RARE Deactivated WWII Chinese built Arisaka Type 38 Rifle

This is an exceedingly rare Chinese "Six-Five" built copy of the Japanese Type 38 Arisaka. It was made at the Taiyuan Arsenal in the late 1920s early 1930s for the warlord of Shansi province, General Yen Hsi-shan. The receiver is marked  六五步槍  or six-five rifles. Only an estimated 108,000 were ever made! The Chinese Type 38 were converted to short barrel from it's original long barrel configuration with varying degrees of quality to the re-crowning. This rifle bears stamping and characters unique to the type, with Chinese markings denoting "6.5 Military Type" stamped on the receiver. The Chinese made a variety of configuration changes to these rifles.  This example bears plenty of evidence of these practices with the addition of a K98 front barrel band. These rifles were used during the Sino-Japanese War - 1937 to 1945 between Japanese and China. This rifle has plenty of battle scars. Often forgotten, China played its role during both World Wars declaring war on the Central Powers in August 1917 and in 1937 when Japan invaded China which saw some 15 million casualties. The fighting between China and Japan was brutal with both sides suffering huge military losses as well as millions of Chinese civilians killed. Chinese weapons from this period often exhibit many battle scares having suffered from extensive battlefield use and exposure to the climate. Millions of these weapons were captured by Japanese forces.

You are unlikely to see another! A rare find. The rifle comes with paperwork explaining the markings found on this example.