Despite the rifle’s finish parts breakage due to the standard of materials made seems to have been a serious issue. Whether or not any of the rifles were actually issued remains unclear John Walter believes that as many as 130 may have seen action, and there have been suggestions of the rifles having problems feeding. This may indicate it was one of the rifles assembled earlier in 1944. The stock was nicely finished and the receiver was well machined with no obvious took marks like those found on late-war Japanese rifles. The build quality and workmanship of that example of the rifle was excellent (for a late war rifle), quite unlike the rougher quality standards of the rifles being churned out by workshops across Japan at the same time. I’ve examined one of the surviving examples and like many of the others such as the one held by the NRA Museum and the example at the Springfield Armory it was in exceptional condition, certainly unissued.

The rifles were manufactured and stored at the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal in late 1944 and early 1945. Eventually up to ~250 Japanese Garands were built. Trials and examination of captured M1swas carried out and it was found that the design could be adapted to chamber Japanese service ammunition and a reverse engineered clone was constructed. The call for the new rifles was made as early as 1943 when the Japanese Navy’s elite naval infantry requested a weapon to increase their firepower. photo comparing the M1 and the Japanese Garand ( source) Like other Japanese rifles it has a two-piece split buttstock and two strengthening bars on the top and bottom of the semi-pistol grip of the stock. 30-06 it also had a number of external differences with a standard Japanese barleycorn-style front sight rather than a post and fitting for a Type 99 sword bayonet, as well as a rear tangent sight with a absolutely tiny and impractical aperture, instead of the M1′s aperture sight (see image #5), a stripper clip fed 10-round box magazine which protruded from the base of the receiver, and used standard Japanese sling swivels and a slightly different stock profile. These Japanese Garands used the American rifle’s gas system and rotating bolt but were chambered in Japan’s Type 99 rimless 7.7x58mm cartridge rather than the US’.

There is some confusion over what this Japanese clone was designated, some describe it as the Type 4 while others have called it the Type 5. In 1944 the Japanese Navy produced a limited number of semi-automatic rifles, these were heavily based on the US M1 Garand which they had faced in the Pacific for the previous three years.

Japanese semi automatic rifle