Type 38 Carbine
- Category
- Carbine
- Barrel
- 487 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.30 kg
- Introduced
- 1905
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Type 38 Carbine was the shortened cavalry variant of the Arisaka Type 38 rifle, adopted by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1905 and chambered in the low-recoil 6.5x50mmSR Arisaka cartridge. With a 487 mm barrel it was issued to cavalry, engineers, artillery, quartermasters and other mounted or second-line troops. It used a Mauser-derived rotating bolt feeding from a five-round internal magazine loaded via stripper clip, and many examples carried the distinctive sliding sheet-metal dust cover over the bolt.
The 6.5x50mm Arisaka was so notably low in recoil, flash and smoke that Allied troops who captured Type 38 carbines praised them as among the gentlest-shooting military bolt-actions of the era. Many surviving carbines have a ground-off chrysanthemum crest, defaced upon surrender because the mum was the Emperor's personal property.
Carbine-specific muzzle velocity is lower than the rifle's 770 m/s figure (which is measured from an 800 mm test barrel) but is not authoritatively published, so it is left null. No separate production count exists for the carbine; the Type 38 family totalled roughly 3.4 million across all variants.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Kokura Arsenal
- Category
- Carbine
- Country
- Japan
- Status
- Out of production
- Produced
- 1905 to 1942
- Variant of
- Carbine
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 487 mm
- Overall length
- 966 mm
- Weight, empty
- 3.30 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Bolt action
- Trigger
- Single stage
- Capacity
- 5
- Magazine
- Internal
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Effective range
- 400 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
No load solved for this record yetThe flight path is computed from a cartridge and a bullet. This record has no ammunition filed against its chambering, so there is nothing to solve.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Stripper clip loading
Sliding dust cover
Tangent leaf rear sight- Imperial chrysanthemum crest
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 409 carbines | 3.30 kg | 3.00 kg | Heavier than about 70% |
| Overall lengthAmong 407 carbines | 966 mm | 895 mm | Longer than about 80% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 423 carbines | 487 mm | 406 mm | Longer than about 80% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 423 carbines | 5 | 21 | Holds fewer rounds than about 80% |
Answers
Questions about the Type 38 Carbine
How much does the Type 38 Carbine weigh?
The Type 38 Carbine weighs 3.30 kg (7.28 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Type 38 Carbine?
The Type 38 Carbine is chambered in 6.5x50mm Arisaka.
How many rounds does the Type 38 Carbine hold?
The Type 38 Carbine holds 5 rounds, fed from an internal magazine.
How long is the Type 38 Carbine?
The Type 38 Carbine is 966 mm (38.0 in) long overall, with a 487 mm (19.2 in) barrel.
Who makes the Type 38 Carbine?
The Type 38 Carbine is made by Kokura Arsenal (Japan). It was designed by Nariakira Arisaka.
When was the Type 38 Carbine introduced?
The Type 38 Carbine was introduced in 1905 and discontinued in 1942.
How does the Type 38 Carbine operate?
The Type 38 Carbine uses a bolt action.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- Empire of Japan
- 1905
- Russian Empire
- 1914
- United Kingdom
- 1914
Provenance
Confidence in this record
72%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/type-38-carbine' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "type-38-carbine", "name": "Type 38 Carbine", "manufacturer": { "id": "kokura-arsenal", "name": "Kokura Arsenal", "countryCode": "JP", "foundedYear": 1933, "website": null, "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": null, "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": null, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-04-05 22:24:37", "updatedAt": "2026-04-05 22:24:37", "version": "4fc0b3c5a8a1d21d1e7661dfc33f94c8da8ce9b1e3bcd75a196ccfadd98e7a3f" }, "category": { "id": "carbine", "name": "Carbine", "description": "Shortened rifles for close-quarters use" }, "country_of_origin": "JP", "year_introduced": 1905, "barrel_length_mm": 487, "weight_empty_g": 3300, "action_type": "bolt_action"}