Bolt Action Rifles. Wayne Zwoll

of the Italian M91 Carcano rifle and the Type 38 Arisaka. Chambered for the 6.5mm Japanese cartridge, they were made by the Pietro Beretta firm in Gardone, Italy, perhaps even by other Italian firms. I don’t know when or how many were made.

      The Type I rifle has a 30.5” barrel, weighs about 9 pounds and is 49.75” overall. The barrel and sights are similar to those on the regular 38 Arisaka rifle. A half-length wooden handguard covers part of the barrel. It has a cleaning rod in the forend under the barrel and the rifle accepts the regular Arisaka bayonet. The barrel bands, and the method by which they are held in place with spring clips, the grasping grooves in the forend and the sling swivels, are patterned after the Type 38 rifle stock. No tangs are employed.

      Top view of the Japanese Hook Safety action. (Bolt handle is not original). Note the two gas vent holes in the receiver ring and the one in the bolt.

      The receiver, bolt and trigger mechanism are near copies of the Italian M91 Carcano action, and the Mauser-type staggered-column magazine is a close copy of that of the Type 38 action. The trigger guard bow is large like that on the Carcano action. The bolt, firing mechanism, trigger mechanism, safety, extractor, bolt-stop and ejector are practically identical to the same parts in the M91 Carcano action, though they are not interchangeable. The receiver differs from the Carcano in that its magazine well is wider, with cartridge guide lips milled in to handle cartridges from the staggered-column magazine. The front of the slotted bridge is grooved to accept a stripper clip. The trigger guard, magazine box, floorplate, floorplate latch, follower and follower spring are nearly identical to these parts in the Type 38 action.

      Type I action specs follow:

      Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 oz.

      Magazine well opening: Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3.125 ” Width, front . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..550” Width, rear . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..540”

      Receiver length, receiver ring diameter, bolt diameter, bolt travel and striker travel are about the same as in the M91 Carcano action. See the chapter on the M91 Carcano for more details.

      Of the thousands of military rifles I’ve seen, only two were Type I rifles, so I doubt if many are around. At any rate, if anyone wants to remodel or convert this rifle that’s his business, but I think it would be better to sell or trade it to a military arms collector and use an M98 Mauser, which is plentiful.

      Japanese Training Rifles

      The Type 38 Training Rifle is one of several variations of training or drill rifles the Japanese made. Outwardly, none of them appear to be much different from the regular Type 38, but outward appearances are deceiving. No discussion of Japanese military rifles would be complete without mention of them. The reader should be warned, however, that these rifles are positively dangerous if fired with live ammunition.

      Although I’ve only been able to examine four of these rifles in the past, all were essentially alike in appearance except for bolt and receiver details. There probably are others that are different from the ones I have seen, but I believe they can all be classed in the same category. Outwardly, these training rifles are identical, or nearly so, to the regular Type 38 infantry rifle. They are approximately the same weight, length and size, and are stocked in the same manner and usually have sights similar to the Type 38. A bayonet can be attached to them, and often they’re complete with a cleaning rod under the barrel. All have smoothbored barrels and are chambered for the 6.5mm Japanese blank or training cartridge. The barrel may be a worn out one salvaged from a regular Type 38 rifle and then bored out smooth, or merely a piece of tubing screwed into the heavier (reinforced) breech end of the barrel.

      Most 6.5mm training rifles have a cast or forged iron receiver, the upper tang integral with it. Often the outside finish of these receivers is very rough. Some have a receiver made of steel tubing with the rear tang welded on. Practically all have the receiver grooved for the sliding breech cover, and a couple of them I examined had these covers. All have a rough cast trigger guard with an integral lower tang. Instead of a rear guard screw, these actions usually employed a tang screw connecting the two tangs. On one rifle I examined, only the barrel bands held the barrel and action in the stock and two wood screws held the trigger guard and magazine in place.

      I have seen three different types of bolts and receivers in these training rifles. One had a standard pattern bolt with dual-opposed locking lugs which engaged in the receiver ring, and was fitted with the standard long, non-rotating extractor. Another had a bolt with thin dual-opposed locking lugs which engaged in the receiver ring, but with a thin spring extractor mortised in the bolt body and extending through a slot through the right locking lug. The last one had no forward locking lugs, the extractor fitted in the bolt head, and a rib on the bolt which engaged forward of the receiver bridge to hold the action closed. All of these bolts appeared to be castings.

      These training rifles can usually be identified by their smooth bores, but the surest method is to remove the barrel and action from the stock, and if the tang is integral with the receiver, or welded in place, then you know for certain that it is a training rifle. Regardless of the type of bolt it has, these rifles should never be fired with bulleted ammunition or the action used for building a rifle.

      Markings

      Regular issue Japanese military bolt-action rifles in calibers 6.5 and 7.7mm have the Japanese imperial seal stamped on the top forward part of the receiver. This seal is round, up to about 7/ 16” in diameter, and resembles a sunflower or daisy blossom with sixteen petals. It is often referred to as the “rising sun” or “chrysanthemum” marking. On many Japanese rifles this seal has been partly or entirely ground away, indicating these particular rifles were surrendered. Rifles with the seal untouched were generally captured arms.

      The Japanese Hook Safety action. Note: The bolt handle on this action is not original. The original bolt handle has a straight shank, oval-shaped grasping knob and it projects straight out to the right when the action is closed, straight up when the action is open.

      Japanese Hook Safety Action

      General Specifications

      Type . . . . . . . . .Turnbolt repeater operated by bolt handle.

      Receiver . . . . . .One-piece steel construction, mostly round with no prominent recoil lug.

      Bolt . . . . . . . . . .Two-piece; rotating bolt body with dual-opposed forward locking lugs and separate non-rotating bolt head. Root of bolt handle serves as an auxiliary locking lug.

      Ignition . . . . . . .One-piece striker (firing pin), coil mainspring, cocks on closing the bolt.

      Magazine . . . . .Staggered-column, non-detachable magazine. Detachable floorplate.

      Trigger . . . . . . .Double-stage, non-adjustable.

      Safety . . . . . . . .Rotating finger hook safety locks striker.

      Extractor . . . . . .One-piece spring steel hook mounted in bolt head.

      Bolt-stop . . . . . .Pivotal type mounted in left receiver wall. Stops rearward travel of bolt and activates the ejector at the same time.

      Ejector . . . . . . .Sliding ejector dovetailed into the bolt head.

      Below the imperial seal are stamped the Japanese characters indicating the type and year designation of the rifle. These markings are illustrated nearby. The imperial seal is not found on Japanese training rifles, but a few are marked with Japanese characters to indicate they are for use with blank cartridges only. Sometimes there is another marking on the receiver ring of these training rifles, probably the mark of the arsenal which made them. The