Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Interesting Japanese Conversion Of A M1 Garand


Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons Blog always comes up with the most interesting old guns. In the video below, he discusses the Japanese Type 4 Garand.

Garand? Japanese Garand? Yep!
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 US M1 Garand rifles for the 7.7 Japanese cartridge, but an incompatibility of American en bloc clips with the Japanese cartridge hamstrung the project. In response, the M1 was reverse engineered, and the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal began to manufacture a copy of the rifle which would use a 10-round fixed magazine fed by two standard stripper clips.

This rifle was designated the Type 4 (2604/1944), although it is often referred to today as the Type 5. In total, parts for 200 rifles were manufactured, but only about 125 had been actually assembled into functional guns by the time the war ended.



3 comments:

  1. There is one of these (I think) at the NRA National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Va. I now have much more to look at and look for next time I visit,

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  2. There was one at the NRA museum, I don't know if it's still on display though... IT was DEFINITELY a double take!

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  3. Thanks for the post and for this lovely rifle too, people who are really concerned about their safety and the safety of their loved ones can take help from these assault rifle. You can also use the simple revolvers and pistols if you are taking them for safety purpose.
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