Shipper Type 98 disassembled

Assembled version here: tastyjuice.deviantart.com/art/…

Animation of the action: gfycat.com/SeveralHealthyAfric…

John Shipper (1897-1970) was an inventor and business man from The Netherlands. During his time as a designer, Shipper invented and produced more than 50 small arms for national and international distribution.

The Type 98 was a trials weapon designed for the Imperial Japanese Army, as a replacement for the Japanese Type 96, and was chambered in the 7.7x58 Arisaka round. The Type 98 is externally very close to the Type 96, but its operation and disassembly were quite different. According to Shipper, the similarities were to make the adoption of the new weapon easier, since the ergonomics were quite similar.

The Type 98, however, used a straight blowback mechanism with a very heavy spring to manage the recoil of the 7.7 round. To aid handling the weapon, the bolt was attached to a Luger-like toggle mechanism to provide extra leverage when cocking the weapon. Due to this, many think the Type 98 is a toggle-locking weapon. Due to the straight-blowback format, the barrel was lowered and placed beneath the gas system, to reduce barrel rise.

The Type 98 project ended in 1938, when Shipper cut off all contact with Nambu and the Japanese Empire when their intentions became increasingly clearer. The Type 98 was scrapped, and Nambu simply sized up the Type 96 from 6.5x50 to 7.7x58.

Drawn in Algodoo and Photoshop.