Japan - Forgotten Weapons

RIA: Japanese Type 100 Paratrooper

April 8, 2016 Ian McCollum 15

The Type 100 (sometimes called the Type 0) was one of the initial Japanese experiments in paratroop rifles. Manufactured from standard Nagoya Arsenal Type 99 rifles, the Type 100 used a set of interrupted lugs […]

RIA: Japanese Trials Gas-Operated Pedersen Rifle

April 4, 2016 Ian McCollum 32

The Japanese semiauto rifle trials of the early 1930s had a total of four entrants – Kijiro Nambu and his company, Tokyo Gas & Electric, the Tokyo Army Arsenal, and Nippon Special Steel. This rifle […]

RIA: Japanese Type 4 Garand Copy

March 30, 2016 Ian McCollum 41

Partway through 1944, the Japanese Imperial Navy began a program to provide their infantry units with better firepower than was afforded by the bolt action Arisaka rifles. The initial experimentation was based on rechambering captured […]

Finnish red guard militia members posing for the camera some time during the civil war.

Vintage Saturday: Finnish Militia

March 26, 2016 Ian McCollum 48

The woman at the front right has a Winchester 1895, almost certainly of Russian contract origin in 7.62x54R. The others appear to have Type 30 Arisaka rifles, which would have been sold to Russia by […]

Mystery Japanese Semiauto

December 18, 2015 Ian McCollum 30

While in the Smithsonian gun room, I noticed a semi auto Japanese rifle of a type I have not seen reference to before. It is definitely Japanese, judging from elements like the split buttstock and […]

Q&A Video #1: H&K G11, Owen, F1, Worst Gun Ever, and More!

October 8, 2015 Ian McCollum 32

As part of my new fundraising system on Patreon, I am starting a monthly Q&A video series, answering questions from Patreon contributors. The support from you folks is a tremendous help to me in running […]

Type 89 Knee Mortar at James D Julia

September 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 41

The Type 89 grenade discharger, commonly known as the “knee mortar” was a Japanese light infantry weapon introduced in 1929 which blurs the lines between grenade launcher and mortar. Like a mortar, it fires propelled […]

RIA: Nambu Type 96 & Type 99 LMGs

September 3, 2015 Ian McCollum 37

The Type 96 and Type 99 Nambu light machine guns were arguably the best LMGs used by any nation during WWII – they were light, handy, accurate, durable, and reliable. Designed by Kijiro Nambu to […]

IJA soldier in Chine with a Nambu Type 11 LMG and its tripod

Type 11 LMG w/ Tripod

August 4, 2015 Ian McCollum 28

Reader Blake sent me a couple very interesting photos recently, and they show a pretty unusual item – a Nambu Type 11 tripod. Blake is an American living with his Japanese wife in Japan, and […]

Japanese Type 30 “Hook Safety” Arisaka at RIA

June 23, 2015 Ian McCollum 21

Most people are familiar with the Type 38 Arisaka, which was one of the two very distinctive Japanese rifles of World War II (along with the Type 99). The Type 38 was an outstanding rifle […]