A few family friends are coming over this saturday to do some shooting with us and one of them is bringing a rifle that he said was built for the Japanese by the Italians in ww2. I looked through all of my source books but could find no such rifle. The japs and Italians made rifles with similar characteristsics and the same caliber throughout the war but I see no instance of the Italians directly mfr. a rifle for the Japanese military at any time. Am I mistaken or is my friend?

I believe there was spme sort of connection between the Italian and Japanese 6.5mm round but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I do know other european countries did sell direct to the japs, The Madsen machine gun comes to mind right now.

Japanese Type "I" (Type "EYE" not Roman numeral one) rifle. It is a bit of a mutt, and relatively rare. It is a standard Mannlicher-Carcano action, trigger, and bolt produced by the Italians, then shipped to the Japanese who installed their own barrel in 6.5x50.5mm (their 6.5mm round), used a Mauser style box mag, Japanese/Mauser leaf sights, 2 piece Japanese stock, and Japanese bayonet lug and barrel bands. If I remember correctly, there were only about 60,000 produced, so not impossible to find, but not easy either. If anyone is handloading for this rifle, I'd recommend that it was loaded to 6.5 Italian pressures, because the Carcano action is nowhere near as strong as the Arisaka actions are. I have one that was unfortunately chopped up into a sporter , but it still shoots very well; with ammo prices as they are it isn't shot much.

I've got a question for some of you that know more about WWII Jap rifles...Were the bores chrome lined?? Reason I ask, a Friend of mine has one in excellant shape and I swear the barrel is chrome lined.. I mean, it makes sense considering where they were going to be used, I just wasn't aware that chrome lining of rifle barrels was done then, or for that matter, even possible.

Ralph,
Depending on which model it is and when it was made, it is entirely possible that the bore is chrome lined. Until quality disappeared during the war, pretty much all of the Type 38s were lined, and I believe at least a few of the earliest Type 99s were as well. The oddest thing about all 3 of my Japanese rifles is that I don't think any of them have it. Oh well, I'm not complaining, I still love them. I just wish ammo was cheaper!!!

I'm not sure what type he has...It does have the sights with the "wings" that fold out for shooting at aircraft.

Ralph,
That's the Type 99, unless someone has really reassembled something incorrectly. The easiest way to tell is either check out the symbols on the receiver ring, or even easier is check out the right rear section of the receiver. In most cases the Type 38s will have a much higher rear tang or lug behind the bolt handle when it is closed, something like an inch or more. Type 99s don't have much metal, maybe about 1/4-1/2" tall max behind the bolt handle. I wish I had photos so I could describe it better. MauserMark has a website on his sig line arisakarifles.com I think. That would be a great resource.

Yup, type 99. Mine has a chromed barrel too and ya gotta admit, those fold down AA sights are bling bling shiznit!