Bolt Action Tanegashima

[Peter Bleed]

Listeros!

Please allow me to spall off a new thread. The discussion of an interesting matchlock gun started by Redhugster resulted in worthy responses. Thank you, but to keep things focused, I’d like to open a thread for discussion of the bolt action modifications of Japanese firearms.

I think it is fair to say that this NOT a topic that will be addressed in Japan. Bolt action modifications may be found in a museum or two in Japan. But I bet that they are rare over there and NOT the sort of thing that would be easy or popular to investigate. If the world is going to understand these things, it is up to GAIJIN to lead the way. If I am wrong in that regard, I would welcome access to Japanese publications that address this topic.

To begin I will repost images of my gun. Overall it is 54” long with a barrel/action length of 43.5” It is totally unmarked. The bolt and action seem to conform to the Type 13 Murata, but without serial numbers and no vent hole behind the chamber. I don’t know how to measure the chamber. The barrel is round with a slightly enlarged breech end. It is smooth bore with an interior muzzle diameter of 12.7mm. Pretty odd. The barrel has solid front and rare sights appear very Japanese. The stock is Japanese oak with a number of “brass” inlays. It looks like it has been shortened to a “half stock” but it is fitted with a brass tip so it seems to have been done in Japan. If there are other observations that I should add, please let me know.

I would be very interested in knowing when and why this gun was modified. Type 13 Muratas were obsolete by 1885, but this gun looks like it was essentially a civilian product. Is there literature on how guns were being modified and marketed in Meiji Japan? 

Peter

[Bugyotsuji]

Not paid these much attention, but I will certainly keep my eyes peeled. Do you have Sawada's Japanese reference book? I seem to remember somehow that you do. I will also have a quick flick through my books.

 

Towards the end of Edo, so many different guns were washing around Japan, as you may have discovered in Jan's excellent chapter. The common word at the time for a breech-loader was 元込 Moto-gome, and everyone wanted one. There were single-, three- and even seven-shot versions to be had if you were lucky. Yours too looks like a modified Sakai gun. The breech band has been cut at the top for the bolt slide, and screwed in from the sides.

[Peter Bleed]

Piers,

Thanks. Indeed Sawada-san does show a single bolt action gun - looks like a Sakai unit - that was modified with a Type 13 Murata  bolt action. That means I've seen 4, total. I also note that the Banzai guys mention bolt action reworks in one of their publications. Once again there seem to be diverse - and poorly organized - interest in Japanese arms.

Do we happen to know if Murata-to were made by the same guy who developed the Murata rifles?

Peter