During World War II, the Japanese military fielded a number of interesting pistols and rifles. The most common service handguns were the Type 26 revolver, Type 1904 Nambu, Type 14 Nambu and Type 94 Nambu. None of these designs was particularly great, but each was effective enough to serve the Japanese military’s needs. In the rifle line, the Japanese military used the bolt-action Arisaka military carbine and rifle as standard in many different forms. There was the Type 30, Type 38, Type 44, Type I and Type 99, to name a few. They also made sniper versions equipped with optical sights. As the war progressed, the quality of Japanese military firearms gradually deteriorated as shortages of raw materials became more acute. Fortunately for the U.S. military, the Japanese never embraced the concept of the semiautomatic rifle and only manufactured a small quantity of experimental designs, including their own version of the U.S. M1 Garand rifle.

Our Collection

The Michigan Traveling Military Museum is pleased to have a nice selection of Japanese military pistols and rifles in our collection.