The Type 100 was a Japanese submachine gun used extensively during World War II, and the only submachine gun produced by Japan in any quantity.

Designed and built by the Nambu Arms Manufacturing , the Type 100 was a robust, if unremarkable, submachine gun that was first delivered to the Imperial Army in 1942. Japan was surprisingly late to introduce the submachine gun to its armed forces; the MP40 had been ubiquitous in the Wehrmacht since 1939.

The Type 100 was a well made gun, albeit with several strange features, including a complicated ammunition feed device that, for safety purposes, ensured that a round was completely chambered before firing, a complex system compounded by the curious bottle shaped round the Type 100 used. Atypically for a submachine gun, a bayonet lug was fixed under the barrel.

Despite its shortcomings and complexities, the Type 100 featured sophisticated sights and a high quality chrome plated barrel to aid cleaning and reduce wear. Some models also featured a bipod or a complicated muzzle brake.

A number of Type 100 variants were produced during the course of the war; one with a folding stock for paratroopers (few were made as the folding stock weakened the weapon's structure in combat situations) and a greatly simplified 1944 version that was greatly simplified in order to hasten production at a time when Japan was being pushed into retreat across the Pacific theatre and demand for submachine guns was at an all time high. The 1944 variant was slightly longer, featured simple iron sights. Corners were cut in production, leaving many Type 100s with roughly finished stocks and poorly welded parts.

Despite these simplifications, Japan lacked the industrial infrastructure to produce sufficient quantities of the Type 100 to stem the rapid Allied advance. By 1945, 30,000 had been built, a comparatively low number.

Specifications (1944 model)

• Calibre: 8mm
• Length: 900mm (35.43")
• Barrel length: 230mm (9.06")
• Weight loaded: 4.4kg (9.7lbs)
• Magazine: 30 round curved box, fed from left side
• Rate of fire: 800 rounds per minute
• Muzzle velocity: 335m (1,100') per second

See also

• List of submachine guns
• List of common WWII infantry weapons

Reference

• Chris Bishop et al. The Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. Brown Books, 1998.