One design that stuck out to the Japanese in particular was the toggle-lock actioned rifle from designer John Pedersen. During this time the United States and Great Britain were also testing semi-automatic rifles in their own trials, and the Japanese were watching closely. The Japanese self-loading rifle program began in 1931 with the Japanese Army requesting a design from General Kijiro Nambu along with a new light machine gun design. Image: Institute of Military Technology First Attempts One of the Pedersen action-styled test rifles from the Japanese trials in the 1930s with an internal rotary magazine. Inserting a semi-automatic rifle into the mix would allow infantrymen to support themselves with faster follow-up shots and greater volume without having to rely on the limitations of heavy machine guns. The problem was that the heavy machine guns of the era were not as mobile as the foot soldier, and the bolt-action rifles in common use couldn’t match the volume of suppressing fire.

The machine gun reigned supreme during World War I, and it became evident that the infantry’s ability to slug out greater fire superiority than the opponent would only bolster the chances of success. Japan, like many other nations during the interwar period of the 1920s to 1930s, saw the potential value of developing and adopting a semi-automatic service rifle. Image: Institute of Military Technology A Real Need

Even as early as the 1930s, Japan was attempting to develop a semi-auto military rifle. This is the story of Japan’s attempt to make their own semi-automatic rifle, and how they tried to copy the M1 to give their infantry a more even footing against the superior U.S. They even went so far as to adapt John Garand’s design in the final two years of the war. The Japanese were no exception to this, as they tested and evaluated captured M1 rifles themselves during the war. service rifle during World War II, the M1 Garand, earned notoriety not only from the nation that produced it and the soldiers that used it, but from those who faced it as well.

Japanese type 4 garand