First real post other than in the welcome thread. Thought I'd show off a couple examples of the rifle I like to collect most...the Arisaka.
Side-by-side with two Series 40 Jinsens. The Jinsen Arsenal in Occupied Korea (technically annexed) only produced a single Series of approximately 93,000 Type 99's from 1944-1945. While most arsenals produced multiple series, or hundreds of thousands of rifles (each Series was supposed to run from numbers 0-99,999), Jinsen began and ended their production with the Series 40. In just this one series, rifles went from having mostly all of the early war features, to mid war features, to substitute standard (last ditch) features.
On the left is a substitute standard model with a 57xxx serial number and on the right is its much sexier counterpart being made less than 39,000 serials before it (18xxx). The one on the right I just snagged at the Dixie gun show in Raleigh last November and features an intact Mum and an import mark on the barrel. And if you know anything about Japanese rifles, not many of them have import marks. No matter what, this particular rifle wasn't brought back by a G.I. at the end of the war and likely served in at least some capacity in Korea, China, Vietnam, etc. It is also next to impossible to find a Jinsen manufactured rifle with an intact Chrysanthemum. I kind of shudder to call anything of which tens of thousands were made rare, but in this case, the rifle on the right would be hard to call anything else.
Side-by-side with two Series 40 Jinsens. The Jinsen Arsenal in Occupied Korea (technically annexed) only produced a single Series of approximately 93,000 Type 99's from 1944-1945. While most arsenals produced multiple series, or hundreds of thousands of rifles (each Series was supposed to run from numbers 0-99,999), Jinsen began and ended their production with the Series 40. In just this one series, rifles went from having mostly all of the early war features, to mid war features, to substitute standard (last ditch) features.
On the left is a substitute standard model with a 57xxx serial number and on the right is its much sexier counterpart being made less than 39,000 serials before it (18xxx). The one on the right I just snagged at the Dixie gun show in Raleigh last November and features an intact Mum and an import mark on the barrel. And if you know anything about Japanese rifles, not many of them have import marks. No matter what, this particular rifle wasn't brought back by a G.I. at the end of the war and likely served in at least some capacity in Korea, China, Vietnam, etc. It is also next to impossible to find a Jinsen manufactured rifle with an intact Chrysanthemum. I kind of shudder to call anything of which tens of thousands were made rare, but in this case, the rifle on the right would be hard to call anything else.
