Type 38 rifle
| Type 38 Rifle | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Service/Bolt-action rifle |
| Place of origin |  Empire of Japan |
| Service history | |
| Used by | See Users |
| Wars | Russo-Japanese War, Russian Civil War, World War I, World War II, Indonesian National Revolution, Chinese Civil War, Korean War, First Indochina war, Malayan Emergency, 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Vietnam War |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1905 |
| No. built | 3,400,000 |
| Variants | Carbine & Cavalry rifle |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 3.95 kg |
| Length | 1,280 mm |
| Barrel length | 800 mm |
| Cartridge | 6.5×50mm Arisaka |
| Action | Bolt action |
| Rate of fire | c.30 RPM |
| Muzzle velocity | 765 m/s (2509 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 5 round |
The Type 38 rifle Arisaka (三八式歩兵銃 Sampachi-shiki hohējū) is a bolt-action rifle. For a time it was the standard rifle of the Japanese infantry. It was known also as the Type 38 Year Meiji Carbine in Japan. An earlier, similar weapon was the Type 30 Year Meiji Rifle, which was also used alongside it. Both of these weapons were also known as the Arisaka, after the inventor.
It used the Japanese designed 6.5×50mm Arisaka calibre cartridge. This cartridge produces little recoil when fired. However, while on par with the Norwegian and Italian 6.5mm military cartridges of the time, the 6.5×50mm was not as powerful as several others in use by other nations. The Arisaka Rifle at 1280 mm (50 inches) was the longest rifle of the war, due to the emphasis on bayonet training for the Japanese soldier of the era who stood 160 cm (5 feet, 3 inches on average).[1] The rifle was even longer when the 400 mm (15.75 inch) Type 30 bayonet was fixed.
These two concerns (among others) led to the Japanese Army adopting the Type 99 Rifle, a shorter rifle using more powerful ammunition. Japanese authorities also wished to adopt a new long arm that needed fewer machining steps to be produced given Japan's then-existing metallurgic capacity.
The Type 38 Cavalry Carbine is a short-barreled version of the Type 38. It was used not only by cavalry, but also by engineer, quartermaster and other non-frontline troops. It was introduced into service at the same time as the Type 38. The barrel was shorter at 487 mm, giving an overall length of the rifle of 966 mm and a weight of 3.3 kg.
Another Type 38 variant was the Type 38 Cavalry Rifle which were merely Type 38 Infantry Rifles with their barrels shortened from 31 and a quarter inches to 23 and one half inches. All Cavalry Rifle receivers carry the arsenal and proof-marks of Tokyo Artillery Arsenal—the source of the original infantry rifles.
Other variants developed from the Type 38 were the Type 44 Cavalry Rifle, Type 97 Sniper Rifle. The Japanese Imperial Navy also purchased a number of Type I Rifles from Italy at the beginning of World War II. The Italian-built rifles were chambered for the same 6.5×50mm cartridge as the Type 38 rifle. The Type I Rifle were similar in appearance and length to the Type 38 rifle, but were based on the Italian Carcano action.
Post-war inspection of the Type 38 by both the U.S. military and the National Rifle Association proved that the Type 38's receiver was the strongest bolt action of any nation[2] and capable of handling more powerful cartridges.
Users
British Raj: Limited
China: Captured Japanese and Nationalist Chinese examples were re-chambered for 7.62×39mm M43 rounds supplied with Russian-made weapons
Empire of Japan
Estonia: Used in the Estonian War of Independence, rechambered for .303 British rounds from 1930–1934 (24 000 rifles)
Indonesia: Captured Japanese weapons after surrender and used in Indonesian Independence War
Israel: Limited and first used by Hagannah in 1948 Arab–Israeli War
South Korea: Captured from Japanese forces during the Korean independence movement.
Manchukuo
Malayan Union: Limited and captured from Japanese forces
North Korea: Captured from Japanese forces during the Korean independence movement.
Philippines: Limited (mostly used by Philippine resistance captured from Japan)
Republic of China: Captured examples were re-chambered for the more readily-available 7.92mm Mauser rounds
Russian Empire: Captured from Japanese forces in Russo-Japanese War and received by Japanese land-lease in World War I (728 000 rifles)
Soviet Union: Captured from Japanese forces in Soviet–Japanese Border Wars
Thailand: Limited
United Kingdom: Capture from Japanese forces during World War II in British Malaya, Colonial Hong Kong, and Burma.
United States: Occasionally captured from Japanese POWs and modified for use in United States forces in Pacific War
North Vietnam: Occasionally used by Vietcong and North Vietnamese in Vietnam War (limited service)
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References
- ^ "Battle of the Pacific: How Japs Fight". Time magazine, February 15, 1943. Accessed 24 June 2009.
- ^ Hatcher, p. 206, 210
- Daugherty III, Leo J. Fighting Techniques of a Japanese Infantryman 1941–1945: Training, Techniques and Weapons. Staplehurst: Spellmount, 2002. ISBN 1-86227-162-3.
- Hatcher, Julian S. General. Hatcher's Notebook. (1966) The Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, PA.
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