Japan

Book Review: Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns 1893-1945

July 29, 2018 Ian McCollum 2

What began as Harry Derby’s “Hand Cannons of Imperial Japan” in 1981 was revised, expanded, and reprinted in collaboration with James Brown in 2003 as “Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns 1893-1945”. That new edition is both […]

Japanese Type 10 Light Grenade Projector (aka Knee Mortar)

March 24, 2018 Ian McCollum 12

In the aftermath of World War One, the Japanese military saw the utility of infantry-portable light grenade launchers instead of rifle grenades, and adopted the Type 10 grenade projector in 1921 (Taisho 10). It went […]

Japanese Contract Steyr-Solothurn S1-100 (aka MP34)

March 13, 2018 Ian McCollum 16

In order to circumvent Versailles Treaty restrictions on arms manufacture, the German Rheinmetall firm purchased a small Swiss company called Solothurn Waffenfabrik in 1929, allowing it to route its business through Switzerland instead of Germany. […]

Japanese Army 35mm Type 10 Flare Pistol

November 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 12

The Japanese Army and Navy of the 1920s and 30s often used quite different equipment, and had a substantial interservice rivalry. Flare guns were one example of this separation, with the services using not just […]

Japan’s Type 90 3-Barreled Naval Flare Pistol

November 14, 2017 Ian McCollum 3

The Japanese Navy used several different types of flare pistols during World War Two (and in the decades before), but the most impressive looking of the bunch was the three-barreled Type 90 (not to be confused […]

A Japanese Officer’s Pistol: the Baby Nambu

April 23, 2017 Ian McCollum 21

The Nambu Automatic Pistol Type B, or “Baby Nambu” as it is known in US collecting circles, is a scaled-down companion to the 1902 “Grandpa” Nambu pistol. It was intended as a private purchase option […]

Type 99 Arisaka Sniper Rifles (Video)

November 29, 2016 Ian McCollum 10

4x Nagoya: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/1441 2.5x Kokura: https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/69/1446 The Japanese Army made significant use of snipers (or in today’s terminology, designated marksmen) as part of its infantry combined arms doctrine, and produced about 22,000 Type 97 sniper […]