No official documents to explain what does the K and KA mean, Generally we believe K is the first letter of Kunghsien (Gongxian). At this period, all rifles are serialized with a pattern of K or KA prefix and numbers.
The Arsenal commenced to stamp production date and arsenal symbol no latter than 1931. Early rifles (Highest observed is 25111) do not have receiver crest like the later products, the top of the ring is blank. I categorized Gongxian 98 rifles into three production phases based on its design features and receiver ring markings.Ībout Gongxian 98 crests, find more here: Those changes were correlated with the changings of marks. Gongxian rifle’s designs evolved over the course of production from 1928 to 1935. I’ve collected 51 serial numbers so far and I need your help to expand it! Here’s my observations and opinions, all these are based on my personal experiences and not conclusive.
