[Milsurplus] OT: Nipponese Gear

[Mike Morrow]

>"Given out to the troops..."   Nice myth.  Never happened.
>Troops in the field had no personal property, (legally).
>Smuggling back in the troop ship was sometimes impossible,
>other times easy.

There are many thousands of Japanese Type 44, 38, 99 and other
common rifles in the USA with intact 'mums', in used condition,
and usually with mis-matched bolts.  These real 'acquired in the
field' weapons did not fall under the later directive to deface
the mum that came out post-WWII, apparently from some sort of
agreement with MacArthur.  The mis-matched bolts on the field
acquired weapons seem to indicate that the bolts were pulled
from the rifles for shipment back to the USA, and were later
re-installed randomly in a batch with the rifles in a shipment.

During the post-war occupation, many thousands of unused rifles,
with all matching serial numbers, were allowed to be taken from
Japanese storage and shipped home as GI trophies.  These almost
always have defaced mums.

So that great condition all-matching Type 38 or 99 rifle found
today likely will have defaced mum and was never used in actual
service.  That well-used mis-matched version was likely actually
issued, used in service, and have an intact mum.

Oddly, the two most common Japanese pistols of WWII, the Type 14
and the Type 94 (if not the worst, certainly the ugliest pistol
of all time - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_94_8_mm_Pistol ),
never had the emperor's mum applied.

It's too bad that while so many of these weapons survived, so few
examples of Japanese radio or radar gear exist today.

Mike / KK5F