DocVoltron

Some of those squiggly "Mata" characters look very close to the lock plate marking.

Oh gotcha. Thank you so much for your help!

Oh I see, yes. Good advice about the flash hole. This is the "hole" I was referring to. Couldn't really cut up with it's use as the sear hole is larger and would probably be drilled from the other side. The good news is I have the piece of bisen that I can dimension. I took it to work to have it XRFd and tested with a hardness tester so I think we'll get stock that's appropriate. All said and done, I don't think anyone will notice.

Thanks, Bugyotsuji! Very interesting info, thanks! Inner diameter of the bore is 1.34cm (0.528") the bisen was easy to open, but unfortunately that was mainly because it was snapped in two and I unthreaded the short end. I have a friend with a lathe willing to do the work so we're going to make a new screw to thread into the breech and match the original's tang. Is that hole you are talking about the one in the mainspring

Images are large so looks like I have to do one at a time.

Hey everyone, new member here. I've been reading through a lot of threads with great information about the various parts of the tanegashima as I have a few missing on mine. I was hoping someone could help me out with some of the markings on my new gun. I think some of the Kanji says "83" but with the Imperial Calendar, I'm not sure "which" '83 to translate to the Gregorian calendar. I can't really make out the other markings either and can't find anything on the mark on the side plate or the stock marking. Any help would be greatly appreciated!