Mystery Air Rifle

[cringe]

Well done that man!...

I am well impressed ! I am assuming the stampings are for 'export duty/tax ?' are they Chinese? please tell more, best regards Al.

[DCL_dave]

Not me (I just have a 8th dan in Googlefu), credit should go to Tom - source: http://www.network54.com/Forum/40594.../Unnown+Airgun

I should ad that I recall Tantomurata posting somewhere that Japanese markings are more often than not very banal in nature - which put me on the trail.

Excellent, so, who made the gun? ...guess it may not even be Japanese or Chinese if it is an import or duty type stamp?...

[Citizen K]

Not sure. It could be any of Kawaguchiya, Asahi or Tokiwa-go Arms Company - and then one of the previous owners went off all Heath Robinson like...

[erichtfisherman]

Thanks to everyone for all the time and effort you have put into researching this air rifle. I think the actual manufacturer may remain unknown. We at least have an idea that it is likely Japanese exported from the country and that the stamping is likely some form of duty/tax stamp. My gunsmith believes it is all original apart from the sliding breech. So missing the original magazine and sliding breech. Likely pre 1939 I can't imagine this was made post WW2. Regards Tim

[Adam77K]

I asked a Facebook friend who is Chinese. She said the following

Sorry the first and the sixth characters are not clear to me so cannot tell what it actually means. While it looks like something "suspending style" and "tax free"

She also said the Kanji characters used in Japan are the same as the Chinese ones. The Japanese word Kanji meaning Chinese.

[Jenny Dipple]

I wonder if its an early SMK!!!!!!: