Arisaka Type 38 Question

[p246]

The VZ 24 is E serial numbered and not one of the Japanese ones. During his research he found out a large group of the E serial numbered 1937 guns were sold to China. He never learned if it was bought by the nationalist or communist for sure. He believed it was a battle field pick up by a Japanese soldier in China then taken to Saipan by that Soldier. After the main resistance was broken they put his company along with others piling rifles while their version of EOD blew found enemy ordinance ( he bitched about this jib alot, he thought the rifle companies deserved a break). In the piles of Arisakas he noticed the VZ24. He admits he just knew it was different at the time and shipped it home. From 1947 to 1976 it was his one and only deer rifle. Sorry for high jacking the thread I just like telling that story.

[Guamsst]

I like that story, provenance with the rifle would make it a prize piece for a guy like me who collects oddball stuff. One of my favorite pieces is a Jap Type 30 bayonet stuffed into a dried out British scabbard with half rotted British frog. I picked it up in England so my guess is that a Brit lost or broke his bayonet and snagged the Jap. Could have been the other way round and a Brit took it home at the end of the war, or it could just be some goober stuck the two together because they fit and he didn't know better or didn't care. It has that look though, like it has been that way for 70years and has correct wear to show it has been a set for a long time. I also have a Chinese Mauser which was converted into a Jap trainer and has the original (I think) sling. Odd is cool, I've seen a few SS contract rifles ( legitimate ones ) and they bore me. My Type 38 with the buttstock cartouche that reads "Japanese type teeth" or "Big teeth"......I love that gun.