Hanyang Type 23 Rifle
The first proposal for altering Hanyang rifle to fire 7.9S cartridge was submitted by the Superintendent Zheng Jiajun in 1934, Nationalist Year 23. Into 1930s China imported a substantial quantity of FN24&30, Vz24 and SM which fire S cartridge. Hanyang Arsenal planed to move onto the new cartridge as well through enabling Hanyang rifle to accommodate both M88 patron and newer 7.9 S cartridge. The arsenal prepared three types of improved rifle. The prototype one is a Model 98 rifle which I speculate likely being a modified Type 1 rifle, a Chinese copy of Model 1907, the most common domestic made M1898 system rifle. The arsenal also improved two types of Hanyang rifle, one is called Type 88 I (八八式甲) and another one is Type 88 II (八八式乙). The two rifles are almost exact same except Type 88 I accommodates 7.9 S cartridge only while Type 88 II is compatible with both round and spitzer cartridge.
In the Nationalist Government Annual Rereport of Ordnance Department of Year 1934, Hanyang Arsenal received blueprints of Gew 88 from DWM and started improving Hanyang rifle. The plan was to modify current Gew 88 pattern of chamber, rear sight and rifling to that of M98 pattern. And the new Hanyang rifle will be fitted with Mauser magazine fed by stripper clip instead.
Chinese documents neither reveal the designation nor adoption of the improved Hanyang rifle. When Japanese invaded china, Japanese Ministry of Army compiled a booklet called Investigation of captured Chinese Weapons in which a modified Hanyang rifle with internal Mauser type magazine is listed as Modified Type 23 rifle (改23式步銃). The 23, if not abnormal, refers to Nationalist Year 23 (1934).
Mr. Bin Shih's Chinese Small Arms of World War 2 references the picture (above) of Type 23 that captured and examined by Japanese. I personally own a copy of Japanese booklet but the picture quality is worse than Mr.Shih's. So far four specimens including the one captured by Japanese have been observed are 3714, A5830, A6183 (Jap capture), A7357. These rifles does not have either arsenal symbol or date. None of reading material tells how many were produced and why the program was dropped.
Mythology: Could Hanyang Rifle fire a S cartridge?
Many collectors wonder could their Hanyang rifle use S cartridge. Normally, I would not recommend you do this since most Hanyang are in very poor condition and we do not have concrete proof to confirm that Hanyang rifle were converted to S chamber and safe to fire. Chinese keep using 88 cartridge to the very end of the life of Hanyang rifle. Based on such conception, the prevailing opinion believes No way to fire a S cartridge from Hanyang rifle. The 88 chamber dimension even does not suit for S cartridge. You could not properly close the bolt with a S cartridge in, not to mention firing it safely.
Nonetheless, I would say perhaps some Hanyang 88 might be suitable for a S cartridge. After reading and specimen observing, I came out this hypothesis that Hanyang rifle made after 1934 with Chinese character 乙 (Yi) prefix could chamber 88 and S cartridge alike.
Around late 1933/mid 1934, Hanyang rifle adds 乙 (Yi) before SN. In Chinese, the character could be interpreted as "the second" which initially leads me to believe it is a symbol of indicating the second run of SN which conception seems impossible since if so it would had already reached an extremely crazy quantity of at least over 1 million production before 1933.
Now, I much prefer the Yi character is the symbol to indicate a S chamber rifle. In above discussion, one of three variants of prototype tested by Chinese is called Type 88 Yi, in this context Yi is interpreted as the second pattern, which could chamber both types of cartridge as Chinese doc stated. I think the T23 program was not fruitless, instead it was reduced to simply milling all new production a S cartridge chamber and keep external feature unchanged. For identification, Yi is added before SN.
Test fire from a Hanyang rifle made by No.21 Arsenal in 1940 shows S cartridge works just fine (Thank you Walt for help me doing this). Firing a Czech 1933 made 8×57 I, the bullets performed badly by only making keyholes on the target which means the rifling was not stabilizing the bullet. It is common to see on a 80 years old heavy used rifle through wars. But with this rifle Walt could chamber in a .321 diameter S cartridge. Though the accuracy is quiet poor (understandable), bullets are stable now and no keyholes on target.
Despite the test fire has positive result, so far I still cannot conclude the statement based on such a limited trial. I am working on finding more specimens and to do more tests. All collectors are more than welcome if you are willing to patriciate in.
Please carefully check your gun or get a good gunsmith do that for you before doing any shooting! Keep Safe!
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