Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty Harry Callahan
When it comes to Arisaka Rifles, beware the replica training Rifles. Sometimes folks who don't know what they have sell replicas of Arisaka Rifles which are smoothbore and made of alloy rather than steel which were intended to be used as training Rifles by the Japanese Military during the war. Said replicas can/will chamber real cartridges, but will most likely explode if fired, and even if you don't intend to fire them, said replicas don't have the same collector's value as genuine Arisaka Rifles, but may be sold for the same price as a real one if the seller doesn't know any better.
The easiest way to spot a trainer is the bore, since all of them were smoothbore with no rifling.
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I have one of them. Mine is the so-called "Izawa" style, somewhat resembling the Type 99, and it couldn't fire anything, as it has a fairly small diameter chamber. Perhaps there may have been some blank round made for it, but I have not been able to find anything about it if it exists. Mine has no Mum on the front receiver ring, and no indication that it ever did. I believe all combat rifles had the Mum. There were several other types of training rifles used, but I have never seen any of them. They are very unusual, as I have understood almost all of them were destroyed during the occupation period. They were used for military indoctrination and training of students in Japan's equivalent of High School.
