SOLD, ULTRA RARE & NEVER SEEN JAPANESE NAVY TYPE 35 (1902) SERVICE RIFLE, EXCEPTIONALLY FINE EXAMPLE, ALSO FINNISH CIVIL GUARD MARKED! WONDERFUL FIND!

In very fine condition, we have an extremely rare and just never seen Imperial Japanese Navy Tokyo Arsenal made Type 35 Service Rifle. These rifles were intended to be an upgrade of the highly regarded Type 30 Rifle with improvements to the bolt and the sight and the addition of a dust cover.  Very few were manufactured as the New Arisaka Type 38 Rifle would be chosen to replace this design in 1905.

These rifles served into the early WWI era but during the war this rifle was sold to the Imperial Russian Government for use against the Germans and at the end of the Great War it ended up in Finland as we can see from the Finnish Civil Guard “S number” on the butt stock.

This is certainly the hardest of the Japanese Service Rifles to obtain and they rarely ever pop up on the market.  This is a tope example that is particularly well preserved. It will be a place of pride in any advanced collection.