The Type 24 Chinese Mauser —- The Zongzheng RifleUsed by the forces of the Republic of China in orde

The Type 24 Chinese Mauser —- The Zongzheng RifleUsed by the forces of the Republic of China in order to fight the invading Japanese and Communists during the World War II Era, the Type 24 Mauser was a Chinese copy of the German Standard Model 33, a forerunner of the Kar98K .  Also called the Chiang Kai Shek rifle, after the leader of the Chinese Republic, around 500,000 to 600,000 were produced between 1935-1950.At the time the Mauser action was the simplest, cheapest, strongest, and most accurate action in the world.  Thus it was ideal for production by a nation that was still not full industrialized.  The Type 24 was produced indigenously, however  quality often differed from factory to factory, year to year, or even work shift to work shift.  Some can be fine quality precision made rifles, others can be absolute pieces of crap.  Whats more, China often purchased factory reject Mausers from Germany and stamped them as their own. A Chinese soldier being issued a rifle was like a newly wed husband getting a Christmas gift from his mother-in-law.  He didn’t know what he was going to get.Regardless the simple yet rugged design served the Chinese army well, and had several advantages against the weapon of their Japanese opponents.  Chambered in 8X57 Mauser, the Type 24 had substantially greater stopping power compare to the Japanese Arisaka chambered in 6.5X50mm.  In addition, the Type 24 was shorter, and thus had better ergonomics than most Japanese rifle, which tended to be excessively long.  Despite flaws in production, Chinese produced small arms overall were probably of better quality than their Japanese counterparts. Throughout the 2nd Sino Japanese War and concurrent World War II, many arsenals had to be closed or relocated due to bombing and Japanese incursion.  As a result, they were stamped with a wide variety of markings depending when and where they were made.  The link provided as a source for this post has an excellent markings guide for identification. Factories used the swastika, however it was a Buddhist swastika rather than a Nazi swastika.  All rifles were marked with the name of Chang Kai Shek. The Chinese Army also used Hangyang rifle, a crude copy of the Gewehr 88.  During World War II the Chinese Army phased out both rifles, preferring to use the American M1 Garand and 1903 Springfield.  When the Republic of China fell to the Communists, many would be used by the Chinese Red Army as the Type 79 rifle, with the old Chang Kai Shek stamped ground off and replaced with that of Chairman Mao.  They also saw action with Chinese and North Korean units during the Korean War. -- source link

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