At 14:58 6/30/2002, Edward Becerra wrote:

         To the best of my knowledge (which I admit is a little
old), the JSDF uses the Type 64 assault rifle in a special
low-power version of the standard 7.62mm NATO round.

         They MAY have upgraded to a 5.56 caliber assault rifle
in the past 10 years or so that I've been a lazy civilian, but
it's unlikely they'd use M-16's. The JSDF only uses foreign
built weapons when it absolutely must, and prefers to design
new weapons built in Japan. (A hard and bitter lesson that
the US taught them with the submarine blockade that did just
as much to destroy Japan as both atoms bombs put together.)

         I stand corrected. After digging out my working reference
books (which sorta "accidentally" walked off-base with me when
I retired *grin*), and doing some research, I found that the
Type 64 ceased production in 1990 (about the same time I got out),
and stocks on hand were, themselves, retired to use by the JSDF
reserves and for sniper duty. It was replaced in general assault
use by the Type 89, a 5.56 caliber weapon of similar design.

         Further details (at least those useful to an author)
on the Type 89 can be found here.

         http://world.guns.ru/assault/as38-e.htm

         Ed Becerra
         (who really should USE his damn reference books before
         shooting off his mouth..)

         "Dreamers may die, but the Dream is eternal..."



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