#Type4

Following on the heels of another clone of John Garand’s M1 rifle, was the Type 4 (ambiguously synonymous with the designation “Type 5”) another product-improved copy. Compatible with existing 7.7mm ammunition and stripper clips, the Type 4 fed from a 10-round fixed box magazine. Interestingly, the Japanese had before the war experimented with Pedersen-derived toggle-locked rifles (with the assistance of Pedersen himself), and at least two different models were made. Given that Pedersen himself would later copy the Garand, and the Japanese would follow suit, this makes the whole cycle of development of selfloading rifles in both the United States and Empire of Japan dizzyingly interrelated and circular. The toggle-locked Japanese Pedersens were in the standard 6.5mm Arisaka caliber, but the project was cancelled when the war in China broke out in 1936. Eight years later, Japanese engineers would undertake the design of the Type 4, which is the subject of a recent article posted to the Historical Firearms blog: