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My Type 11


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I'm over the moon right now. Only 29,000 Japanese Type 11s were made over a period of 20 years, and almost all were destroyed obviously. It's a funky machine gun with an odd, but cool feeding system, and was designed in 1922, when guns were skillfully machined with tight tolerances, because countries still had the time and resources needed to build guns that way. I have wanted one for years but finding one was hard, and finding one that was nice was seeming to be impossible.

After years of looking for the right one, I have finally found it! It's a matching and original nearly mint condition example from the Kokura, Tokyo factory, and was made in April of 1942. It runs perfectly too! Just as good as finding the gun itself, are all of the parts and spare parts included with it! Original sling, muzzle cover, spare bolts, springs, barrel, pins, etc. You just DO NOT find spare parts for these guns! The seller was a super nice guy, and I feel lucky to have found this package deal, as I probably would have never found a package like this one ever again. Thanks for looking!

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Edited by michaelkih
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Wow, definitely a unique piece. I don't think I've ever seen one before (that I can recall). Do you shoot it much?

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Andrew

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Definitely unique. I have never ever seen one matching before inside and out, so I feel extremely lucky.

 

I have not shot it yet, since I just got it not too long ago. I do have 300 loaded rounds from the seller, and the recipie from him to make more. 1000 brass cases and 2000 projectiles headed to my house right now too. I won't shoot it much, but I always like to have more ammo than I plan on shooting.

Edited by michaelkih
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Nice looking gun! Looks better than some in the USMC museum, but so does 3148! You still have a guided tour awaitiing you. There are plenty of Japanese items on display that you will appreciate far more than others. You need to start planning your trip out this way.

Cheers

Sandman1957

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Nice looking gun! Looks better than some in the USMC museum, but so does 3148! You still have a guided tour awaitiing you. There are plenty of Japanese items on display that you will appreciate far more than others. You need to start planning your trip out this way.

Cheers

Sandman1957

Thank you Steve! Yes, I really want to head over there, and I will. Let me get life settled down some first, and I really look forward to it. Thanks for #3148 again. It's perfect, and thanks for everything that you have helped me out with over the past year or so.

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This new page is a very nice addition to the site. For my first contribution, some of the Japanese LMGs in my collection. I have included the gun and the magazine for it that has never been revealed as the true culprit in cutting off finger tips. The T11 hopper cover has mythically and incorrectly been blamed for this griseley accident since the hopper cover has a powerful spring to keep downward pressure on the cartridges in the hopper and it can close on fingers by accident fairly easily while loading. However, the edge of the hopper cannot do such serious damage nor is the spring powerful enough to effect it either.

The LMG using the pie shaped magazine that held 15 five round strippers was the bomber armed T89, a pair of which, left and right, were mounted on their sides on a special cradle and book-end matched pie shaped magazines were used to feed the guns, one left handed and the other right handed.

As can be seen in the pics with three strippers loaded in the mag, fully loaded, the 15 loaded strippers are moved through the arc of the magazine by a flat paddle. The spring torque on the paddle is probably easily 100 pounds or more and cannot be moved or held back by hand. Rotating the paddle counter clockwise takes great effort and for loading these magazines the Japanese armorers used a mechanical device specifically for the purpose of drawing the paddle fully back and holding it in place so that strippers can be loaded into the mag. In the circumstance that the mechanical device is not available, or the loading machine malfunctioned, and the paddle is rotated back by hand and accidentally released while close to fully rotated, a finger that is in way, violently driven against the thin edge of the diagonal top plate can easily be sheared off. This magazine is the dangerous one, not the T11 hopper lid.

A bit of Japanese MG folklore to correct a longstanding and persistent misunderstanding. FWIW

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This new page is a very nice addition to the site. For my first contribution, some of the Japanese LMGs in my collection. I have included the gun and the magazine for it that has never been revealed as the true culprit in cutting off finger tips. The T11 hopper cover has mythically and incorrectly been blamed for this griseley accident since the hopper cover has a powerful spring to keep downward pressure on the cartridges in the hopper and it can close on fingers by accident fairly easily while loading. However, the edge of the hopper cannot do such serious damage nor is the spring powerful enough to effect it either.

The LMG using the pie shaped magazine that held 15 five round strippers was the bomber armed T89, a pair of which, left and right, were mounted on their sides on a special cradle and book-end matched pie shaped magazines were used to feed the guns, one left handed and the other right handed.

As can be seen in the pics with three strippers loaded in the mag, fully loaded, the 15 loaded strippers are moved through the arc of the magazine by a flat paddle. The spring torque on the paddle is probably easily 100 pounds or more and cannot be moved or held back by hand. Rotating the paddle counter clockwise takes great effort and for loading these magazines the Japanese armorers used a mechanical device specifically for the purpose of drawing the paddle fully back and holding it in place so that strippers can be loaded into the mag. In the circumstance that the mechanical device is not available, or the loading machine malfunctioned, and the paddle is rotated back by hand and accidentally released while close to fully rotated, a finger that is in way, violently driven against the thin edge of the diagonal top plate can easily be sheared off. This magazine is the dangerous one, not the T11 hopper lid.

A bit of Japanese MG folklore to correct a longstanding and persistent misunderstanding. FWIW

attachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BMG-0.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-1.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-0.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. 89 LMG-1.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-3.JPG.

I was hoping you would reply Bob. Always enjoy hearing bout your MGs! i see you have a Type 11 too. How does it compare to some of the other Japanese MGs?

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This new page is a very nice addition to the site. For my first contribution, some of the Japanese LMGs in my collection. I have included the gun and the magazine for it that has never been revealed as the true culprit in cutting off finger tips. The T11 hopper cover has mythically and incorrectly been blamed for this griseley accident since the hopper cover has a powerful spring to keep downward pressure on the cartridges in the hopper and it can close on fingers by accident fairly easily while loading. However, the edge of the hopper cannot do such serious damage nor is the spring powerful enough to effect it either.

The LMG using the pie shaped magazine that held 15 five round strippers was the bomber armed T89, a pair of which, left and right, were mounted on their sides on a special cradle and book-end matched pie shaped magazines were used to feed the guns, one left handed and the other right handed.

As can be seen in the pics with three strippers loaded in the mag, fully loaded, the 15 loaded strippers are moved through the arc of the magazine by a flat paddle. The spring torque on the paddle is probably easily 100 pounds or more and cannot be moved or held back by hand. Rotating the paddle counter clockwise takes great effort and for loading these magazines the Japanese armorers used a mechanical device specifically for the purpose of drawing the paddle fully back and holding it in place so that strippers can be loaded into the mag. In the circumstance that the mechanical device is not available, or the loading machine malfunctioned, and the paddle is rotated back by hand and accidentally released while close to fully rotated, a finger that is in way, violently driven against the thin edge of the diagonal top plate can easily be sheared off. This magazine is the dangerous one, not the T11 hopper lid.

A bit of Japanese MG folklore to correct a longstanding and persistent misunderstanding. FWIW

attachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BMG-0.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-1.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. LMGs BRM-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-0.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. 89 LMG-1.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-2.JPGattachicon.gif Jap. T89 LMG-3.JPG.

There is a lot of history hanging on that wall. Did you find any red sand in any of those?

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The T11 is a very unique LMG and is really in a catagory of its own. The feed from loaded strippers sets it apart from virtually every other LMG ever made except for the T89 pictured above, another Japanese LMG feeding from loaded strippers. The Russians experimentally adapted a hopper much like the T11 device to the DP28 in place of the pan magazines, but it was not putinto production.

The many extra steps involved in reloading the hopper doomed it to obsolescence very quickly or to relegation to defensive uses where it could be loaded again under cover. Even using the stripper chargers that were supplied with the gun in a box would not much improve its field reloading iin combat in my view.

One of the Italian Revelli LMGs used a rectangular box mag loaded with cartridges, and it was issued and used successfully in WWII, but the use of such cumbersome magazines was still very cumbersome and prone to jams.

There is alot of mechanical activity going on with the T11 hopper/shuttle style feed additional to the automatic firing cycle. It may be particular to the T11 I still have, but the others that Ived owned were also mechincally noisey when firing, but less so than my current exmaple. If ones ear is close to the stock or cheek bones in contact with it, the action of the gun seems to emit a lot of funny spring and metal impact noises as it goes through its firing cycle. I find this pretty amusing.

The grip around the odd stock shape is unique and feels strange and the stock is relatively short for me, but the gun sets up well for firing. The bipod leaves a lot to be desired, but the light weight of the gun allows it to be pushed around on the bipod easily.

There are pics of these guns mounted on special cradles on motorcycle sidecars for some type of official use by Japanese officers, which seems about right for the gun given its quite inefficient characteristics. Sure looks menacing.....

Edited by Black River Militaria CII
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The T11 is a very unique LMG and is really in a catagory of its own. The feed from loaded strippers sets it apart from virtually every other LMG ever made except for the T89 pictured above, another Japanese LMG feeding from loaded strippers. The Russians experimentally adapted a hopper much like the T11 device to the DP28 in place of the pan magazines, but it was not putinto production.

The many extra steps involved in reloading the hopper doomed it to obsolescence very quickly or to relegation to defensive uses where it could be loaded again under cover. Even using the stripper chargers that were supplied with the gun in a box would not much improve its field reloading iin combat in my view.

One of the Italian Revelli LMGs used a rectangular box mag loaded with cartridges, and it was issued and used successfully in WWII, but the use of such cumbersome magazines was still very cumbersome and prone to jams.

There is alot of mechanical activity going on with the T11 hopper/shuttle style feed additional to the automatic firing cycle. It may be particular to the T11 I still have, but the others that Ived owned were also mechincally noisey when firing, but less so than my current exmaple. If ones ear is close to the stock or cheek bones in contact with it, the action of the gun seems to emit a lot of funny spring and metal impact noises as it goes through its firing cycle. I find this pretty amusing.

The grip around the odd stock shape is unique and feels strange and the stock is relatively short for me, but the gun sets up well for firing. The bipod leaves a lot to be desired, but the light weight of the gun allows it to be pushed around on the bipod easily.

There are pics of these guns mounted on special cradles on motorcycle sidecars for some type of official use by Japanese officers, which seems about right for the gun given its quite inefficient characteristics. Sure looks menacing.....

 

Very cool. I'm looking forward to shooting it even more now.

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First time I've seen most of this stuff. Curious to see what else people have hidden in their collections.

 

Need to get some videos next whenever you get a chance to shoot it.

 

Andrew

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The T11 pictued above has provanance as a bringback by one of the soldiers in the Merrills Marauders longrange recon spec ops group fighting in Burma and other areas in WWII. There are some newpaper clippings of the soldeir with the gun when back home along with an explanation of his wartime experience. Seems legit to me and as is common with bringbacks there is no ID of serial number of gune, etc to confirm that the gun in a pic is the actual gun. In this instance, a T11 is a very unusual gun to have acquired after the war by a vet who might have had some experience with it in theater, so I tend to believe the newspaper account. Edited by Black River Militaria CII
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Bob,

 

Do you feel that almost all, if not all Typr 11s were being backs? There weren't any catalogues selling DEWAT Type 11s in bulk like many other machine guns in the 1950s and early 1960s, were there? I really hope I can find out more about mine. I know Curtis usually owned nice items for himself.

 

Thanks.

Mike

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I went to an Ohio Valley Military Society show today where a seller had a demilled Type 11, serial number 38000. Very few parts were included...asking price was $3K. This item was not demilled to current specs. I took two photos of it, which are included below.

 

IMG_5287.jpg

IMG_5288.jpg

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I went to an Ohio Valley Military Society show today where a seller had a demilled Type 11, serial number 38000. Very few parts were included...asking price was $3K. This item was not demilled to current specs. I took two photos of it, which are included below.

 

IMG_5287.jpg

IMG_5288.jpg

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

Thanks! Wow, it's almost all gone!

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