chose to make it go boom.
No import marks on the gun. I purchased it from a collection which noted that the former owner bought it in 1961 for $25.
It's passage of entry back into the U.S. is unknown. But it shows a storied past nonetheless. A likely route of travel would have been from the Siberian Intervention of 1918, commandeered by Japan, converted for training, and returned to the US after the Japanese surrender of WWII.
A brief summary of the Allied Intervention of the Russian Civil War: A very strained and tenuous grouping of U.S., Japanese, Czechoslovakian, Canadian troops made inroads and/or evacuations in Siberia from many different angles. The key Pacific port was Vladivostok, where a modest shipment of Remingtons (approx 5,000 guns) that were intended for belated support of the Czar were intercepted by Japanese. Obviously, at least a few of these Remingtons were commandeered by Japan before the U.S. reclaimed ownership of the shipment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_int ... _Civil_War
http://members.home.nl/felling/pg2/indexczech.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_E ... ce_Siberia
One of my favorite collectibles, for sure, and too nice not to share. Thanks for looking.