Type 38 school rifle

I picked up a type 38 rifle today. The rifle is clearly marked as a school rifle. It has the symbol for school stamped under the mum,the small double o's in front of the ser# saying it has been taken out of army service. And the mum has been stamped with 3 o's in a clover leaf pattern in the middle of the mum. SO this is what the rifle is telling me. ( P.S. the stock has been hot and a little burned to the point that the varnish is bubbled up and the wood is a little black on the lower part of the stock )
Now the story I got from the man i got the gun from was.
That he got it off a man that his grandfather brought it back after the war. His Grandfather told him that he took the gun out of a cave on IWO JIMA that had been burned out with a flame thrower ( Grand dad was part of a Army mop up team and they were going down in caves after the island had been taken .If there were any dead Japanese in the cave then they would blow the cave up and close it up.).Now I have said all that to ask this. Has anyone heard of another school marked rifle being picked up off a battlefield before or do you think his story is full of holes. It may be that at the end of the war guns were so hard to get that they went to the schools and took the working rifles and put them back in service. What do you think ? Thanks papabyrd











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Never rule out anything; however, when dealing with military antiques the accomanying story is often just as interesting as the antique. One rule of thumb is to believe the antique and take the story with a grain of salt.

Most Arisaka rifles with intact Chrysanthimums are battle field pick ups as they were taken from a soldier either before he was able to or was otherwise incapable of obliterating the mum.

Beings that the mum has been overstamped I would assume that it was not taken into to battle as it no longer posessed the Spirit of the Emperor and therefore was not worthy. It was most likely retrieved during the occupation of the home islands.

Most of the "School Rifles" were an amalgamation of rifles assembled from inferior parts unless they were used for marksmanship. So be very careful if you plan on shooting this rifle. Have it inspected by a qualified gunsmith before heading down range with it.

Post pics if you have the chance.

 

This talk of "mums" and grinding confused me. So I googled and came up with the following link, which explains everything for noobs like me.

Markings on Japanese Arisaka Rifles and Bayonets of World War II

 

Thanks Fomerjughead I am thinking like you and think the story is just that a story. The rifle has been burned a little. May have been in a house fire or could have been burned in a bombing during the war. Only God knows now and that is the least of his worries. papabyrd