If you are even a little interested in the history of the Russian army, then you can probably recall at least a couple of samples of foreign weapons. The Maxim machine gun was the first to come to mind, someone might recall the Lewis, the British Vickers tanks also belong here. But the Arisaka, a Japanese-made rifle, is not known to everyone. Nevertheless, these weapons played an important role in the formation of modern Russian statehood.
How it all began
In 1914, the Imperial Army quickly realized that it … banally lacking shells, guns, ammunition and … rifles. Industry in those years was not able to establish the release of the proper amount of individual small arms. Soldiers also played a role: history subtly “hinted” that the time of huge, but completely untrained armies had finally passed.
It is a known fact that one of the Russian generals, circling the positions left by the soldiers (they were frightened of the German offensive), found … several hundred thousand abandoned rifles and tens of millions of cartridges. And this despite the fact that by the end of 1914 weapons became a deficit, the factories simply could not cope with the sharply increased output.
Economic ups and downs
In a word, weapons were definitely not enough. And then the Tsarist government decided to turn to its enemy yesterday, Japan. The Japanese Arisaka rifle proved to be excellent during the war. Even the brilliant Fedorov for the first time created his first machine gun in the world precisely under her patron. In addition, strangely enough, it was the Japanese who turned out to be much more “generous”, without wringing weapons at outrageous prices.
However, you should not consider the Japanese altruists: the fact is that initially more than 35 thousand rifles were intended for Mexican soldiers, but the US government gently hinted that the “Mexican order” should in no case be fulfilled. So the Land of the Rising Sun decided to get at least some benefit. One Arisaka rifle, sold under the original contract of Russia, initially cost … 29 rubles. And this despite the fact that domestic plants offered "three-rulers" at a price of 41 rubles per unit. So initially the idea looked tempting.
The first problems with procurement
In total, almost four million rifles were purchased during the bidding period with Japan. That's just exactly on time only the first 35 thousand units were delivered. Problems began very soon: Mikado did not want to sacrifice the mobilization reserves of his own army. With great difficulty, it was possible to agree on the supply of only 200 thousand units, and the conditions were mocking.
The Japanese used only 100 rounds of ammunition for each rifle. After numerous requests, it was possible to increase this number … to 125 charges. A ridiculous supply, especially since all the cartridges were old, with an expired warranty period of storage. They were taken from mobilization warehouses located at that time in Korea.
In the future, there were often deliveries of frankly worn, old trunks of "very dubious dignity", as they were described in the army. But they were a good help against the backdrop of an extremely sluggish increase in production by domestic industry. As the sources of that time indicate, the Arisaka rifle, the description of which is in the article, was in service with every tenth division. It is not surprising that the Army men themselves comically called them "Japanese."
"China or rifles"
Soon, “diplomatic bargaining” broke out around supplies: Japan at that time put forward the famous “21 demands” to China, practically offering the country complete surrender and recognition of the Japanese occupation government. Initially, Russian diplomats were against such arrogant demands … but the onset of the German offensive in Galicia dictated its conditions. With the tacit approval of the Tsarist government, China was forced to sign an enslaving treaty.
And after Japan, she took up our country. Inspired by the Tsar’s meek submission, Japanese diplomats began to put forward “breathtakingly impudent demands”, expressed, in particular, in “requests” … to give up the entire Far East in exchange for an unfortunate million rifles. To the honor of domestic diplomats who could not stand such arrogance, even negotiations on this did not begin. Moreover, a real trash was arranged by the Japanese attache, after which the trading partner did not put forward such “projects”.
Moreover, Japan agreed with a request for the sale of another million weapons. However, by that time each Arisaka rifle was already worth 32-35 rubles. But it was still cheaper than domestic models. In addition, the Japanese began to supply normal cartridges of a modern standard.
Interestingly, the Japanese model 30 bayonet for the Arisaka rifle was, in fact, a slightly shortened dagger. Since the domestic “Mosinoks” traditionally had needle bayonets, soldiers armed with “foreign” weapons can be easily recognized on any photo of that period.
Overseas intermediaries
Also curious is the fate of 60 thousand "Arisak", originally sold by the Japanese of England. The "mistress of the seas" by that time was also in a difficult situation, despite the full power of its metallurgical plants. But each "English" Arisaka rifle eventually ended up in Russian arsenals anyway. The fact is that by the end of 1915 the Germans again intensified the offensive, as a result of which the British government, extremely frightened by this fact, decided to "shut up the Teutonic breakthrough with a Russian avalanche." Rifles went to our country.
Thus, by February 1917, a tremendous amount of weapons and more ammunition were purchased. You just have to understand that the "Japanese Arisaka rifle" is not at all a single model. Seven (!) Of its various modifications were supplied to our country sequentially, which created countless problems for the already supplying suppliers. It is interesting that the last 150 thousand Arisak were purchased literally on the eve of the October Revolution.
But after V.I. Lenin’s talk about Peace and Earth, the history of the Japanese women in the service of the Russian army was far from over. We can say that in the future they fought both the Red and White Guard units. And the feedback on the practical use of this weapon varied greatly, regardless of who it came from. But nevertheless, most of its “users” agreed that the Arisaka rifle (the photo of which is in the article) is a high-quality and reliable weapon. Note that the Japanese "kept the mark" until 1944, when, due to serious economic problems, the quality of weapons produced fell sharply.
By the way, what is the proportion of rifles used in units of warring parties during the Civil War? Here the information is very different. It is known that some units directly subordinate to Kolchak were armed by them almost without exception. But the number of "Arisak" among the Red Army in certain periods reached up to 1/3 of the total number of individual small arms used by them.
The gunsmiths also say that the notorious Latvian riflemen were mainly armed with the Arisaks. So the role of these rifles in the history of our country is very large.
What did the soldiers think of the Arisaki?
Miscellaneous. And it depended, as a rule, on the technical level of the fighter himself, the level of his education, and the variety of rifle. If the "Japanese Arisaka rifle" was new, then there were practically no complaints about it. It is also known that old carbines had an unpleasant property, expressed in "sticking" of the bolt. Again, this is hardly the fault of the rifles themselves: most likely, the soldiers themselves are to blame for months who have not cleaned their personal weapons.
Recent Use Cases
After the Civil War, the Arisaka Type 30 rifle was in service with many countries. The newcomers of Finland and Estonia had especially many of these weapons, where the "Japanese" were almost without exception armed with the border services.
In 1941, "Arisaki" in the execution of the mobilization plan were sometimes issued to militias and rear units, but they were not widely used. In the USSR, the production of weapons was put on stream, and therefore its shortage was not so acute. It is possible that somewhere in the domestic arsenals there are still remnants of these rarities. It is known that the last consignment of canned Arisak was sent for re-melting by Ukrainian aircraft back in 1993.
General technical information
Both in Japan and in our country, the most common were two types of these rifles: “Type 30” (the very first variety) and “Type 99”. They differed in caliber. If the old “thirty” used a 6.5x50 cartridge of various modifications for firing, then for the “Type 99” a separate ammunition of increased power was developed - 7.7x58. Most likely, the caliber, unusual for the Japanese, was borrowed from the British with their "Lee-Anfield."
In addition, in our country until the very end of the use of these weapons, the Arisaka type 38 rifle was found. This is the second modification, the time of its development dates back to the early 1900s of the last century.
As for the technical characteristics, these rifles are quite typical examples of weapons of their time, which had some distinctive features. The barrel is locked by a sliding rotary shutter. The latter had two combat ledges. Initially, Colonel Arisaka, who was the chief designer of this weapon, wanted a design with three combat ledges, but the production realities and the need to reduce the cost of the rifle caused some simplification of its design.
Other characteristics
There was a spring-loaded ejector on the front of the shutter stem. Since all the cartridges used by Arisaki had flanges (like the domestic 7.62x54), a reflector (cut-off) was attached inside the receiver, on its left side.
The stock, the box for the receiver and the lining on the barrel were made of wood. As a rule, they initially tried to use walnuts for this, but in 1944-1945, when the economic situation of the warring Japan was greatly shaken, the producers had to switch to the cheapest types of wood, and in some cases the stock was made of low-grade plywood.
The knob of the shutter is interesting: it is very large, in cross section it resembles a chicken egg. The choice of this form was due to the fact that during the tests it proved to be the most convenient. It is interesting that the mainspring was located inside the tubular part of the striker, as a result of which it is perfectly protected from dust, moisture and dirt. This is due to the high reliability of the weapon, which was repeatedly talked about by both domestic and foreign soldiers.
Again, because of this feature, the spring was more sensitive to contamination by its powder deposits (the very “sticking” that we mentioned above). But still, in order to bring the weapon to such a state, it was necessary to “try” without cleaning for a very long time.
By the way, Arisaki had a special cover-casing to protect the shutter from pollution. But its practical value was extremely small: the lid constantly rattled, created many problems when carrying (there was a risk of losing it), and therefore many soldiers preferred to remove this part and put it in pouches before the battle.
Protection against accidental shots
What else is characterized by "Arisaka" (rifle)? The “button” fuse is a very characteristic feature of this weapon. An interesting mechanism of its action. To activate the fuse with the cocked shutter, it was necessary to click on the “button” with a corrugated texture located on the back of the shutter, and then turn it clockwise. At the same time, the protrusions cut on the clutch reliably blocked the striker, preventing it from hitting the capsule.
The firing pin was put into a combat position automatically, when cocking the bolt. Charging was carried out with the shutter open. This could be done both by one cartridge and by five, using special clips for this purpose.
It is also interesting that this weapon had a bolt delay! That is, when the ammunition was used up, the bolt automatically became in its extreme rear position, which greatly simplified the process of charging the rifle.
