ORIGINAL: ir655
Just got this rifle for my sister, looked like decent gun to shoot deer with. The only thing is that the guy that sold it to me didn't know diddly squat about it. Kind of strange, but anyway. There are no markings on the barell about caliber type, only a serial number. The serial reads 93265, there is a small "A" I believe before the numbers.
Here are some pics of the rifle. If anyone knows what caliber it is I would appreciate it!
Your rifle is a Japanese WWII army rifle. If it appears to be of around .30-caliber, it would have originally been chambered to fire the Japanese 7.7X58mm cartridge. If it is a smaller caliber, like around .26 it was originally a 6.5X50mm Japanese.
This is provided no-one has rechamberedthe gun tousesome other cartridge. To find out for sure, take it to a reputable gunsmith and have it checked, both for chambering and headspace. It may be necessary to have a chamber cast made to guarantee that it is still chambered for one of theJapanese service rifle cartridge.
The 7.7X58mm Japanese is a pretty powerful cartridge, in the same class as the .303 British. If it is a 6.5X50mm, it is in the same class as the .260 Remington. Not quite as powerful. But either round is plenty for deer hunting!
Someone has done you the courtesy of mounting a scope on it for you. Both those old Weaver fixed-power scopes andd the Weaver mounts are excellent! I still use several rifles myself that have those old Weaver scopes on them. They still work well.
You can get ammo from GRAF'S.
http://www.grafs.com/ammo/239