Don't tell his French Chauchat about this!

Find someone who looks at you, the way Ian looks at a type 96 I know it doesn’t have the history, or technical aspects of a typical FW video, but I still came away feeling like I’d learned a lot about how it *works*

You probably won’t believe this, however, in the late 1960s, I, with my Australian Army unit, went to Papua New Guinea, we “walked” a fair bit of the Kokoda Track. We did a bit of “hearts and minds” with the locals. We explored the WW2 “battlefields”. We came across the usual detritus of war, including trenches, bunkers, ruined vehicle, the carcasses of crashed aircraft. Then, in a Japanese bunker system, we found complete, intact, well preserved and when stripped cleaned and re-assembled, functioning Japanese small arms. We also found ammunition. We also found Mortars and in one case small Artillery, however we didn’t test the mortars or artillery. We did “test” the pistols, rifles and machine guns. I think, with reliable ammunition, I would like the Nambu, like Ian, I found the Nambu very similar to the Bren (which I loved in both .303 and 7.62). We took a bunch of the weapons back to Australia, I know some of them ended up in Army museums and am certain a few of them were in our units private kit bags. We learned later that the bunker where we found many of the weapons had been submerged for years in stagnant water and the tannins in the stagnant water had coated the weapons with a preservative!

John B. George in his book, "Shots Fired in Anger: A Rifleman's Eye View of the Activities on the Island of Guadalcanal", he had a lot of praise for the Nambu LMG (he calls it a M-96 (1936). He considered it superior to the BAR and the most effective Japanese weapon (based on his experience on Guadalcanal). He considered the top feed magazine a liability because of visibility. It was a target indicator because it projected higher than the grass and they could often spot the gun/gunner by the magazine. He also had praise for the height of the bipod, which is greater than most American designs. His approval stemmed from the need to get the weapon high enough from the ground to allow aiming and firing. Too close the ground and you can neither see nor fire.

I think Ian should make a video where he demonstrates how he cleans and inspects a firearm. Like a very thorough video with things like what oils he uses, what tools and such. What prayer to the machine spirit, you get the idea

It's currently 4:00 AM where I'm at but you better believe I'm staying up a little bit longer just to watch this

Ian is in his element diagnosing a misfeed

"Let's see what this puppy can do!" *two seconds later* "Ow!" Clearly the puppy bites, Ian.

Not testing the bayonet charge capabilities is a grave oversight, the Emperor is displeased!

"I know people who can't shoot *rifles* that well." Casually tooting his own horn. Lol

"I gave this three clicks of adjustment. I have not looked this up" - Ian being absolutely honest in his videos. Love it!

The Type 99 Arisaka is actually kind of impressive. A WWII rifle with not only cock-on-close and rear aperture sight while still having a lot of obvious Mauser influence, but polygonal rifling and a chrome-lined bore. It was probably the most technically advanced bolt action rifle in the war.

When I was in Okinawa (1960s), we had several Type 96 and 99 Nambu's available with lots of Japanese issue ammo. The T96 loaders had an oiling pad integral, the T99 loaders did not. If we fired the T96 dry, we would get neck separations every so often. We found that we could wax the cases with Pledge furniture polish and reduce the separations to almost zero. I suspect your modern cases are a bit thin in the neck/shoulder area as compared to Japanese issue, and will require some lubrication. I would try rolling the cartridges using LEE sizing lube on a pad. That is essentially a dry lube that you can leave on the cartridges for a long time. The Type 99 has a slower extraction timing and does not need lubrication normally.

It's nice it extracts its own ripped case head.

Sounds like Ian goes through the same safety checks any responsible gun owner does when receiving a "new" old surplus gun.

I knew 2 US Marines that were both severely wounded going ashore at Iwo Jima by Nambu light machine gun fire. Neither one of them ever called it an inferior weapon. Nice shooting, by the way.

If you put a bayonet on you get 50% accuracy and 200% honor.

"Once again, soft point has bitten us there" Looks more like something has bitten the soft point, really.

I read an account of an American soldier island-hopping in the pacific during WWII, and according to him the Nambu machine gun had a fearsome reputation, along with the so-called knee mortar.

Ian, for April Fool's Day you should pick a Nerf gun and review it dead seriously like you would a proper weapon. It would be a hoot.

My grandfather(USMC aircraft mechanic) captured an enemy position with one of these at Guadal Canal. Took out the gunner, the loader and the NCO of the pit, took several hits from the NCO's saber(not katana). The gun went down because they hit the magazine just above where it hits the gun and jammed it but the gunner didnt notice and thought it was a jam and in his panic sat there and kept pulling the charging handle.. He ended up despite his injuries taking the 96, the saber, the pistol, and the loader's Arisaka. The 96 is interesting in that it has a bullet holes in the mag, the stock and in the bipod. Long before it passed to my dad, it had its barrel welded :( End story was as a reward for bravery they sent him to flight school and promoted him to officer and he flew Corsairs by the end of the war and in Korea. Did not count as a battlefield promotion since they did it Stateside.

That target pattern is honestly super freaking impressive.

*realizing that’s hunting ammunition for sporterized arisakas* “oh god”

It’s nice seeing some “behind the scenes” footage now and then! Highly enjoyable to see what you go through and the work you put in your videos!

Messianic Francophile Firearm Aficionado gets Caught in the Act with His New Japanese Mistress.

That accuracy is seriously impressive. That's a pretty sweet LMG.

Oil painting: Gun Jesus On the Hills of Manchuria.

A perspective I got firsthand from Pacific Vets was the opposite view in terms of their enemy's equipment. While most of them held a bitterness toward their enemy's ethics and treatment of Filipinos, Chinese, and POWs, but they had nothing but respect for their small arms for the most part. Many of them had experience with having to use captured materials during the protracted battles in the island hoping campaigns, so they used these weapons and ammo firsthand. They shared your views on the Nambu Type 96 as well as others.

He's like a kid on Christmas. And what kid doesn't want a transferable type 96 for Christmas?

I've read some stories from Australian soldiers who suggested that the Nambu would almost always fire high on its first burst. They suggested it was due to the tall front bipod and shorter japanese soldier. Interesting that Ian was firing high too, but he pointed out that it was due to the sights being zeroed at 200m.

"I know some people that can't shoot rifles that well" Why you gotta call me out?!?!

"I know some people who can't shoot rifles that well." Pleased to meetcha, Ian. :-)

Ian redeemed the french, italian, calico, and now japanese guns. I love to see this continue

So Morphy's recent auction, lot 4004, was two Type 96 magazines. They sold a good bit over the appraised value. Not too long after, this video gets posted and I hear Ian remarking that he was lucky to get two...coincidence?

Don't forget that Japanese LMGs (and MMGs) of WW2 were at least partially equipped with scopes, which was very unusual for the time.

I love all the videos on pre-WW2 and WW2 Japanese guns. You should do more if you can get access!

A beautiful piece of engineering even all these decades on.

Shooting old milsurps is more hazardous then people think and requires great care. In the 30 years of my collecting, I've had 2 catastrophic failures. M1 Garand went boom due to badly stored Korean ammo and an FN-49 out of battery discharge due to soft commercial primers. Ian is doing everything right but that's still no guarantee. I have a great appreciation for your efforts to bring us these historic beauties.

I've watched your videos since I was 13, and you have seriously been an inspiration to me.

What great timing on this video. Yesterday, I watched an old episode of "Tales of the Gun" from 1999. The subject was Japanese firearms, and one of the people providing commentary was your father.

I've never seen a Type 96 fired before, that's really very impressive!

My man out here living his best life

I really enjoyed the format of this episode, the coverage of the process gave me a greater understanding of why you appreciate the functionality of this gun!

The type 96 and 99 Nambu LMGS were really the work horses for the Japanese. And I think it would be fair to say they took the most lives as far as small arms goes. Absolutely devastating ambush weapon.

The sound on this one is amazing!

Man you have an awesome job getting to fire all those vintage weapons.

This more thorough look at your testing and setup was a nice treat, please feel free to do more in this style in the future. Also, its always "great" to see new malfunctions.

Anyone else just loving the design of this particular Nambu design?

The Japanese weapons of WW2 have always been my favorite of the period, so unique. Not always the best, but very unique. Didn’t Ian also get a Lewis gun??? Seem to remember he said he won the auction for that several months ago.

I have purchased numerous automatic weapons and I can tell you there is a certain joy and exhilaration the first day on the range. Ian cant hide it either.

I remember watching Ian's Dad on the History Channel during a Tales of the Gun episode going over Japanese small arms of WW2. This was way before Forgotton Weapons.

For me a significant audio quality improvement with this video. Either it just worked out or you upgraded something. I have no clipping at all and that while you're prone being prone to clothing interference. I'm looking forward to more videos with that Type 96, hopefully at a slightly longer distance.

Ian clearly was excited to try this one and really seemed to enjoy it.

Thank you for the very informative video! The grouping on the target was very impressive and shows just how hard it was for our Marines as they hit island after island.

Congratulations on a very nice gun Ian, love your content,but its always very satisfying to see you get yourself something great that you've wanted!

Amazing that Japanese weapons are finally getting some recognition for how good they are.

Good to see that Duncan McCollum's legacy lives on with you.

28 fired, 28 on target and the circle. Deserves a round of applause

Love me some Steinels. I have bought their .45-70 Trapdoor load, their .38/200 load for Webley and Enfield revolvers, their 9mm Bergmann/Largo load and (of course) their 7.65mm French Longue. All shot very well, with no malfunctions and good accuracy. Echoing another commenter, I was surprised at how compact the Type 96 is. Comparing it to a BAR (at the Cody Firearms Museum) the Type 96 makes the BAR look enormous.

Impressive how steady that is.

I'm jealous of you so much because we can't shoot any guns in Japan except for bear/deer hunting purposes.

I really enjoyed this video! It's not often we get to see what's happening down range in your shooting videos. Very cool!

I really really like this type of video, is very well put together with all useful info for someone that, living in the EU, does not have the same possibility to go shooting random LMGs. Also i like the kinda "behind the scene" vibe

i am always very very impressed with your gun craft, your informative commentary and quite entertaining videos. many many thanks.

So Ian, when are you gonna release Type 96 body pillow merch?

I like seeing the target in the background while you are shooting. I loved you sharing the results with us in the end!! More Machine guns please!

I am absolutely amazed with the controllability and accuracy of that firearm.

RE: Neck Separation; Could also be excessive headspace. In his book, Ian Chinn mentions the barrels on those are on the soft side.

It's more compact than I expected.

This was very interesting, not only the prep work, but as you said, the accuracy of the bursts, once you got it reasonably dialed in.

Damn. That's a frightening good LMG. Thanks for the shake down Ian. Great stuff.

Just as I finish watching hours of old ww2 Japanese footage you bless me with this.

"I know some people who can't shoot rifles that well" What an outrageous flex 😎

Love seeing the targets and where the rounds hit. Thanks

I happened to watch The Thin Red Line last night - I think the machine guns cutting down GIs is this weapon. I appreciate Ian's complete dispassionate relationship with weapons of war - I've learned a lot. But when you see depictions of these weapons in action, it's not so pleasant!

Japanese made firearms are the ones I know the least about, glad you are covering them!

The length of pull suited Japanese soldiers back then, they were on average pretty short Edit: turns out the Japanese government records the height of every 17yo male, and in 1939 the average was 160cm (5' 4")

This weapon is really under rated

Excellent! Thanks for taking us along!

Ian out here showing off the rare species of spent shell along with the Nambu.

Haters will say it's a rip off a bren

Wow... fantastic grouping for an lmg.

@1:42 I like that wagon ya’draggin

Always nice to see a safeish malfunction.

"What do you mean this is not a Finnish gun?" - "Sorry, Ian, this is a Finnish Brutality Match, you can't shoot that here!" :D ^^ Great vid, Ian, great vid :)

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. It's nice to see a vintage weapon like that used in a real world situation. You could have easily edited the video to take out the jams and feed issues. But it sure wouldn't have been as entertaining and Informative as what you presented here. Great job well done.

NICE! A very well designed gun, with a very nice grouping from it! an some decent shooting from you as well!!! Great stuff all around.

I would also check the head spacing on that weapon.

Ian, a malfunctioning rare weapon and his typical positivity

I got to handle one of these, innocuous though, when I was part of a historical Lighthorse troop. I was struck by how nice it was and was saddened that there was no avenue to keep it and use it as a working historical weapon. Ironically it was used in showing how Universal (BREN gun) Carriers were set up alongside a Boys anti tank rifle. My dad did speak about facing these during his service in the South Pacific. He would have also agreed with Ian on the Arisaka being a great rifle, he somehow came into possession of one after he demobbed in '46. Thanks for the video.

This was great to see! Thanks for the behind the scenes!

Great info

アメリカには、旧軍の武器が残っていて それが稼働できる状態であるということは、なんとも羨ましい限り。

"Im gonna put 6 rounds in". Puts in 5....anyone else notice that? That desert heat must be brutal to make gun jesus (hollowpoint be thy name) mess up like that....ive been watching for almost a decade and it very rarely happens. Hes a perfectionist, takes pride in his knowledge and his work.

We truly love you lan for all you do and the hard work you put in om all the research and sharing your knowledge with us,my brother of firerms

No shit, I would love a livestream of Ian just stripping guns. That would be so cool! You could even pre-record them, loop them and just put them on an infinite stream. I bet the ASMR is on another level.

Who wants to see Ian do a 2-gun match with this?

I really enjoyed the behind the scenes element of this video. It's like other "first shots" videos and it's neat.

Would love to see you do another colab like project lighting but with ww2 lmgs, maybe smgs and maybe even battle rifles

His dad was on the old tales of the gun Japanese small arms of ww2.