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| Type 4 rifle | |
|---|---|
 Type 4 Semi-automatic Rifle | |
| Type | semi-automatic rifle |
| Place of origin | Empire of Japan |
| Service history | |
| Used by | Imperial Japanese Navy |
| Production history | |
| Designed | 1944 |
| Manufacturer | Yokosuka Naval Arsenal |
| Produced | 1945 |
| No. built | Parts for ~200, ~125 complete rifles[1] |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 4.097 kg (9 lb 1 oz) |
| Length | 1,073 mm (42.2 in) |
| Barrel length | 590 mm (23 in) |
| Cartridge | 7.7×58mm Arisaka |
| Action | Gas-operated,rotating bolt |
| Muzzle velocity | 840 m/s (2,800 ft/s) |
| Feed system | 10-round internal box magazine loaded via two 5-round stripper clips |
| Sights | Iron |
TheType 4 rifle, often referred to as theType 5 rifle,[2] (Japanese: 四式自動小銃Yon-shiki Jidōshōju) was a Japanesesemi-automatic rifle. It was based on the AmericanM1 Garand with an integral 10-roundmagazine and chambered for the Japanese7.7×58mm Arisaka cartridge. Where the Garand used an 8-rounden-bloc clip, the Type 4's integral magazine was charged with two 5-roundstripper clips and the rifle also used Japanese-style tangent sights.
The Type 4 rifle had been developed alongside several other semi-automatic rifles. However, none of the rifles entered into service before the end ofWorld War II, with only 250 being made, and many others were never assembled. There were several problems with jamming and feed systems, which also delayed its testing.
Japan had experimented with semi-automatic rifles in the 1930s, when the Imperial Japanese Navy tested rifles based on the CzechoslovakiaZH-29.[3] They were cancelled in the end due to problems encountered during testing.[4]
During theSecond World War, Japanese soldiers relied on bolt-action type rifles. However, guns were getting scarce and their main military opponent, the United States, had replaced their bolt weapons with modern semi-automatic rifles.
At the same time,Nazi Germany and theSoviet Union were also developing their own semi-automatic weapons, such as the RussianSVT-40 and GermanGewehr 43, which would give them a great advantage on the battlefield. EvenItaly used its own semi-automatic weapon, theArmaguerra Mod. 39 rifle. This pressured Japan to find a quick way to cope with their military disadvantage. Instead of designing and investing in a new weapon from scratch, they opted to copy the AmericanM1 Garand.[5]
Initially, the Japanese experimented with re-chambering captured American M1 rifles, since the 7.7×58mm Arisaka Japanese cartridge has similar dimensions to the.30-06 Springfield cartridge.[5] They found that while the Garand could chamber, fire, and cycle with the 7.7×58mm Arisaka ammunition, the 8-round en-bloc clip system was incompatible with the new rifle cartridge and would not feed reliably.[5] Instead the Japanese designers reverse engineered the M1 Garand and discarded the 8-round en-bloc clip, replacing it with a fixed internal 10-round magazine charged by two 5-roundArisaka Type 99 stripper clips.[6]
Japan had previously developed semi-automatic service rifles, such as theType Hei,Type Kō and Type Otsu but none of them had been viewed as successful or of trustworthy quality. The design work for the Type 4 rifle began in 1944.
The Type 4 rifle was meant to be mass-produced in 1945.[5] However, the Japanese were defeated in August of the same year, therefore the manufacturing process was indefinitely halted.
At the time, an estimate of 125 Type 4 rifles[7] were completed out of the 250 in the workshop. Twenty of them were taken by theAllies at theYokosuka Naval Arsenal onHonshu after the end of the war.
An example of this rifle can be found at theNational Firearms Museum inFairfax County, Virginia.[8]
The following variants of the Type 4 rifle's were made:[9]