Mongo's Machine Gun Pages Japanese Type 99 LMG
Weapons:
The Japanese Type 96 was designed by General Kijiro at the Nambu rifle Company. The Japanese Type 99 LMG is a derivative of the Type 96 LMG and is first fielded in 1939 though it did not see wide spread use until 1942. The Type 99 was developed to use the large caliber 7.7mm rimless round whereas the Type 96 used the 6.5mm round. The Type 96 and 99 both use a unique vertically sliding locking block. It has been misreported that the Type 96/99 series of guns is a copy of the Czech ZB26. This is untrue since the action is very different than the ZB26 and the later ZB30 LMGs. This does no mean the Type 96/99 did not copy some of the features of the ZB LMGs, the rear iron sight is not unlike the ZB series in that it uses a very similar rotating drum to adjust the sight range from 200 to 1500 meters. The gun also uses the top mounted magazine for feeding but the ZB series was not the first LMG to incorporate this feature. The barrel has cooling fins as does the ZB series but the Japanese use a screw thread pattern to make the cooling fins on the barrel when the ZB series uses parallel individual fins. The barrel change mechanism is also very different from the ZB series.

Changes between the Type 96 and 99 include, the change to the 7.7 mm rimless round, addition of a monopod to the bottom of the butt stock, flash hider, and an adjustable headspace/barrel change mechanism. Many of the parts will interchange between the weapons though the Type 96 op rod and bolt must be used together and the Type 99 is the same way. Mixing these components between the guns will not work due to the firing pin safety of the Type 99 bolt.

Another myth often reported about the Type 96 and 99 LMGs is that they required a cartridges loaded to reduced levels. This myth appears to have first been started by US intelligence during WWII, what information it was based on is open to speculation. The primary extraction and functioning of these LMGs is sufficient for the normal full power round issued for the rifles at use my the Japanese military at the time. There was/is plenty of cartridge confusion during the war years but it is unimaginable to believe that the Japanese military would issue a LMG that could not use the same rounds as the rifles.

Production of the Type 99 ceased at the surrender of Japan in WWII. The Type 99 has not been used in any major conflicts since the end of WWII though there is a few rumors (though unlikely) that the CIA issued the guns to guerillas fighting communist in the years after the WWII. The year manufacture of a Type 96 or 99 LMG can be determined from the date stamped on the side of the receiver with the year dot the month (18.12). The year is in the Japanese calendar so you must add 25 to it so the example (18.12) would have been made in December or 1943.
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