Type 96 light machine gun

Type 96 Light Machine Gun
Type 96 Light Machine Gun without the 30-round magazine
Type	Light machine gun
Place of origin	Empire of Japan
Service history
In service	1936–45
Used by	Empire of Japan, North Korea, People's Republic of China, Republic of China
Wars	Second Sino-Japanese War, Soviet–Japanese border conflicts, World War II, Indonesian National Revolution, Chinese Civil War, Korean War, Hukbalahap Rebellion
Production history
Designer	Kijiro Nambu
Designed	1936
Produced	1936–45
Number built	41,000
Specifications
Weight	9 kg (20 lb)
Length	1,070 mm (42 in)
Barrel length	550 mm (22 in)
Cartridge	6.5x50mm Arisaka
Action	Gas-operated
Rate of fire	450-500 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity	735 m/s (2,410 ft/s)
Feed system	30 round detachable box magazine

The Type 96 Light Machine Gun (九六式軽機関銃, Kyūroku-shiki Kei-kikanjū^?) was a light machine gun used by the Imperial Japanese Army in the interwar period and in World War II.

Combat experience in the Manchurian Incident of 1931 and subsequent actions in Manchuria and northern China reaffirmed the Japanese army of the utility of machine guns to provide covering fire for advancing infantry. The earlier Type 11 Light Machine Gun was a lightweight machine gun, which could be easily transportable by an infantry squad into combat. However, the open hopper design of the Type 11 allowed dust and grit to enter into the gun, which was liable to jam in muddy or dirty conditions due to issues with poor dimensional tolerances. This gave the weapon a bad reputation with Japanese troops, and led to calls for its redesign. The Army’s Kokura Arsenal tested the Czech ZB vz. 26 machine gun, samples of which had been captured from the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China, and (after borrowing certain elements) issued a new design, designated the Type 96 light machine gun, in 1936. The gun was produced at Kokura, Nagoya Arsenal and Mukden with total production about 41,000. While the Japanese design was completely different internally it did resemble the Vz26 in its basic layout using the top feed magazine and a bipod mount. The type 97 tank gun however was a license built copy of the ZB design and used in the tanks of the Japanese Army.