The Hino-Komuro (Japanese: 日野式自動拳銃 Hino shikijidōkenjū) was a semi-automatic rifle that was designed by Kumazō Hino and Yūjirō Komuro.
History[]
The Hino-Komuro rifle was created in the midst of the Russo-Japanese war, with Komuro seeing an opportunity to create and sell his invention to the Imperial Japanese Army. It was demonstrated before the then Japanese Emperor Meiji, and his son and future emperor, Taisho, in 1904. However, reports state that they were unimpressed or the weapon failed to meet imperial standards. Either way, they rejected to buy his design. A year later in 1905, the Japanese Army would officially adopt the Type 38 Arisaka as their new service rifle.
Design[]
The rifle was an unusual blow-forward design in which the breech was static and the barrel propelled forward to create an opening in the breech. Cocking was achieved by pulling the the receiver back, whereupon it would be held in the forward position by a small catch. This would create an opening in the breech for a bullet to enter.
Pulling the trigger would loosen the catch and allow the barrel to move back until it came in contact with the bullet. The nose of the bullet would enter the end of the barrel and the barrel would be prevented from coming back any further by a secondary catch. This catch was released by squeezing the grip safety, which would allow the barrel to retract fully and scoop the bullet completely, upon which it would be forced backward into the static firing pin, causing the bullet to fire. After discharge, the barrel is blown forward again, opening the breech and ejecting the spent cartridge.
Sources[]
- https://waralbum.ru/community/armor/52/paged/15/
- https://www.reddit.com/r/ForgottenWeapons/comments/ckl0ra/hino_komuro_rifle_anyone_got_info_on_this/
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