Japanese Militaria at Castle-Thunder.com

[UBE Mechanic]

I am well aware of the strength of the type 38 and type 99 rifles. As compaired to the US Springfield they are far stronger. What type of steel did the Japanese use?

[Smokey]

I believe they used carbon steel. The strength came from the selective heat treatment, which had been refined almost to an art. The load-bearing areas had a hard surface, backed up by an extremely tough, strong (not as hard) body.

[UBE Mechanic]

Thanks Smokey. I found a copy of "Hatcher's Notebook" today. He confirms your take on it. Hatcher states that the steel used was similar to our SAE No. 1085, which is a high carbon steel. If any of you get a chance to acquire a copy, do it. It is one great book.
John

[riceone]

I saw a video of a Japanese sword blade anchored so that a rifle bullet would strick the cutting edge and split the bullet and not harm the blade. It is no wonder that they refined steel to make the strongest action in the world of bolt actions. They fired repeadely at the blade and finally broke it with a 50 cal. Several years ago I chambered a T38 to fire the 7.7x58 cartridge and fired it down the 6.5 barrel with no damage whatsoever to the rifle. riceone.
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[UBE Mechanic]

Interesting Roy. Maybe we can get Ray to donate a few bayonets next spring to test the strength of them. Shooting a 7.7 bullet through a 6.5 barrel? Remind me not to share hand loading data with you. Not many rifles would have survived that test.
J. Davison

[gwsiii]

Oh lets surprise Ray and just sneak in, grab a few, test them, then put 'em back.....
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[Smokey]

To those doubters, please refer to the "Blevins Banzi Blowup Tests".
They certainly impressed me!

[DEFUC]

the blow up test was fun and educational, Roy did a excellent job with that,very carefully done and scientific...The quality stayed with japanese rifles right thru the end of the war too,Ive shot a lot of late war rifles and they are as solid and reliable as their early counter parts,just simpler to make and less refined..Id still like to run afew of the beter training rifles thru the test tube,I suspect they'd hold up just fine,but the testing would be fun.

[riceone]

Well Dave we did shoot a trainer at the Blevins shoot several years back. I ran across the action last week. It was the type trainer that the barrel screwed into the front of the chamber cone with fine threads. The hole in the end of the chamber cone looked 6.5. Only shot it one time with a normal 6.5 load. Wonder how many rounds would it take for something to happen. Next time Doss is over here we'll try and see - he won't use the test chamber. riceone.
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Most people who preach tolerance are very intolerate.

[DEFUC]

we shot one several times ,4yrs ago I think,myself and the usual "will shoot anything "guy ,he had one of the well finished ones and offered,we each ran 4-5 rds thru it as i recall ,shot just fine. ILL usually shoot about anything (without any safety tube ) too, however,anytime I mention doing it on some boards,I get a lecture from some of the whiners there.

[riceone]

It seems I read one time that in the early 1900's the Japanese got gun steel from Sweden - anyone else ever read this? riceone.
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Most people who preach tolerance are very intolerate.

[gwsiii]

Here is a video where they use a .50 cal on a sword blade. I'm all for late-night 'scientific' tests, but something like this has never appealed to me. So other tests will show up on the page too.

.50 cal vs. sword video
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[fantazia]

Aside from the carbon steel, what else did the Japanese use?
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[gwsiii]

I'm at a loss...Totally out of my area, anyone else?
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