Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[sparty83]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum, but have been hanging around reading for awhile now. I have a question concerning a stock for a Type 38 rifle I purchased. After tearing the rifle apart I realized the stock is not one that looks like a normal Type 38 rifle stock. I can't find any markings at all on it, and most obvious to me was the fact there isn't any notch for the bolt when it is in the closed position. Although the stock is a two piece stock, I got to wondering if this was something somebody did themselves, or if during the war they rushed their stocks and made ones that weren't marked or completely finished out. I've posted some pictures, and I can post more if needed. If anyone has any idea on what it might be, I would very much appreciate it. As a side note, when I bought it someone had tried to use a hand guard for the Carbine, and they had apparently chosen to refinish the rest of the stock with something that looked like varathane. I know some will not approve, but I stripped that off since it was obviously not an original finish. The job was pretty ugly, so I didn't see any reason to have the stock look that bad when the rifle itself is in fine shape.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Mike

[gwsiii]

Welcome to the forum!
I'm not sure it is an original stock. To the best of my knowledge, all original Japanese manufactured Type 38 stocks have the upper and lower pieces dove tailed, and usually use similar pieces and colored wood. That looks to be two different types of wood. The inletting is a little rougher, and shallower I think. There is a possibility that it is a trainer stock, but most of them are 1 piece stocks. Frank should be along. I bought a reproduction from Sarco and it was nicely inletted, and finished, but the wrong color. Sorry I wasn't more help, but its just hard to say. Is the rifle itself import marked?
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!

[sparty83]

Hi,

Thanks for your thoughts. I would have to say that my thinking runs along what you're thinking, but I wanted someone smarter than myself on this taking a look. I don't see any import markings on the rifle, or at least nothing that I recognize as an import marking.

Mike

[sparty83]

Forgot one other thing. I've been hunting around for another stock, but so far the pickings are rather slim. I checked Sarco and didn't see any there, so will keep looking.

Thanks again!

Mike