The Type 11 Light Machine Gun was a gas-operated, fully automatic, air-cooled, machine gun that was used by Imperial Japan during World War II.
Description[]
It had a rate of fire of about 500 rounds per minute and it took the 6.5x50mm Arisaka cartridge. The magazine had 6 rifle clips inside totaling 30 rounds. These Rifle clips came from the Type 38 Rifle and they were issued in boxes of 12 clips.[1]
The Type 11 also had a weight of 10.2 kg and it had a length of 110 cm. The muzzle velocity was 222 meters per second. The Type 11 included a foldable bipod and it also had a wooden butt which was built into the grip.[2] There were some flaws to the design of the Type 11 such as the weight of the magazine which often makes the machine gun unbalanced.
History[]
The Type 11 was the first machine gun made by Japan and it was designed in 1922. Also due to the flaws, it didn't have the best reputation. Another flaw for example is that the over complicated feeding mechanism caused many problems when operating in the field.[3] This was made apparent when Japanese forces invaded China. Despite the reputation and the flaws, the Type 11 was used throughout World War II by Japanese forces, although in limited quantities by the end of the war. However it was not the only machine gun used by Japan during the war and thus was succeeded by the Type 99 LMG which faired much better in combat.
References[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||