Jap Machine Guns all over the place

Is it just me, or is anyone else noticing a lot of Jap MGs showing up lately?

OOW has a 92 and 99

there are type 11s, 99s, and even a 96 on sturm and subguns.

I'm guessing there are a bunch for sale, because I've always wanted one, but have no money for one right now...

ain't that always the way.

I've seen quite a few get listed in the last two months or so. Some old GI's die off, selling their bring backs? Who knows. I've never been a big fan of the Jap MG's, but you are right, there are quite a few up for sale right now.

With all of the RECOVERY SUMMERS we're having and UE going up as a direct result, you will be seeing more and more NFA weapons come available for reasonable prices. It's a good time to have extra cash to acquire more toys.

why so many anyway compared to the European theater, was the Pacific theater more conducive to shipping or sneaking these home? Did they break down better for being put into a duffel?

As far as the war trophies presently in the NFA Registry, the Eueopean Theater bringbacks far outnumber the Pacific Theater bringbacks.

It's just that at the moment, there are more Japanese guns on the market.

Why? Because owners are digging through the backs of their safes and selling off the MGs they have never shot.

Most of the Japanese MGs are in calibers for which ammo is generally not available in the U.S. Our firearms culture has always been linked to Europe, and thus those are the calibers which are more popular here with shooters (and for which ammo became available after FOPA '86).

Because of that same cultural link, few gunsmiths bothered to make and market caliber conversion kits for Japanese guns, they way they have for European MGs.

So while European bringback MGs appeal to both collectors and shooters, Japanese MGs are either for collectors only, or for hard-core, advanced-case machine gunners who don't mind the time, effort and $$$ it takes to track down obscure brass in MG quantities and reload it, or find a source for loaded ammo. They have always been much cheaper to buy for those same reasons.

And now with the economy permanently in the tank, and MGs no longer looking like the blue-chip investments they were a decade ago, longtime collectors –– many of whom have never sold any of their toys –– are finally thinning out their herds ... and the first MGs to go out the door are the ones which are difficult to feed.

HTH. YMMV.

Very true on the ammo. One of my shooting buddys has 2 type 96's a 99 and a 92 heavy. We never shoot any of them because of ammo. I barely have time to belt the ammo I shoot in my mg's, much less form brass and load the stuff.

i like the sound of that, at least i'll be able to spend my deployment money easily and in one place.

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