I wouldn’t want to run into this guy in a dark alley…
Vintage Saturday: A Modern-Day Samurai
Semiauto pistol
Japanese Inagaki and Sugiura Pistols at RIA
The most common Japanese pistols used during World War II were the Type 14 and Type 94 Nambu designs, by a huge margin. However, there were a number of other handguns used in small numbers, […]
Heavy MGs
Japanese Type 1 HMG
I was recently contacted by a fellow looking for information on the Japanese Type 1 heavy machine gun – a replacement for the Type 92 whose name would suggest it was adopted in 1941, but […]
Artillery
Type 94 Japanese 37mm Antitank Gun on Guadalcanal
The Type 94 was the standard infantry antitank gun of the Japanese Army during World Ware Two. It was developed in the early 1930s as tensions with the Soviet Union rose; there had not been […]
Isn’t that a Steyr mp 34 (Solothurn SI 100)?
Not according to my new copy of Max Popenker and Tony William’s book. The Japanese bought a Swiss-made Bergmann with a side cocking handle and bayonet lug – looks exactly like the one in this photo.
Well they bought Bergmann 1920’s, but this has a hooded/protected front sight and although both the si 100 and bergmann have a left side magazine this pic shows the gun with a cilinder shaped ” thingy” on top of the barrel just before the magazine housing and there is that hole in the housing for recharging a magazine.
I don’t want to run into him in a well lit alley!
No way a Bergmann, not with this perpendicular hinge across the upper receiver. There were as many as three MP 34s in Germany: EMP 34 (a factory designation), MP 34/I Bgm (a factory designation) and MP 34 o(official captured materiel designation), the latter being a Steyr S1-100. Maxim isn’t the first author to mix all three 🙂 Steyrs were exported to China – where this one was probably captured by the samurais.
I defer to Leszek’s subgun expertise, and have changed the caption. Thanks!