This rifle came into our office friday, the only thing that is known is that it was brought back from China at the end of WWII and has hung on a wall in town since then. After an extensive amount of research from Chinese sources we have been able to identify it as likely being made at the Arsenal of the 8th Route Army in 1939 probably one of 7 rifles built to this configuration. It is made with an Mauser 88 action that has been modified to use stripper clips and the caliber is 8mm Mauser. The bolt is matching to the rifle.
The unique feature of this rifle is the extremely well made and machined folding bayonet assembly, It resembles a Japanese Type 44 bayonet in style, but is not exactly the same. Unusually the cleaning rod is offset on the left side to accommodate the deployment of the bayonet. This is a novel design feature. As well thought out as the bayonet assembly is the rest of the rifle is somewhat typical of other Chinese Arsenal products of the time, a bit haphazardly made, most of this is seen in the roughly finished floorplate.
A later version of this rifle using a mauser 98 type action is on display at the Springfield Armory and is the only one of that type known in this hemisphere. The estimated number of that variant produced is less than 300.
There are a significant number of advanced collectors of Chinese Warlord Era Small Arms and this certainly would be the rarest and most unusual rifle variant that one could obtain. Certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity!
