Nomenclature note: In the West, Japanese equipment is commonly referred to as "Type XX", rather than "Model XX". military and the National Rifle Association found that the Type 38's receiver was the strongest bolt action of any nation's and capable of handling more powerful cartridges. Post-war inspection of the Type 38 by the U.S. The Type 38 was fairly heavy, at about 4.25 kg. The rifle was even longer when the 40 cm (15.75 inches) Type 30 bayonet was fixed. The Type 38 at 128 cm (50.4 in) was the longest rifle of the war, due to the emphasis on bayonet training for the Japanese soldier of the era, whose average height was 160 centimeters (5 ft 3 in).
However, while on par with the Norwegian and Italian 6.5 mm military cartridges of the time, the 6.5×50mm was not as powerful as several others in use by other nations. This cartridge produces little recoil when fired. The Type 38 rifle used the 6.5×50mm Arisaka cartridge. JSTOR ( August 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This section needs additional citations for verification. However, not all units received the new weapon, and the mixture of types with incompatible cartridges led to considerable logistics issues during World War II. Designated the Type 99 rifle, this new rifle used the more powerful 7.7×58mm Arisaka cartridge already in use with the Type 92 heavy machine gun and the Type 97 light machine gun. However, a concern that the 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka cartridge did not compare favorably to the ammunition used by the other great powers in the war led to the introduction of a further generation of rifles in 1939, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. By 1940 more than three million Type 38s had been issued to the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1939, the Type 38 rifle manufactured by these arsenals cost 75.9 yen per unit. In what is now Shenyang) arsenal from 1937 to 1944: 148,800 units (est.) Hoten (was called Mukden Arsenal before the Japanese took it over.Jinsen (in what is now Incheon) arsenal from 1942 to 1942: 13,400 units (est.).The weapon was produced in several locations: A dust cover was added because of experiences in the Russo-Japanese War that left rifles inoperable from dust. Nambu reduced the number of parts making up the Type 30's bolt from nine to six and at that same time simplified manufacture and disassembly of the bolt without the need for tools.
Major Kijiro Nambu undertook a redesign of the Type 30, which was introduced in 1906. These included bursting cartridges, a poorly designed lock in which excess gunpowder tended to accumulate, burning the face of the shooter, frequent misfires, jamming, difficulty in cleaning, and cartridge extraction. However, the weapon had numerous shortcomings, which were highlighted by combat experience in the early stages of the Russo-Japanese War. The Imperial Japanese Army introduced the Type 30 rifle in 1897.