My growing Japanese weapon collection

[Mike Venturino]

I hope people don't mind this. I've seen many comments asking for photos and I've been perusing my photos this evening.

Anyway, I didn't set out to assemble a collection of Japanese World War II weapons. Like most Americans I grew up thinking of them as junk. Some are ill-designed but until the "last-ditch" ones they certainly were not junk. Anyway almost by accident I've got a pretty good collection of Japanese World War II weapons.

First is this photo of the Type 14 Nambu. Note the original box of miiltary ammo and the small personal "meatball" flag. A reader's father was on Iwo Jima and personally took those items from a Japanese naval officer near the end of the battle. He gave those to me. Another friend gave me the saber. The holster, canteen, and fake grenade are reproductions for use as photo props.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/pluming001.jpg

These are my infantry rifles: top is Type 99 7.7mm and bottom is Type 38 6.5mm.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/4-22-08107LargeWebview.jpg

Next is the same Type 99 shown with a Type 97 6.5mm sniper rifle

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/4-22-08110.jpg

This is a Type 44 6.5mm carbine with folding bayonet. At 9+ pounds think it was the heaviest carbine issued in WWII

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/pluming003-1.jpg

The top rifle of these three is another Type 99 but this time its a paratrooper model.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/ForPhotobucket002.jpg

And this is the centerpoint of the entire collection. I've already shown it on here but I'll do so again. Its a Japanese Type 92 Lewis light machine gun in 7.7x58mm caliber. These were only issued to Japanese Naval forces, not their army.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/photobucket001.jpg

Thanks for looking.
Mike V.

[spqrzilla]

Mind that you post these wonderful photos, Mike? No way.

I mind that people give you Nambus ... just kidding.

Many thanks for sharing, it is greatly appreciated.

[junkbug]

Thanks for your display Mike. A Type 99 is the only Japanese service firearm I own. It is an early production series, but I can't remember which right now. I believe it is a deceptively effective rifle.

Also, I always had a grudging respect for the privation Japanese infantrymen endured, wherever they were sent.

Take care.

Sean

[Gee_Wizz01]

Mike

Thanks for sharing the pictures! You have a nice collection there. I wished I would have acquired some of those Japanese rifles when I was younger. My Dad served in the Pacific during WWII, and he always told me the Japanese rifles and pistols were junk. Therefore I never bothered giving them a second glance. My Dad did bring home a Japanese bayonet from Guadalcanal, and some Japanese 7.7 bullets that he picked up on the flight line at Wheeler field in Hawaii.

[Jack Stanley]

Mind ?........ mind?!? ............. C'mon already Mike , after that nice display , I'm ready to ask you to show your collection of German , British , Spanish, Italian ....... Well , you get the idea :)

I don't think I've ever seen the type ninety-seven sniper model . One of the only stories that Dad ever told me about his all expense paid trip to the south pacific had to do with a sniper . Something about a sniper shooting up the communication relay his team had worked so hard to set up .... the officer in charge ordering them all out ... and of course Dad disobeying the order grabbing the radio gear and getting cover under a desk and calling the artillery unit . Maybe that's why there are only a few of that type huh?

Great pics .... ya got some more I bet :)

Jack

[MtGun44]

Nice pix. It seems that their homegrown machinegun designs were not particularly
well done, from the little bit that I have read and seen on some of the military TV
shows. The brass feed tray idea seems amazingly lame in the face of belt feed
competition like Maxims and Brownings which existed for a very long time prior to
WW2. It would seem that the issue with the Lewis would be limited ammo capacity
even with the biggest drums compared to a belt fed.

I have handled and shot a friend's Nambu, not too bad, but again not a particularly
serious fighting weapon, more along the badge of office pattern of most European
armies, but not as bad as a .32ACP Mauser or something silly like that.

My 7.7 rifle is quite accurate and I find the unusual sight picture to work very well for me,
even though very unconventional. Of course, my bore is mint due to being chrome
plated.

Nice pix, nice guns, thanks for sharing.

Bill

[Shooter6br]

Dad had a 7.7 Jap with "aircraft sights "and a bi pod Wish i kept it.............

[bowfin]

For all of the Norma 6.5 Jap ammo floating around, I wish I had an Arisaka in good condition to take advantage of commonality of it.

I think the 6.5 Grendel reinvented the 6.5 Arisaka loading, just as the .40 S&W reinvented the .38-40.

[Hip's Ax]

Lovely Collection!! Thanks for sharing!!

I have a Type 99, a Type 99 Long and a Type 38 Long and I think they are beautiful. Been yerning for a Type 97 and a Type 44, maybe one day. :mrgreen:

[doubs43]

It seems that their homegrown machinegun designs were not particularly well done...... Bill

On the contrary, I've read a few assessments that had a very high regard for the Nambu Types 96 & 99 Machine Guns. They are the ones that look similar to the British Bren LMG. Without getting the book out, I seem to recall that Lt.Col. John George praised the Nambu MG in his book "Shots Fired in Anger".

I can't comment on the rest of their MG's.

[KCSO]

Does this mean the next magazine I get will have you perched in a palm tree with a jap helmet?

That's some nice stuff I would like to see a review of the Jap sniper rifle sometime, I have never got to handle one. Is it as accurate as the German and American counterparts?

[Jack Stanley]

They got palm trees in Montana ?????

Jack :bigsmyl2:

[Mike Venturino]

No palm trees around here but how about this. I even got my eyes squinted up real tight.

http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr169/MLV1/gunbroker003.jpg

Mike V.

[KCSO]

I'm going to have to frame that one! WOW! I suppose you have a pikelhaub somewhere too.

[Three44s]

Kanechiewa!! (Hello!)

Eeee gads! Mike has swung over to the other side!!! He won't last long hangin' out in Montana though!!

(Don't squint too long there .......... you might get stuck there!!)

**********************************

Good lookin' collection there!



Three 44s

[MtGun44]

Mike,

Great pic, but don't get that helmet stuck on your head! :-)

I think in Jap ww2 helmet sizes you'd be an XXXXL, they were little guys.

Bill

[JSnover]

Thanks a bunch Mike. Having never handled a Japanese handgun I can't comment on the quality but they sure do look like hell. Gotta give them credit for not being obsessed with aesthetics, I guess

[Jack Stanley]

Izzat Mt. Fuji in th' background ??

8-)Jack

[Chris Smith]

My only rifle from the far east is a Type I. It's fun to shoot and quite accurate. I'll tell about my adventures with cast bullets in it soon.