Siam (Thaïlande) Mauser

Top: Type 2445 Long Rifle in 8x50R mm
Second: Type 2446 Long Rifle in 8x50R mm
Third: Type 2446 Long Rifle in 8x52R mm
Fourth: Type 2447 Short Rifle in 8x52R mm
Last: Type 2466 'Arisaka' Rifle in 8x52R mm


What are the real names of these firearms:
Pre-April 1, 1913
ปืนรัตนโกสินทรศก ๑๒๑
Bpeun Rátdtànágohsĭnton Sòk Nèung Rói Yêe Sìp Èt
Rifle 121st Rattanakosin Era
Post-April 1, 1913
ปืนเล็กยาว แบบ ๒๔๔๕
Bpeun Lék Yaao Bàep Sŏng Pan Sèe Rói Sèe Sìp Hâa
Small Arms Long Rifle Type 2445 (1902)

Pre-April 1, 1913
ปืนรัตนโกสินทรศก ๑๒๑
Bpeun Rátdtànágohsĭnton Sòk Nèung Rói Yêe Sìp Èt
Rifle 121st Rattanakosin Era
Post-April 1, 1913
ปืนเล็กยาว แบบ ๒๔๔๖
Bpeun Lék Yaao Bàep Sŏng Pan Sèe Rói Sèe Sìp Hòk
Small Arms Long Rifle Type 2446 (1903)

Pre-April 1, 1913
ปืนรัตนโกสินทรศก ๑๒๓
Bpeun Rátdtànágohsĭnton Sòk Nèung Rói Yêe Sìp Săam
Rifle 123rd Rattanakosin Era
Post-April 1, 1913
ปืนเล็กสั้น แบบ ๒๔๔๗
Bpeun Lék Sân Bàep Sŏng Pan Sèe Rói Sèe Sìp Jèt
Small Arms Short Rifle Type 2447 (1904)
*Note: The Siamese / Thai language does not have a corresponding word for 'carbine' and just labeled these firearms as short rifles.

ปืนเล็กยาว แบบ ๒๔๖๖
Bpeun Lék Yaao Bàep Sŏng Pan Sèe Rói Hòk Sìp Hòk
Small Arms Long Rifle Type 2466 (1923)


Firearm Designation Names

Between April 1, 1889 and March 31, 1913, Siam employed a system intended to identify ordnance material by the date of its adoption in terms of the year of the reign of the Ratchawong Chakkri, the Royal Ruling House of Siam which began on April 6, 1782.

However, on April 1, 1913, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) adopted the Siamese Buddhist Era calendar, which according to the Siamese was to have a beginning on March 11, 545 BC, the date of the death of Gautama Buddha and required a major change in the designation of all military equipment. The equipment was to named by what it was exactly, then by the word 'Type' and the year it was adopted on the calendar.

On June 23rd of 1939, Prime Minister Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram decided to change the country's name from Siam to the Kingdom of Thailand (Land of the Freedom) to be more in line with Western standards. He then realigned the Thai Buddhist Era calendar to conform with the Western Gregorian calendar on the 6th of September, 1940 which decreed that January 1st of 1941 was to be the start of the year 2484 so as a result, the year 2483 was only 9 months long.

Confused ! - to make it simple as possible to figure out the Gregorian calendar year of when a Siamese / Thai firearm was adopted, all you need to do is to subtract 543 from the Siamese / Thai Buddhist Era calendar.

To make matters worse, Siamese / Thai military personnel have named the rifles by either calling them 'Ror Sor 121 or 123' shortened from Rátdtànágohsĭnton Sòk or Rama V Long or Short Rifle, no wonder Westerner's just simply called these firearms as Siamese / Thai Mauser's.

What is the difference between the Type 2445 and Type 2446 ...
1. Upper and lower wrist tangs were added at the pistol grip to strengthen the stock. The rear of the triggerguard was modified to accept the lower wrist tang. The rear part of the receiver was modified to accept both the upper and lower wrist tangs.
2. The buttplate was changed whereby a top tang was added, which allowed the top buttplate screw angle to change from 45°to 90° into the stock.
3. The front sight blade was altered by reducing the size of the inverted T-pedestal’s bottom width to make the sides flush with the rear sight base sides.
4. The final modification was in regards to the type of stocks to be used. They requested that the typical Japanese two-piece type stocks be used, as it was found that the one-piece stocks that were on the first contract rifles were cracking at the wrist when fired.
However, due to number of years that these firearms were in service in the harsh jungle environment, many of the stocks were replaced at later dates with one-piece stocks that were made of native Thai woods which were much stronger than the wood that came from Japan.

Mon Livre de subject

De nouveau un magnifique sujet de la part de 1886lebel.
Quelque sympathique TCARiste aurait l'amabilité & la capacité de rendre plus accessible ce post en le traduisant?

1886lebel,peut-tu détailler chacune de ces armes?

Je souhaite que je pourrais traduire en français pour vous, mais mon français est très limitée et doit se traduire par un service de traduction qui pourrait influer sur la façon dont il est décrit dans mes postes.

Il faudrait que je poste tout en anglais et que quelqu'un ici aurait à le traduire pour lire correctement pour vous.

Patrick

All regular production Siamese / Thai long rifles were manufactured by the Imperial Japanese Tokyo Artillery Arsenal (東京砲兵工廠) located in the Koishikawa District of Tokyo, Japan. They are marked on the left wall of the receiver near the thumb cut-out with the arsenal's symbol, four stacked cannon balls.
There are three distinct features that set apart these rifles from other military Mauser's produced. 1. A spring steel sheet metal trap door in the buttplate which provides storage for the combination muzzle cover / front sight protector. 2. A manual operated sliding dust cover. 3. A slanted box magazine for use with a rimmed cartridge.

There were two distinct contracts of 20,000 long rifles placed, for a total of 40,000 long rifles, starting in 1903 and ending in 1908. The 1st contract of 20,000 rifles were known as the Type 2445 and last 20,000 known as the Type 2446.
The four improved modifications that Siamese Ordnance requested for the 2nd contract of 20,000 rifles they placed in late 1903.
1. Upper and lower wrist tangs were added at the pistol grip to strengthen the stock. The rear of the triggerguard was modified to accept the lower wrist tang. The rear part of the receiver was modified to accept both the upper and lower wrist tangs.
2. The buttplate was changed whereby a top tang was added, which allowed the top buttplate screw angle to change from 45°to 90°into the stock.
3. The front sight blade was altered by reducing the size of the inverted T-pedestal’s bottom width to make the sides flush with the rear sight base sides.
4. The final modification was in regards to the type of stocks to be used. They requested that the typical Japanese two-piece type stocks be used, as it was found that the one-piece stocks that were on the first contract rifles were cracking at the wrist when fired.
However, due to number of years that these firearms were in service in the harsh jungle environment, many of the stocks were replaced at later dates with one-piece stocks that were made of native Thai woods which were much stronger than the wood that came from Japan.

Note: Many of the Type 2445 long rifles were later re-worked at the Royal Thai Armory in Bangkok to accept wrist tangs and other improvements that these became undistinguishable from Type 2446 rifles, so only those that lack any of the improvements should be called as Type 2445's and any other should be called as Type 2446's.

The 1st contract were marked on the left wall of the receiver, to the left of the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal symbol, with the symbol of the 1st contract inspector, Major (Prince) J.M.C. Baworadej of the Royal Siamese Army. The 2nd contract were marked on the left wall of the receiver with the historic symbol of both the King of Siam and Royal Siamese / Thai Army which represents the Hindu deity Aum.

In 1923, Siam / Thailand adopted the 8 x 52R mm Type 2466 cartridge that was developed in that year and simple way to adjust the rear sights to reflect the flatter trajectory of this cartridge was to grind down the curved top of the rear sight base thereby cutting away portions of some of the Siamese / Thai numerals and distorting some of those remaining. These rifles are often mislabeled by individuals as the Type 66 when making reference to the caliber change that occurred to the rifles, however, there is a true Siamese / Thai Type 2466 rifle but is based upon the Japanese Type 38 Rifle.

The Siamese had negotiated a separate contract of 10,000 *short rifles in 1904 with the Imperial Japanese Tokyo Artillery Arsenal (東京砲兵工廠) located in the Koishikawa District of Tokyo, Japan that were delivered in late 1904.
An additional 3,000 short rifles were made at the Royal Thai Armory in Bangkok from 1936 to 1940. These differ from the original contract short rifles made by the Japanese in that they utilized the later type eight-bladed Sudarshana Chakra on the receiver and do not have the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal symbol marked on the left wall of the receiver.
(This rifle is one of the later manufactured versions)
One of the most unique feature that the Short Rifle differed from the Long Rifle is that it has a knurled rectangular floorplate release button just forward of the floorplate on the triggerguard instead of it being within the triggerguard. The reason for this was cavalry troopers wore thick gauntlets which made the trigger finger much wider and easier to inadvertently press the floorplate catch release. This part was designed by Major Kijirō Nambu.
These rifles originally did not have provision for the attachment of a bayonet, it not until the late 1930's (1936 - 1940) that the Siamese decided to fit them to accept a Japanese Type 30 bayonet called as the ปืนสั้นดาบปลายปืน แบบ ๒๔๔๗ ... Dàap Bplaai Bpeun Lék Sân Bàep Sŏng Pan Sèe Rói Sèe Sìp Jèt (Short Rifle Bayonet Type 2447). These bayonets are marked on the left side of the blade with the following letters ช.ส., which represents the Royal Siamese / Thai Armory in Bangkok known as Chang Sang, followed by Thai numerals.
*Note: The Siamese / Thai language does not have a corresponding word for 'carbine' and just labeled these firearms as short rifles.


The true Siamese / Thai Type 2466 rifle is based upon the Japanese Type 38 Rifle and not the Siamese Mauser. In 1923 a contract was placed for 50,000 of these rifles with the Japanese Pacific Union (Taihei Kumiai) export firm to have these made by the Imperial Japanese Army Weapons Arsenal, Tokyo Arsenal (陸軍造兵廠 東京工廠) located in the Koishikawa District of Tokyo, Japan from 1924 to 1928. There are still approximately 3,000 of these rifles bieng held in reserve status at Bangkok Arsenal for training and drill /ceremony usage.

1886lebel a écrit:Il faudrait que je poste tout en anglais et que quelqu'un ici aurait à le traduire pour lire correctement pour vous.

C'était bien le sens de ma suggestion

RECEIVER CRESTS



Stylized Conical Crown of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V The Great) of the Ratchawong Chakkri, the Royal Ruling House of Siam and Kingdom of Thailand, within the Sudarshana Chakra which was a mythological flaming twelve-bladed throwing weapon used by the Hindu God 'Vishnu'
Below this is the two letter and three numbers, ร,ศ,๑๒๑ orร,ศ,๑๒๓ (R,S,121 or R,S,123) shortened from word รัตนโกสินทรศก ๑๒๑ /๑๒๓
(Rátdtànágohsĭnton Sòk Nèung Rói Yêe Sìp Èt / Jèt)



Within the eight-bladed Sudarshana Chakra are multi-circles which represent the four traditional armies of the Royal Siamese / Thai Army
Bangkok (1st), Burapha (2nd), Isaan (3rd) and Southern Peninsular (4th)
Below this is the word แบบ (Type) with last two numbers of the Thai Buddhist Era calendar of which the firearm was adopted and sometimes along with the up-dated cartridge caliber change
Example: แบบ๔๗ /๖๖  (Type 47/66)


WARS & BATTLES SIAMESE / THAI MAUSER'S WERE USED IN

World War I
(July 22, 1917 - November 11, 1918)
Seizure of Interned Imperial German Navy Ship 'SS Petchburi' in Bangkok Harbor
July 22, 1917

Franco - Thai War 1940 - 1941
(October 1940 - May 9, 1941)
Battle of Yang Dang Khum and Phum Preav
January 16, 1941

World War II
Invasion of Thailand
(December 8, 1941)
Battle of Royal Thai Air Force Airfield at Prachuab Khirikhan
Battles of Pattani and Songkhla (Singora)

Thai Invasion of Kayah State and Shan States (Burma Campaign)
(May 10, 1942 - December 1942)
Battle of Kengtung
May 27, 1942

Occupation of Kayah State and Shan States
Burma Campaign
(December 1942 - August 16, 1945)

Au cours de recherches, je retombe sur cet excellent sujet.
Hélas, les photos ont disparues.....  
1886lebel, si tu les as toujours....