a2jacketpatches
Active Member
Nice and salty, just the way I like em. Toyo Kogyo ( now Mazda ) arsenal with 30 series stamp. The first out of about 20 I've found in the past that has an untouched MUM, the original receiver dust cover, aircraft sight, AND monopod. I've bought several these stripped down to almost nothing, bought one in pieces in a bucket, several sporterized, but never as complete as this. No bayonet, but no big deal, they are a dime a dozen and not usually matched anyway. Relevant to this forum because an AAF groundcrew picked up in the Pacific somewhere according to the grandson. I bought the story this time and not just the item. Quite pitted, tells me that it probably was sitting around a while attracting the salt air on an island before this guy grabbed it, as the story was told. The Grandson couldn't remember what island or the unit of his Grandfather, just the gist of his story. Japanese rifles were handed to vets on their way home out of piles 20 feet high believe it or not, most had the chrysanthemum ( mum ) defaced by the soldier or completely ground off, it was the Emperor of Japan symbol and was not to be captured intact. Any Japanese rifle with a complete Mum was most likely a battlefield pick up and the most desirable for collections today.
