Thread: Firearms in Vehicles

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

AN interesting picture of Ariska 38s in British hands which initially had me pondering how it came to be, but eventually, the "little gray cells" finaly obliged. Does your source say which training troop / unit it is who appear in the your picture and when /where it was taken?

Picture is from this forum page: https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/...risaka-rifles/ Appears to show some territorial army soldiers during WW1.

The venerable 6.5x51SR (usually called 6.5x50 for some reason) was adopted by the British early 1900s and some 150,000 of the t-38 rifle saw rear-guard action with the British army in WW1, purchased from the Japanese via middle-men as a stop gap while more SMLEs were manufactured. Official designations were Rifle Magazine .256 inch, Pattern 1900 (Murati, Type 30) taking round nose ammo, and Pattern 1907, the T38 (an improved rifle worked over by Colonel Nambu) which was sighted in for spitzer ammo.

The adoption of these two rifles and the EXACT copying of the Pattern 1900's bayonet as the P1907 bayonet explains how the heck the British army came to adopt a samurai sword! Everything Japanese was actually cool those years after the Japanese licked the Russians. How fickle.

Another link to a PDF with details: http://www.armsregister.com/articles...sh_service.pdf

Here is an article, The .256" British, a lost opportunity. Bemoaning the British army failing to adopt a perfect calibre. Aside from being a long action cartridge, the 6.5 Jap is arguably an ideal military cartridge with muzzle energy 1.5 times the 5.56x45 NATO and would do just fine with a boat tail.

I'm waffling. (-: