A Brief History
The Type 92 takes its name from the Japanese Imperial year 2592, the year it debuted, which translates to 1932 in the Gregorian calendar. It was a gas-operated gun that fired a 7.7mm cartridge and had a rate of fire around 400-450 rounds per minute. It fed off 30-round Hotchkiss-type metal strips.
It must have been a beast to set up and drag around the islands. Weighing 122 pounds with the tripod, the gun was typically serviced by a three-man crew. The gun had a maximum range of 4,500 meters but a practical range of only about 800 meters.
This particular Type 92 was in service in Guadalcanal, as evidenced by the specks of green paint still apparent on the gun and the personal history behind it. After firing at a U.S. ship, it was shelled and recovered by General Vandergrift, then presented to Admiral Halsey, who brought it back stateside.
One of the oddities about the gun was that the cartridges needed to be oiled to run properly. The Japanese factories would pre-oil their bullets, and a plunger in the action would release oil to keep the gun running steady all day. However, the need for this oil also attracted dirt and grim that could easily jam the gun.
New Home on the Range
Firearms and machine gun enthusiast Bill Kish purchased the gun just a couple days before bringing it to show off at Big Sandy. Since Kish doesn’t have the correct oil that would have been used during WWII, he had to get a little creative to make the gun run. His solution is to apply Carnauba car wax to the bullets to make the gun function. He claims that this gives the gun a nice banana smell after firing a few rounds.
The gun also came with the original backpack that would have been used by the soldier transporting the ammunition. A small canvas padding was all the comfort they had while climbing the mountains. Kish also has the extra carry poles for the gun, demonstrating how the team of three or four would be able to transport the fully assembled gun for quick deployment.
Other Oddities
This gun also came with an optic that was added later in its life. It’s a fixed power optic that gets it on target and made it easy to blow up dynamite at the Big Sandy range. The gun still feeds on the 7.7x58mm rounds, but now Kish reloads all of them, claiming that the original loads are bad for the gun (if you could even find them).
This also means that he has to clean up all his brass, which could be quite a task at Big Sandy, given all the ammo being shot.
But Kish doesn’t mind. He says being able to shoot and share this gun with others is “fantastic … nothing better in the world.” Thank you, Bill, for taking the time to share it with us.
