In 1942 the United States agreed to supply the Republic of China with 40,000 Savage manufactured Rifle No. 4 Mk I/I*'s for training Chinese troops in camps in northeast India for service in Burma against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). These rifles were to be shipped directly from U.S. east coast ports to India. However, since the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had effectively closed the Indian ports of Bombay and Calcutta, the rifles were off loaded in Karachi and had to be shipped by rail the entire width of India - a trip that often took 8-10 months. In addition to the logistics problems, Chiang Kai-shek supplied only a fraction of the troops he had agreed to be trained in India. Therefore, few of these rifles ever reached the Chinese training camps and the Chinese used even fewer. Those that did reach the Chinese were branded on the buttstock with the Chinese kanji meaning "Training Use Only".
The US Army turned India's sleepy west coast port of Karachi (in present day Pakistan) into a major depot for the CBI (China-Burma-India) Theatre of operations against Imperial Japan. In addition to the seaport, the US Army upgraded the nearby airport into a major hub. There were more than 20,000 US troops on site as small arms, ammunition and aircraft were off-loaded into what quickly became a major supply dump during WWII (1939-1945) for operations against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA).
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Rifle 149
Rifle No. 4 Mk I (not Mk I*). Savage 1942. Buttstock is branded with the Nationalist Chinese "chop". Chinese Nationalist marked. "Training Use Only". The stock on this piece is so branded. Part of the lot of 40,000 sent to India for use by Chinese troops in 1943. This one is in unusually fine shape with 95% finish and excellent bore (looks unfired). Wood is VG. It is all correct Savage components and wood and has never been mucked with. Even still has the Mk II battle sight that it had when it left the Savage factory in 1942 - never replaced in the field with a Mk I or a Mk III. All numbers - even the magazine - matches. No import marks.
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Rifle 226
Rifle No. 4 Mk I*. Savage, 1942. Chinese Nationalist marked. "Training Use Only". The stock on this piece is so branded. In addition, the receiver is engraved with the Chinese kanji meaning "Property Republic of China". This presumably means that this weapon made it into China and was used by the Nationalist Army - probably in the Civil War against the communists. This marking is very rare and is seldom seen even on rifles which have been "branded" for Chinese use. Most of the 40,000 Savage No. 4's sent to India remained there and were used as training rifles by the Indian Army. To further complicate this piece's pedigree, it is marked on the receiver and muzzle "BNP" and "19.5 Tonnes" indicating that at some time after 1955 it went through British commercial proof required of all foreign made weapons being EXPORTED from the United Kingdom. This piece is 70% finish with some patchy very light pitting across the exposed metal and somewhat deeper pitting below the wood line - i.e., a very typical looking Chinese gun. Wood is VG with only minor dings and dents - unusual for a Chinese piece. All components are "S" marked and all numbers match. Although it has the British export proofs, it has no import marks. Really a rare and historic piece.
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