IT'S A WHAT??

Post by **Longcolt44** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 7:55 pm

Is it a Japanese Arisaka or is it an Italian Carcano? Yes! In 1937 the war in China was draining the Japanese arsenals of what they could produce and what was being produced was going to the Imperial Japanese Army. The Imperial Japanese Navy was in need of small arms and went in search of help. They first went to Germany and found that what they wanted were to expensive to produce. They then turned to Italy and were able to come to a deal with them. The Italians had three arsenals, Terni, Brescia and Beretta. An order was placed with the Italians for 60,000 rifles, (30,000 at Terni, 15,000 at Brescia and 15,000 at Beretta), and were produced in 1938 and 1939. In 1940 Germany, Japan and Italy became the AXIS. These rifles are referred to as the Japanese-Carcano Type I, (I as in Imperial not 1) or the Japanese Navy Type I. Although made for the Navy some went direct to storage and a few were found on the Japanese held islands with Army units. It is rumored that the Japanese snipers preferred these over the Arisaka.

These rifles were made to Japanese standards and closely resemble the Arisaka Type 38. Side by side across the room it is hard to tell the difference. The difference is in the receiver, bolt, butt plate, trigger guard and front sight. The Arisaka magazine well was mated to the Carcano receiver. The barrel, rear sight, cleaning rod and other small parts are of the Arisaka Type 38 design, it will accept the Arisaka bayonet. There are very few markings on these rifles and have only a serial number above the wood line and some small inspectors marks on the bottom of the receiver including the last two numbers of the date made. The 39 date is also stamped on the inside of the top handguard. These were made in the Japanese 6.50 caliber not to be confused with the Carcano 6.52.

This rifle was made at FNA-Bresica in 1939. The stock was made from Italian hardwood and like the Arisaka is made in two pieces. The wood seems to have a varnish finish of some type. The bore is in excellent condition and all metal parts are in very good condition with only slight wear on the edges of the trigger guard. There are no import stamps and who brought it or how it got here will be kept a secret forever.

This rifle came in to the shop along with some other guns from a lady cleaning out her house of firearms after the husband passed. We actually did take it in as an Arisaka and it wasn't until my co-worker Ron started cleaning it did we notice a difference. He said something was weird with the bolt. It took some time to actually identify it as what it is and then to research the information above. I am posting a lot of pictures so next time you run across, ”Another damned Arisaka”, take a second look.

Post by **Longcolt44** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:05 pm

Second page pictures.

desdem12 · Post by **desdem12** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:07 pm

Sweet.

Post by **Junk Yard Dog** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:10 pm

Post by **Rongo** » Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:16 pm

A Brescia Arsenal JC Type 1??? That is one hell of a find my Friend!!!!

Very nice Score!

martin08 · Post by **martin08** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:12 am

Only ever found one of these in the wild, I hesitated one day, and missed it.

Nice write-up, LC!

Post by **millman** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 5:33 am

Sweet!

RazorBurn · Post by **RazorBurn** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 11:05 am

Nice write up. I didn't even know about these until you posted that. Thanks for enlightening me!

TulaTom · Post by **TulaTom** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 11:48 am

Very nice, Longcolt!

JER · Post by **JER** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 6:39 pm

Mine is H496. The bolt markings are the same as yours. Mine has a canvas sling on it that I don't know if it's a reproduction, or the genuine article. Don't know how to find out, either...interesting guns.

Post by **Longcolt44** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:08 pm

The slings and bayonets were issued back in Japan. They would have used the same slings as issued on the Type 99 Arisakas. The bayonets were the Type 30. Feel free to post a picture (s) of your rifle JER in this thread. Yours would be from the same arsenal and made earlier than mine.

Post by **bunkysdad** » Sat Nov 15, 2014 9:36 pm

Dang Chuck that is very cool. Don't you love your job?

JER · Post by **JER** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 12:44 pm

right.jpg

Hello, Longcolt44-
Here are a few snaps of H496 for comparison's sake. The metal and bore are great, the stock a little dinged. Looks like old damage from careless handling..

kjohn · Post by **kjohn** » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:52 pm

Neat rifles!

Never heard of such rifles until just moments ago. Thanks for the info and pics.

Carisaka? Arisacano?

Post by **Longcolt44** » Tue Nov 18, 2014 8:27 pm

Nice one JER. Do you know the date on your rifle? I looks by the number to be late 38 or early 39.

Jolly Green Chopper · Fri Nov 21, 2014 11:26 am

I wonder if this one ever had a dust cover like some of the Japanese rifles had before the were taken off? They sometimes rattled and made too much noise for combat. I can't remember the model that had the dust cover.JGC

Post by **Longcolt44** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:24 pm

These rifles never had a dust cover. The Carcano receiver was not slotted/cut for a dust cover, check the pictures. These two rifles are us the way they were manufactured.

JER · Post by **JER** » Sat Nov 22, 2014 6:56 pm

Longcolt44 wrote:Nice one JER. Do you know the date on your rifle? I looks by the number to be late 38 or early 39.

Just now took it apart. It wasn't easy due to the two-piece Front Band arrangement. The markings are the same as yours- a big "39", etc. except directly behind the recoil lug there is stamped RCA, with the "A" upside down (or the "R").. Otherwise identical...
There is a large "7" stamped under the tang. The trigger mechanism is very heavy duty and overly complicated, seems to me..

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