Type 4 rifle
The Type 4 rifle, often referred to as the Type 5 rifle, (Japanese: 四式自動小銃 Yon-shiki Jidōshōju) was a Japanese semi-automatic rifle. It was based on the American M1 Garand with an integral 10-round magazine and chambered for the Japanese 7.7×58mm Arisaka cartridge. Where the Garand used an 8-round en-bloc clip, the Type 4's integral magazine was charged with two 5-round stripper clips and the rifle also used Japanese-style tangent sights.
Type 4 rifle

Springfield Armory Museum · Public domain
- Name
- Type 4 rifle
- Field
- semi-automatic rifle
- Period
- 1944
- Region
- Japan · Empire of Japan
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
The Type 4 rifle, often referred to as the Type 5 rifle, (Japanese: 四式自動小銃 Yon-shiki Jidōshōju) was a Japanese semi-automatic rifle. It was based on the American M1 Garand with an integral 10-round magazine and chambered for the Japanese 7.7×58mm Arisaka cartridge. Where the Garand used an 8-round en-bloc clip, the Type 4's integral magazine was charged with two 5-round stripper clips and the rifle also used Japanese-style tangent sights.
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wikidata · Q705404 · wikipedia · Type 4 rifle
In this article
Overview
Overview
The Type 4 rifle had been developed alongside several other semi-automatic rifles. However, none of the rifles entered into service before the end of World War II, with only 250 being made, and many others were never assembled. There were several problems with jamming and feed systems, which also delayed its testing.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Type 4 rifle • Origin — Japan • Type — Semi-automatic rifle • Is Ranged — yes • Used By — Imperial Japanese Navy • Design Date — 1944 • Manufacturer — Yokosuka Naval Arsenal • Production Date — 1945 • Number — Parts for ~200, ~125 complete rifles • Weight — 4.097 kg • Length — 1073 mm • Part Length — 590 mm • Cartridge — 7.7×58mm Arisaka • Action — Gas-operated, rotating bolt • Velocity — 840 m/s • Feed — 10-round internal box magazine loaded via two 5-round stripper clips • Sights — Iron
History
History
Japan had experimented with semi-automatic rifles in the 1930s, when the Imperial Japanese Navy tested rifles based on the Czechoslovakia ZH-29. They were cancelled in the end due to problems encountered during testing. During the Second World War, Japanese soldiers relied on bolt-action type rifles. However, guns were getting scarce and their main military opponent, the United States, had replaced their bolt weapons with modern semi-automatic rifles. At the same time, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were also developing their own semi-automatic weapons, such as the Russian SVT-40 and German Gewehr 43, which would give them a great advantage on the battlefield. Even Italy used its own semi-automatic weapon, the Armaguerra Mod. 39 rifle. This pressured Japan to find a quick way to cope with their military disadvantage. Instead of designing and investing in a new weapon from scratch, they opted to copy the American M1 Garand. Initially, the Japanese experimented with re-chambering captured American M1 rifles, since the 7.7×58mm Arisaka Japanese cartridge has similar dimensions to the.30-06 Springfield cartridge. They found that while the Garand could chamber, fire, and cycle with the 7.7×58mm Arisaka ammunition, the 8-round en-bloc clip system was incompatible with the new rifle cartridge and would not feed reliably. Instead the Japanese designers reverse engineered the M1 Garand and discarded the 8-round en-bloc clip, replacing it with a fixed internal 10-round magazine charged by two 5-round Arisaka Type 99 stripper clips. Japan had previously developed semi-automatic service rifles, such as the Type Hei, Type Kō and Type Otsu but none of them had been viewed as successful or of trustworthy quality. The design work for the Type 4 rifle began in 1944. According to Japanese researchers, the official designation for the rifle is Type 4. However, the rifle is often incorrectly referred to as the Type 5, possibly based on an erroneous American technical intelligence report published in 1946. The Type 4 rifle was meant to be mass-produced in 1945. However, the Japanese were defeated in August of the same year, therefore the manufacturing process was indefinitely halted. At the time, an estimate of 125 Type 4 rifles were completed out of the 250 in the workshop. Twenty of them were taken by the Allies at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal on Honshu after the end of the war. Examples of this rifle can be found at the National Firearms Museum in Fairfax County, Virginia, and the Royal Armouries in Leeds, United Kingdom.
Variants
Variants
The following variants of the Type 4 rifle's were made: • First Variant • Second Variant • Third Variant • Pre-production Model • Production Model
Chronology
Dated record
Chronology
The full dated record · 2 entries
1944
Type 4 rifle first recorded.
1944
Type 4 rifle is recorded from 1944.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Japan and Empire of Japan
Country
Type 4 rifle is associated with Japan and Empire of Japan.
Country
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Japanese Type 4 Garand. YouTube.
- 2.Japanese Garand WWII Semi-Automatic Rifle. NRA Museum.
- 3.S. L. Mayer. The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan 1894-1945. Bison Books Limited. 52. 1984. 0861241428.
- 4.Historical Firearms - Japan's Garand in 1944 the Japanese Navy produced.
- 5.An Official Journal of the NRA | Classic Guns: Imperial Japan's M1 Garand.
- 6.A Japanese Garand?. 28 July 2020.
- 7.RIA: Japanese Type 4 Garand Copy. 30 March 2016.
- 8.Centrefire self-loading rifle - Type 4 - about 1945. Royal Armouries.
- 9.An Official Journal of the NRA | Classic Guns: Imperial Japan's M1 Garand.
- 10.Japanese Type 4 Semiautomatic Rifle.
- 11.An Official Journal of the NRA | 'Japanese Garand': The Story of the Type 4.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 2
- Fowler, Will. The Complete Encyclopedia of Guns. 435. September 2008. 978-1-57215-441-4.
- Walter, John. Rifles of the World. Krause Publications. 146. 2006. 0-89689-241-7.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Type 4 rifle is associated with Japan and Empire of Japan. Classified as a semi-automatic rifle. Recorded from 1944. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Within the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Militaria
6,095 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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