As such, the weapon was used throughout the nation's various conflicts in that span and survived in circulation long enough to see combat actions in the upcoming Korean and Chinese Civil Wars. The type led a long and storied career within the ranks of the IJA and saw production span into 1942 during World War 2. In all, 3,400,000 Arisaka Type 38 rifles were built.The Type 44 Carbine (also known as the Type 44 'Cavalry Rifle') was a standardized Japanese Army bolt-action carbine weapon designed in 1911 by famed Japanese gunsmith Baron Arisaka Nariakira and introduced into Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) service in 1912.

After WW2, they saw action during the Chinese Civil War with both sides and the Korean War with the Communist Chinese forces. Manufacturing of Arisaka Type 38 rifles did not cease until the end of WW2, but existing models remained in service. Many Chinese troops, both Nationalist and Communist, used captured Arisaka Type 38 rifles against the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Many captured Arisaka Type 38 rifles were also used in neighboring countries as they become captured. The two models served concurrently in the Japanese Army. They were also used in the British Royal Navy, the Russian Army, and in Finland.īy the mid-1930s, however, it was clear that the design was becoming outdated, and resources were invested to create that would become the Arisaka Type 99 rifles, which entered production in 1939. In addition to being the standard rifles in pre-WW2 Japan, they were also exported the Czech Legion that fought in the Russian Revolution, for example, carried Arisaka Type 38 rifles, among other weapons. A shorter carbine version of the rifle was also manufactured, used mainly by cavalry units and non-frontline troops the carbines were only 966-mm in length.

They were the longest rifles among their contemporaries even before the 400-mm Type 30 bayonets were attached, making them rather unwieldy the length of the rifles reflected the emphasis of bayonet fighting in Japanese Army doctrine during that era. Peter Chen ww2dbaseThe Arisaka Type 38 bolt-action rifles, also known as Meiji 38th Year (1905) rifles, were the standard infantry rifles of the pre-WW2 Japanese Army.

Japanese type 38 variations