12/16/2023 0 Comments Gamekiller world at armsIts utilization necessitated the cutting of two deep grooves for almost the full length of the receiver, which certainly did nothing to strengthen the action. The Jap doughboy was an awfully little man, on the average, for such a big gun.Īnother fixed idiocy of the Japs was manifest in the adoption of the receiver cover for all rifles. And this excess of weight and length, unlike certain other features built into Jap rifles, was certainly not demanded by any of the peculiarities of the Jap soldier. They were unwieldy and awkward, especially in the jungle. There were, of course, numerous disadvantages to the longer rifles. The only worthwhile purpose served by making the barrels that long was a great reduction of muzzle blast and flash - which furnished the American uninformed (including one high ranking general) with reasons for stating erroneously that the Japs had developed an absolutely smokeless powder, much better for jungle fighting than any of ours. The standard Model 38 6.5mm, for instance, had a ridiculous thirty-one and a quarter inches of barrel screwed into it, which gave the weapon an overall length of fifty and a quarter inches. The Japs simply joined what might well be called an international association of fumblers, who, faced with a near-perfect model to work from which they were absolutely unable to improve, went ahead nevertheless and worked a few of their own ideas, producing their so-called “version” of the good old German man and game killer and like our own Ordnance Department, they produced a bastard rifle.įor one thing, they made their rifles entirely too long. It would have been a more practical procedure to have simply tooled up for the Model 98, as was. They retained to the last the straight bolt of the old 98 Mauser, made quite a few minor changes in the ignition assembly, adopted a different floor plate latch, and extended the tang portions of both receiver and guard to facilitate the use of a laminated buttstock. Japanese rifles used in World War II were all copied from the basic Mauser pattern, and as in the case of other nations’ modifications of Paul Mauser’s good rifle, most of the changes proved to be steps backward. Editor’s note: The following is extracted from Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman’s-Eye View of the Activities on the Island of Guadalcanal, by Lt.
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