Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[gwsiii]

Here is an Odd barrel marking on a Type 38 long rifle. The receiver markings indicate the rifle was pulled from military service, and reissued for non-military school use. The bun (1/x mark) is indicative of school use, and the CC (concentric circle overstamp on the mum) indicates non-military ownership. The meaning of the markings above the receiver, on the barrel are now translated below thanks to Edokko.

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[Edokko]

Trey,

Nice example again ! The marking on top of the chamber is Ni-cchu and I believe is an acronym of Nihon Chugaku, the present day Nihon Gakuen school in Tokyo. Another different example of how the schools marked their training rifles. Most school used training rifles had their marks branded onto the stock but this is a case where the mark was placed on the metal.
I have this theory that the concentric circle mark was an evolution of the double circle marked in front of the serial number for school surplus rifles, but this could be the missing link !

[gwsiii]

Edokko, thanks for the translation, I'll need to think-n-drink on the theory a bit. Its an interesting thought, but something bothers me about it or it could just be that my underwear is too tight. Trey
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[Edokko]

Trey, my pleasure on the translation.
Theories are meant to be shot down, hence reserach is so interesting. One thing though, I am going to guess that the Nicchu gun does not have the two circles in front of the serial # although "bun" marked. What say !?

[gwsiii]

Edokko, the first three digits of the serial number are visible in my-non-cropped picture, it is OO 6.... The first three digits are all that are visible and I don't remember if it was a 60k or a 600k number. It wasn't priced when I looked at it, so didn't look too closely. The Oldeone will confirm the serial number if he can find the rifle. Trey
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[Edokko]

Yikes, that shoots down my theory in flames ! Since the double circle is on the front of the serial number, the CC could not be an evolution of those circles. Back to the research.
Thanks for the info !

[Francis C. Allan]

Dear Edokko;

I am not sure that this example shoots down your theory that the 00 serial number prefixes evolved into the concnetric circle method of cancelling the mums as they went to schools. It may just a step in the evolution.

Some folks may argue that the fact that Type 99s, even last ditch examples, have been encountered with concentric circles, which do not have any further indication of school assignment. I have a friend iwho works in the Criminal Justice System in Japan, whose father was a university professor during the war. He trained with Type 99s at the school and even still has his Type 99 manual. Unfortunately, he can not recall what the chamber markings were.

I think that your theory is valid. Now if we can just prove it!!!!!!

Frank
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Francis C. Allan
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(386) 445-4225

[Edokko]

Francis, yes, another quest !!!