[servo1969]

[AnAmericanMother]

We’ve got an old Arisaka that my father in law brought back from WWII. It’s one of the late Type 99s, and the only way I would shoot it would be from a bunch of sandbags with a loooong string tied to the trigger, and hiding behind a solid wall.

[GonzoGOP]

One of the more humorous episodes of “Tales of the Gun”. Almost ever one of them was either poorly designed, poorly made or both. The Type 99 long rifle and Type 99 light machine gun (also in .303) were the only good ones. The Type 99 short (last ditch) was a POS, the SMG was a joke, and their pistols were more dangerous to the user than the target.

[Rio]

I once visited a Japanese firearms museum at Tanegashima. Very interesting.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Where’s the link?

[MasterGunner01]

One of the little known things about the Imperial Army and Navy was they made NO attempt to standardize calibers among these branches of the armed forces. For example, a Japanese supply officer had to supply two separate cartridges for the common infantry rifles. The Type 38 in 6.5x50mm caliber was produced from 1905 to 1940 and the Type 99 in 7.7x58mm was produced from 1939-1945.

But that wasn't the really bad part. The Imperial Forces used THREE different kinds of 7.7mm rifle ammunition.

1. The 7.7x56R [rimmed] (a direct copy of the .303 British) is used in the Type 92 (1932-1945) light machine gun [ground or aircraft]. This is a licensed copy of the Model 1914 Lewis .303 machine gun with uniquely Japanese cosmetic differences.

2. The 7.7x58SR [semi-rimmed] was used by the Type 92 (1932-1945) Heavy Machine Gun A modified copy of the Model 1914 Hotchkiss machine gun, it could also use the standard 7.7x58 cartridge of the Type 97 Tank, Type 99 LMG, and Type 99 rifle. This gun used a 30-cartridge feed strip.

3. The 7.7x58 Type 97 (1937-1945) and Type 99 (1939-1945) light machine guns fired the same rimless cartridges as the Type 99 Arisaka rifle. The Type 97 gun was specially adapted for use on tanks, used a 20-round magazine, a 1.5x optical sight, barrel shroud, and had a shortened stock for inside the tank. The Type 97 could be dismounted from the tank and fired from a bipod.

The Type 99 was an infantry light machine gun, very similar to the Czech ZB-26 or British Bren guns. The Type 99 could supplement its iron sights with an optic, could mount the bayonet of the Type 99 rifle, used a 30-round magazine, and was fired from a bipod.

Japanese pistol calibers were also chaotic. The Type 26 (1893-1945) revolver, was a hammerless, top-break design that fired the unique 9x22R cartridge. The Nambu self-loading pistols were found in either the 8x22 for the Type 14 Model A (1906-1945, “Papa Nambu”) or Type 94 (1934-1945) pistols or the Type 14 Model B (1909-1929,”Baby Nambu”) in 7x20 caliber.