Type 81 Carbine

A short barrel, bolt action rifle designed for mounted cavalry/scout unit service. Type 81 Carbine was developed during the Second Sino-Japanese War, a rifle presented to 8th Route Army Strategic Command of Communist Party of China (CPC). Post war CPC sources would suggest that the Type 81 carbine was developed in 1939, presented to the Strategic Command on the 1st August (hence the name Type 81) and entered production in various arms plant in the resistance region in September. Sources would also suggest the production of this rifle would have stopped after 1945.[1] Type 81's mechanism is based on the Liao Type 13 rifle (Mukden Rifle), which in itself was a copy of Mauser Gewehr 1898, as a result the Type 81 Carbine have both German and Japanese design elements. Originally designed to chamber the 7.92x57mm Mauser cartridge like the Hanyang rifles, later model would change the chamber cartridge to the Japanese 6.5×50mmSR Arisaka, fed by it's internal magazine of 5-round capacity. Type 81 is noted for its build material, the weapon's barrel and mechanisms are constructed with railway steel, which was captured from the invading Imperial Japanese forces during the war. Other notable feature differentiates Type 81 from the other rifles at the time would also be the shorter barrel/total length, the light weight and the rapid deploying bayonet folding mechanism near the muzzle.