T100 Rifle
In the late 30's the Japanese instituted a paratrooper command along with allies Germany and Italy. The paratroopers having jumped at one location and their conventional weapons dropped in canister at another pressed the need for a weapon that could be put in a leg bag and tied to the soldier. One of the experiments was the T1 which was a 38 Carbine cut at the wrist and a massive hinge installed. This proved unsatisfactory. Next came the T100 which is pictured here. They took existing T99, put a sleeve on the front of the receiver with internal interrupted thread and mated that to the rear of the barrel which had interrupted threads cut on it.
The threads were not turned out of the receiver which indicates that this rifle was strictly an experimental and never reached production. The threads were turned off the barrel and a portion of the chamber cone was used to make the male interrupted thread portion to mate in the sleeve. The cone on the barrel that the bolt extended into was turned off so the barrel could be rotated 1/3 turn to lock it in place. Sights were removed from the original barrel so a band could be installed on the rear of the chamber cone to hold the forestock. Rear sight was put back on to hold the band in place and the front sight reinstalled. Notice that the fullers on the fore stock have little spacers installed under the band that hold the rear of the fore stock. One the adopted T2 a different fore stock was used that had more wood in that area and the fullers moved a little forward. A latch was installed on the front of the rear portion at the bottom of the receiver to lock the front half in place when put in and rotated. The bolt handle was made to screw on and had a tip in the middle to guide it and align the threads to screw it back on. Notice the bit of space between the two halves - this is from wear - the reason it was not adopted.
PM
