Type 38 Arisakas (and several other Japanese guns of the 20th c) were coated in Uruishioil a finish derived from a type of sumac tree. This finish would cause individuals to get horrible rashes when they came in contact with it (under certain conditions), similar to a poison ivy outbreak.
These reactions would primarily happen when these rifles were being cut down or refinished. After the end of WW2 numerous former soldiers in America were admitted into hospitals when they broke out with rashes as a result of them attempting to sporterize captured rifles they had brought back from Japan.
There wasn’t an insidious intention behind the use of the Uruishioil, it was simply a common finish used in Eastern Asia at the period.
Mosin Crate Short:
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There’s an old joke about these captured guns post-war, when asked how you get one it’s always “I won it in a shooting contest.”
It always stuck with me because it’s kind of funny but also seriously macabre.
That’s awesome.
You never want a soldier with an itchy trigger finger
God damnit thats good.
I would be extremely shocked if the Japanese lacquer found on these rifles were harmful under daily use. The use of urishioil lacquer was perfected in Japan over millenia; it was used at least as far back as 7000BCE.
From what I read it was problematic in either a liquid form or when being sanded or cut. I didn’t see any mention of it being harmful once applied under normal function.
But going back I can see I should reword the first paragraph as when read alone it could give that impression.
Cool. Yeah that totally tracks with what I have read about the stuff.
War is hell
They never let you bring home captured rifles these days. QQ noises.
