China's "Never Again" Gun

China entered the Korean War with an infantry arsenal assembled from half the industrialized world: Japanese rifles, Chinese Mausers, American Springfields and carbines, British Enfields and Brens, Czech machine guns, Soviet weapons, and more. For their supply service, that was a nightmare. So after Korea, Beijing set out to standardize on one rifle, one cartridge, and one industrial process that China could control for itself. Their first answer was the Type 53 carbine, China’s version of the Soviet M44 Mosin. Not sexy, but adequate, and it represented a huge step toward turning China’s patchwork oo wartime arsenals into a national weapons-production system. In this episode, we look at why the PLA accepted such an oddly old-fashioned rifle, how Factory 296 made it happen, and why Type 53 production disappeared from China and returned again for a second career. Support Type 56: The Story of China’s Army on Patreon:   / type56   Type 56 explores the history of the People’s Liberation Army through its weapons, people, institutions, and ideas.