Chiang Kai-shek rifle
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The Type 24 rifle, also known as Chiang Kai-shek Rifle and Type Zhong Zheng (中正式) after the Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek was a Chinese-made copy of the German Karabiner 98k. The Chiang Kai-Shek rifle entered production in 1935 (year 24 Republican calendar, hence Type 24) and was in full scale production as early as 1937, interestingly, before the Kar98k rifle actually became standard issue for German troops. Although Hanyang 88 was produced in more quantity than Type 24, the full production and standardisation of Type 24 only started during the Sino-Japanese war.
The rifle can be attached with a HY1935 Bayonet (which is copy of Mauser S84/98 III bayonet), replacing the cumbersome yet deadly Dadao (however some division and guerilla militias whom didn't receive any modern weapon continued using the dadao for close combat).
The rifle was notoriously known for it inferior quality than the original Kar98k, however it served China as one of the standard rifles for the army and also helped in defending China during the early part of Second Sino-Japanese war before being abandoned in favour of American made guns like Tommy Gun and Springfield rifle up until the Chinese Civil War when the rifle was total obsolete. However, some of those Type 24 that was produced managed to get exact same quality as the original Karabiner 98k, due to time constrain with the ongoing war most of those better quality rifle was usually issued to Chiang Kai-Shek favourite division while the majority of regulars was issued the hastily made inferior versions.
Although heavy and often slow to reload compared to the Japanese Arisaka infantry rifle, especially when the enemy tend do a Banzai charge after the first barrage, which usually force the poorly trained regulars at NRA into a hand to hand combat. The major advantage with the Type 24 rifle over the Arisaka is that had better stopping power with the use of 7.92 shells and also the rifle could shot faster and at greater distance than the Arisaka, if used tactically correct the result would be devastating (as shown in the numerous times in Battle of Changsha when the NRA used encirclement against the more superior armed IJA forces). Also some report praise the effectivness of Type 24 rifle by saying that those who fall victim to the Type 24 rifle would either die instantly or being seriously wounded to be put out of commission since the bullet could pierce thru flesh and cause a serious big hole.
A total of around 500k-600k rifles were produced between 1935 and 1945, and the rifle saw its last war in the hands of PVA troops against the UN forces during the Korean War.
Together with Broomhandle C96 handgun and the M35 Helmet, has become the recogniseable look of Chiang Kai-Shek's National Revolutionary Army.
[edit] Stats on Chiang Kai-Shek rifle/carbine
- Caliber: 7.92mm American classification, 7.90mm in Germany
- Barrel Length: 600mm
- Rifle Length: 1110mm
- Weight: 4.08kg
- Bullet Speed: 810m/s
- Distance: 2000m
- Clip size: 5 (standard)
- Bayonet length: 575.5mm
- Blade length: 484.5mm
- Bayonet weight: .75kg
[edit] See Also
- Karabiner 98k
- National Revolutionary Army
- German-trained divisions in the National Revolutionary Army
- Sino-German cooperation
- Hanyang 88
- Gewehr 98
- Hanyang Arsenal
- Dadao
