At 06:20 6/19/2002, Donald Lee Granberry wrote:

===============================
Divided I Stand: Part III Rev 0
===============================

         <snip>

      "Gun down!" Tanaka bellowed, as his training took
control. Sight picture, squeeze. The M16A2 rifle barked. For
reasons that Tanaka did not understand, the tinkling of
ejected brass always bothered him more than the muzzle blast.

         I am (or rather was) a military gunsmith, Don. And
I've given this sort of advice before, to Gary Kleppe and
others.

         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.)

         The Type 64's an excellent example. Designed specifically
to allow for the shorter and somewhat slighter build of the
average Japanese soldier, it uses the best ideas that were
available in the world of small-arms design at that time without
going over the top with useless bells and whistles. Low recoil,
high accuracy, (relatively) light weight, and second only to
the AK-47 in durability.

         If you'd prefer more info, just get in touch with me
so we can take this off the list.

         Ed Becerra
         Sgt., 2nd Armored Cav, US Army
         (retired, medical)

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



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