Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

ZombieSlug · Joined: Sep 14 2021 Posts: 1

I have an early Koishikawa Type 38 - S/N 1908XX. I'm trying to find an estimate of when it was manufactured, but cannot seem to find anything reliable online. I cannot find a copy of Allen's book which I understand may provide a clue.

In any case, this seems like a relatively low S/N, so I am only guessing it was sometime shortly after 1905 when the Type 38 was adopted. Maybe 1910-ish? Any guidance or estimates?

Thanks for any help.

gwsiii · Joined: Aug 21 2003 Posts: 2232 Location: Hayden, AL

Welcome to the forum, dates of manufacture are pretty much guess work.
You're probably pretty close with your guess.

Francis has revised the original Type 38 book, and has a post about it here:

Please fill out a Type 38 Datasheet with full serial # and send to him, be sure to ask about manufacture date.
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I didn't pay to much for that old Arisaka, I just bought it a little bit too soon!