Bolt Action Rifles
North China Type 19
Many years prior to the attack on the US Navy that marks the beginning of World War II for the United States, the Empire of Japan had invaded China. This war of occupation was a […]
Japan
Submachine Guns
Vintage Saturday: (not) SNLF
Japanese SNLF marines Chinese troops with SIG M1920 submachine guns. The SIG M1920 was a licensed copy of the German MP18/I, and SIG sold them to Japan in 7.63mm Mauser caliber. They were used by […]
Book review
Book Review: China’s Small Arms of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War
I picked up a copy of this book a couple years ago when Bin Shih first published it, but by the time I got around to doing a review it had sold out – so […]
Ammunition
British and Japanese Ammo Docs
We have a couple more ammunition-related documents today, both in English this time (and courtesy of reader Robert). First up is the short one, a 21-page leaflet on Japanese ammunition markings. It was written just […]
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 […]
Revolver
Japanese Type 26 Revolver (Video)
They Type 26 was an indigenous Japanese revolver introduced in 1893 (26th year of the Meiji era) to replace the Smith & Wesson No. 3 in Japanese military service. In many ways the Type 26 […]
Accessories
Japanese Aerial Gunnery Camera
I got an email recently from a producer of a TV program who is looking for a vintage photo of a Japanese aerial gunnery training camera – specifically a Type 89 Rokuoh-Sha: He wants something […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Book Review: The Siamese Mauser (Banzai Special Project #1)
The Banzai group of Japanese weapon collectors has been around for a long time – they began publishing their newsletter in 1982 (actually, that makes the newsletter older than I am, to some peoples’ chagrin). […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Type 2 Paratrooper Arisaka at Nambu World
If you are looking for gun info today, you really deserve to have something more elaborate than what I am able to write while on the road visiting family. So, I will direct you to […]
Bolt Action Rifles
Vintage Saturday: Arms of the Empire
Japanese troops with Murata rifles, 1900.