What a find in that we have two of these rare pre-WWII Japanese experimental semi-automatic weapons for sale in one auction. As noted these experimental rifles and carbines were actually based on the early semi-automatic rifle designs by J.D. Pederson. This the extremely rare experimental rifle, equally as desirable as the carbine and equally as rare if even seen or encountered in extremely advance WWII Japanese rifle collections. Interestingly the Serial Number "1" experimental rifle that is identical to this example is pictured on page 166 of the book "Military Rifles of Japan" second edition by Honeycutt/Anthony. In the 1931/32 time frame the Japanese embarked on an experimental rifle program, intended to develop a semi-auto rifle for the Japanese Army and Marines, using several rifle designs that were available on the world market at that time. The development program encompassed a seven year period, until sometime in 1937 when the entire program was dropped due to the inability of the Japanese Government to manufacture complicated rifle designs that required critical/close tolerance parts with the available machinery and available work force in prewar Japan. One of those designs that the Japanese heavily experimented with was the original "Pedersen" rifle developed by J.D. Pedersen. As you recall the Pedersen rifle was developed in the mid to late 1920s and eventually competed, with, but lost out to the M1 Garand rifle. His design was eventually adapted and put into production in England, being manufactured by the Vickers Ltd. Company. After his success in England, he traveled to Japan in the early 1930s to present his design to the Japanese Government for review and adaptation. Lucky for the U.S., the Japanese never succeeded in developing a suitable semi-automatic rifle, as if they had, some of us might not be here today! Back to this example, which was also manufactured by the Koishikawa Army Arsenal and also carries serial number "5", which would be correct as the Japanese had two different development programs running at the same time; one for the carbines and one for rifles. It is estimated that 20-25 prototype rifles were actually produced, with only a handful these models even seen today. This rare rifle is a faithful copy of the original Pedersen design, except that it has a modified magazine design, like the carbine that conforms to the underside of the stock/receiver versus the Pedersen rifle that had an extended box magazine. This design as noted uses a swing-breech bolt mechanism exactly like the carbine version, which pivots in the center of the bolt during the cycling operation. The entire design was revolutionary for the time, but was difficult and complicated to manufacture and had a lot of individual parts. The rifle listed here has serial number "5" stamped on top of the receiver as well as the other visibly numbered parts. Additionally them right side of the receiver has two additional Kana markings next to the bolt locking mechanism, probably indicating "on" and "off", similar to what is on the 1903 Springfield rifle. In addition this rifle is machined for a very unique and probably "one of a kind" Sniper Scope base on the left side of the receiver. Obviously this was intended to be some kind of future additional developmental effort, however with the termination of the entire program that Sniper rifle design shifted to the Type 97and 99 rifles. It employs the same swing breech mechanism with a rather unique gear driven rear sight with a blade front sight, both offset to the left. Also noted is that this model was obviously developed with a rotatory box magazine very similar in design to the Johnson rifles, also being developed during this same time frame, just like the carbine version was. It has a full length stock and handguards and both the stock and handguards have cooling vents. This rare rifle is complete with an original cleaning rod and a reproduction leather sling.

Very fine with 98% of the professionally restored/refurbished metal finish with a professionally restored/replaced stock. Undoubtedly this rifle saw considerable use during testing, and have survived at all after the war is actually quite miraculous! The markings are clear and discernible and the mechanism functions correctly. It would certainly be a shame to separate these two, super rare WWII Japanese experimental weapons, they really belong together in a museum.