Type 3 Heavy Machine Gun
Kokura Arsenal · Machine Gun · Out Of Production · 1914
Also known as: Type 3 HMG, Taisho 3 MG, 3 Nen Shiki Kikanju, Japanese Hotchkiss
Overview
The Type 3 Heavy Machine Gun was the standard Japanese medium/heavy machine gun of the interwar period, developed by Kijiro Nambu from the French Hotchkiss M1914 design and adopted in 1914, the third year of the Taisho era. It was a gas-operated, air-cooled weapon with a heavily finned barrel for heat dissipation, fed by 30-round brass feed strips and chambered for the 6.5x50mm Arisaka rifle cartridge. Mounted on a heavy tripod fitted with carrying poles, it served the Imperial Japanese Army until it was largely superseded by the 7.7mm Type 92.
Specifications
| Weight (empty) | 55000 g (1940.1 oz) |
| Overall Length | 1198 mm (47.17") |
| Barrel Length | 737 mm (29.02") |
| Action Type | Gas Operated |
| Magazine Capacity | 30 rounds |
| Magazine Type | Feed Strip |
| Muzzle Velocity | 740 m/s (2428 fps) |
| Effective Range | 800 m (875 yd) |
| Maximum Range | 4000 m (4374 yd) |
| Rate of Fire | 425 rpm |
| Barrel Rifling | Right Hand |
| Frame Material | Steel |
| Barrel Material | Steel |
Calibers
- 6.5x50mm Arisaka · primary — also known as 6.5x50mm SR, 6.5mm Japanese, 6.5x50mm Meiji 30, 6.5x50mmSR Arisaka
Features
- Firing modes: Full Automatic
- Feed systems: Feed Strip
- Features: Gas Operated, Air Cooled, Finned Barrel, Strip Fed, Cartridge Oiler, Tripod Mounted
Service history
Operators
- Imperial Japanese Army · adopted 1914 · as Type 3 (Taisho 3)
Conflicts
- Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
- World War II (1939-1945)
Production
Production years: 1914-1930s
Total production unknown
Origin
Country of origin: Japan
Designer: Kijiro Nambu
Notes
Distinct from the Type 92 HMG and the Type 3 aircraft gun. Adopted 1914 (Taisho 3); the receiver shows clear Hotchkiss lineage. Used an oiled-cartridge mechanism. The Type 92 was essentially a 7.7mm enlargement of this design.
Background
Nambu's Type 3 set the template for Japanese tripod machine guns for a generation: when the Army wanted greater hitting power in the 1930s it simply scaled the same Hotchkiss-derived action up to 7.7mm to create the Type 92, the so-called Woodpecker, leaving the 6.5mm Type 3 as its direct ancestor.