The Type 38 included many design elements from the legendary Mauser action and was a considerable improvement on their own Arisaka 1897 design.
The Type 97 was based off the Meiji 38th Year (Type 38) infantry rifle and chambered in the 6.5x50mm Arisaka Cartridge. During the war, one of the rifles the Japanese snipers utilized was a sniper variant of the type 38 rifle called the Type 97. As tactics developed to counter the sniper threat and as the Japanese losses to their experienced sniper corps mounted, their effectiveness diminished, but their reputation had already been solidified.
During these early phases of the war, the snipers from Japan were very effective gaining a reputation of exceptional fieldcraft and concealment capability. In the early phases of World War 2 when the American’s were first encountering the Japanese in the Pacific, nothing instilled more fear into the American GI than the Japanese sniper.
