Experimental Model 2 submachine gun
Type	Submachine gun
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
In service	1935–1945 (Japan)
Used by	Imperial Japanese Army
Wars	Second Sino-Japanese War World War II Chinese Civil War[1]
Production history
Designer	Kijiro Nambu
Designed	1935
Manufacturer	Nambu
No. built	50-150
Variants	Mukden Type 2
Specifications
Mass	3.37 kg (7 lb 7 oz) empty 4.39 kg (9 lb 11 oz) loaded
Length	896 mm (35 in)
Barrel length	228 mm (9 in)
Cartridge	8×22mm Nambu .45 ACP (Mukden Type 2)
Caliber	8 mm 11.5mm (Mukden Type 2)
Action	Blowback
Rate of fire	600 rounds/min
Feed system	30 and 50 round box magazine[2]
Sights	Iron sights

The Experimental Model 2 submachine gun (試製二型機関短銃, Shisei-ni-gata kikan-tanjū) was a pre–World War II Japanese experimental submachine gun chambered in the 8mm Nambu round.

History

The Type 2 was a development of the earlier Type 1 submachine gun, designed in response to criticisms of the Type 1's awkward ergonomics. The Type 2 offered a more conventional magazine feed and stock, but wholly retained the Type 1's method of operation and was essentially the same gun in a different body. It was initially produced in the mid-1930s and was tested by the Imperial Japanese Army, but rejected. During World War II, an urgent demand for automatic infantry weapons saw the revival of several experimental weapon projects, including the Type 2 submachine gun. Blueprints of the weapon were sent to the Mukden Arsenal in Manchukuo in 1944 for use in development of cheap submachine guns. Instead, those blueprints were used by the Chinese communists to produce submachine guns to be used in the Chinese Civil War following the end of the war with Japan and communist control over Mukden. These weapons were operationally identical but chambered in .45 ACP rather than 8×22mm Nambu.^[1] The British and US armies studied examples of the earlier Japanese prototypes obtained in Singapore and Japan after the surrender of Japan.^[3]

Design details

The Type 2 was a blowback-operated submachine gun that fired from a closed bolt. Much like the Type 1, the Type 2's return spring enveloped the barrel of the gun rather than behind the bolt. The front section of the receiver and barrel shroud would travel back with the bolt upon firing and be pushed back forward by the return spring. The barrel stayed stationary. The cocking handle was not located in a slotted groove but instead took the form of a protruding tab fixed to the left side of the receiver. Early pre-war prototypes of the Type 2 were built with the same pneumatic buffer device seen on the Type 1, which cushioned the action of the gun and acted as a bolt delay. The timing of the delay could be adjusted by changing the air pressure exerted by the buffer, thus lowering or increasing the fire rate to either 500 or 600 rounds per minute, but the examples captured after the war had five buffer holes as settings.^[4] This was done by turning a pressure valve located underneath the rear cap. The later wartime models omitted the air buffer feature in an attempt to cut production costs. The Type 2 was typically issued with 30-round magazines, although it could also use the same 50-round magazines as the Type 1.^[5] Late-war examples of the Type 2 had bayonet fittings, a feature not present on the original production models. A spike bayonet was also designed for the gun but was not used on the production models. The finish of the late-war models was typically poor compared to the earlier pre-war prototypes.

See also

• List of submachine guns
• List of World War II infantry weapons
• List of Japanese military equipment of World War II

References

Further reading

• Chris Bishop et al. The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Brown Books, 1998.