I think the average height of Japanese soldiers during WW2 was somewhere between 5'3" to 5'5", thus many carried the short or "carbine" versions of the Arisaka rifles...The build quality is top notch...You have to remember that "high end" quality was not unknown in Japan pre Demming (just look at Samurai sword construction) (although nearer to the wars end, it's possible that quality suffered as it did in Germany's case)....It's just that , no matter where it comes from. "you get what you pay for"...When we started importing from Japan, we were looking for "inexpensive" goods and that was what we got...
cudakite wrote:
Man! Cool rifle. I'm surprised they came configured so short. What's the build quality like? These were manufactured decades before Demming showed the japanese how to produce the excellent quality we now identify with 'Made in Japan'.