SOLD - Japanese Koishikawa Type 35 1902/45 "Last Ditch" Rifle - Full Mum (NSN - 29208)

Description

2/5/24 - An improvement on the Type 30 Arisaka, the Type 35 was developed for issue to the Special Naval Landing Forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and was the first Arisaka variant to integrate a dust cover. First completed in 1902, the Type 35 started being phased out for the Type 38 sometime around 1905. When these rifles were phased out, the rifles and incomplete parts were mostly placed in storage until the end of World War II, when the Japanese were desperately short of weapons and trying to arm anyone they could. During this period increasingly crude weapons of all types were assembled in preparation for the perceived threat of invasion of mainland Japan. Though the receiver and bolt are of the Type 35 pattern, there is no provision for the dust cover which was normally seen and it is not marked with a serial number, making it likely that this receiver had remained unfinished in navy storage until 1944-1945 when it assembled into a rifle in a last ditch effort to turn the tide of the war. This one has a completely intact Imperial mum stamp on the receiver, a crude peep-style rear sight, and a flat butt plate. The metal parts have retained most of their finish, but there is some discoloration on the floor plate and an area of pitting on the front end of the barrel. Light freckling on the receiver. The wood is very nice overall, but there is a tiny repaired chip around the front barrel band and a small crack around a knot on the front half of the stock. Some illegible writing on the right side. The bore is shiny with great rifling, just some pin-pricking in the grooves.