MAUSER IN CHINA

In 1877 Li Hongzhang was planning to purchase some new rifles for his troops. Tianjin Arsenal, at Li's behest, in charge of testing and buying new weapons. A Chinese official named Li Fengbao received letters from Tianjin Arsenal to let him investigate a suitable rifle for Chinese troops. Late of this year, Li Fengbao received a sample rifle from Westley Richards in Birmingham then he sent the sample back to China for testing. Tianjin Arsenal described the rifle as Martini liked. We could not find more details about the sample rifle but it must be a Peabody falling block rifle which Westley Richards had been made for a long time.   In June 1878, Li fengbao sent Tianjin Arsenal one of each Hentry Martini, Peabody and Westley Richards which arrived in China two month later. The arsenal conducted comparison tests of three rifles and believed that the action of Westley Richards is strong and simple without coiled spring which can be easily rusted. However, Chinese concerned about the...

The Imperial Dragon Type 30   The designation A small number of Japanese Arisaka Type 30 with distinct Chinese imperial dragon crest were imported from China in 1980s. American collectors are used to call these Type 30 as Manchu Arisaka based on its unique Chinese characters and imperial dragon crest. In China, some sources refer to these as “Type Kuangthsu 29th year” rifle, which appears in the contract texts. During the late Qing China, imported weapons did not assign official designations. Imported weapons were either called its original foreign designation or were given a descriptive name. In the Imperial China government documents, Japanese Type 30 rifle usually are referred as “ 六米里五口徑五響無煙步、马快槍 ” which translates to “6.5 m/m Caliber Five shots repeating infantry rifle/cavalry carbine”. And sometimes it also referred as “29th year made” rifle and “31th year made” rifle according to the crests. The manufacturer, Koishikawa Arsenal, and Japanese government archives recorded the...