In an attempt to revive this discussion a bit and refute this weird claim “Japan is out of options already” here are some gun ideas for the faction you might not have heard of before (well and some you’ve probably heard a million times by now).
Gold order/Armory event ideas:
-Bouganville improvised grenade launcher Type 38
(this one is a reproduction)
or
-Bouganville improvised grenade launcher Type 99
(this one is from the Royal Armouries Collection)
could just have both but have one fire 50mm HE and the other 50mm incendiary.
-Prototype Mark A Pistol (15 shot) as a gun equal to the Voevodin pistol and BHP.
-Type 38 with 30 round Type 96 magazine
(from the US Ordnance Museum, most people are probably familiar with the B&W image)
-Ground converted .303 Mk II* Browning (1150rpm) as an analog to the US AN/M2 Stinger
(there is a Japanese ground converted AN/M2 as well funny enough, but I like this one more)
-Prototype Ultra Light Machine gun as an analog to the T20E2
(gif by me, shows both the 20 and the 30 round magazine)
-Type 22 Murata as a “high capacity” bolt action, bit of a meme like the Gew88/05 or Berdan 2
-Thai contract Nambu Type B Large with stock (or alternatively a Type A large with stock, but since we got the Thai Ha-Go as well I thought this might be fitting better)
Regular guns:
-Type 38/Type 99 with Type 2 40mm HEAT rifle grenade (already in the editor, I know)
-Navy Type 92 LMG with 47rnd drum as an analog to the Lewis gun (should that ever be added for the Western Allies)
-Ground converted Navy Type 97 as an analog to the M1919A4
-Navy Type 92 LMG with 97rnd drum as an analog to the M1919A6
-Prototype 9cm Rocket Launcher, 93.5mm derivative of the Type 4 74mm. Can pierce a 120mm plate at 90° - 試製九糎噴進砲
-Navy Shotgun with bayonet mount
(there were a bunch of different patterns of these as the guns were donated by Japanese hunters)
-Type 99 81mm mortar (since other nations have portable larger caliber mortars as well)
-Experimental automatic rifle Kō with scope mount so Japan gets a semi auto sniper. There is already a carbine version of the Kō for a premium squad, but this one would be the long barrel version and ofc with a scope.
(scope attachment point on the left side of the receiver)
Split idea:
-Prototype Model 2A smg in 6.5x30mm Type 95 cartridge. (400-625rpm)
either as a regular unlock should the M2 carbine remain in Pacific or as a gold order if it doesn’t.
(this is an artists interpretation as no real images have yet surfaced, but this does pretty much match the description).
If August Storm (Soviet Invasion of Manchuria) ever becomes its own campaign:
-Prototype armor-piercing bullet Type 99 rifle grenade (70mm caliber) (75mm pen) - 試製外装穿甲弾
(personal interpretation based on descriptions, no images exist as far as I know)
-75mm Grenade for Type 2 launcher (100mm pen estimated) - 七十五粍タ弾
(personal interpretation based on descriptions, no images exist as far as I know)
-Type 97 20mm with Ji-Te Dan 200mm(estimated) rifle grenade (theoretically able to pierce an estimated 250mm of Armor)
(this one is a bit sketchy but a researcher I trust mentioned it as well.)
-13mm manual gun as an analog to the PTRD (this would’ve also been a more fair choice compared to the Boys AT rifle, but since it was just a prototype I can sort of see why they went with the Type 97 20mm). 5/10 round magazines, chambered for 13.2x99mm and used the Type 92 armor-piercing cartridge. The requirement was 20mm armor penetration at 200m but I’ve also read the Type 92 round could pierce 20mm at 500m which would give us something like 25mm pen at 200m.
(3d concept by 伍長P, I don’t entirely agree with this setup but it should give a rough idea how the gun would’ve looked like since no real images are publicly available far as I know, only a description.)
-Type 44 carbine for the engineer rifle (yes those were primarily cavalry guns but I’ve seen accounts of engineers sometimes using them as well), would also fit as an equivalent to the M44 Mosin since that also has a folding bayonet.
-Ground converted Army Type 89 as an analog to the Maxim-Tokarev if that ever gets added.
(this one is the famous Indonesian usage gun, I also have images from US reports that show a few more of these conversions)
-Ground converted Te-4 (69 round mag) as an analog to the DT
(this one is from the Beijing Military Museum)
-Type 26 revolver as an analog to the Nagant 1895
-Type B small as an analog to the TK1926
Considering the amount of prototypes other nations have I see no issue with Japanese prototypes btw.
I should note that I believe all the prototype guns should’ve been gold order only but since nonsense like the 100rnd drum Thompson and Krieghoff prototype FG are treated as normal paratrooper guns I think all weapons mentioned here are equally reasonable, let me know if you disagree and why.
Some sources/additional reading:
-Bouganville improvised grenade launcher repro: Clone of the "Bouganville" improvised grenade launcing rifle | Gunboards Forums
-Bouganville improvised grenade launcher Type 99: https://royalarmouries.org/collection/object/object-276602 (picture by a friend of mine)
-Type 38 with 30 round Type 96 magazine: Picture from “War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay”. The gun itself is as I’ve said in the US Ordnance Museum.
-Ground converted .303 Mk II* Browning: The Browning Machinegun Vol.II by Dolf L. Goldsmith pg. 355
-Ultra-Light Machine gun: 試製超軽機関銃審査の件
-Murata Type 22: Picture by C&Rsenal, specifically this tweet.
-Ground converted Navy Type 97: Picture from the Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C144664
-Prototype 9cm Rocket Launcher: https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/das/image/F0000000000000218255 / Untitled Document
-Navy Shotgun with bayonet: shotgun with bayonet lug | Gunboards Forums
-Prototype Model 2A smg in 6.5x30: First of all the artist of that picture is Matsumoto Morio (松本森男) and is taken from this tweet.
Source for the gun existing is “Introduction to Rifles, Handguns, and Machine Guns: A Thorough Study of Japanese Small Arms”(小銃・拳銃・機関銃入門―日本の小火器徹底研究) by Sayama Jiro(佐山二郞) pg. 384/386.
There is also a disassembled picture of the Model 2B gun in the Japanese “Gun” Magazine, 1976 January edition, this shows a spacer at the back of the magazine well, it is Mr. Morios and my theory that the magwell originally fit the longer 6.5x30 mag and was modified for the 8x22mm Nambu guns after the 6.5x30mm round was abandoned.
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-Prototype armor-piercing bullet Type 99 rifle grenade: “Introduction to Rifles, Handguns, and Machine Guns: A Thorough Study of Japanese Small Arms” pg. 160/161
-75mm Grenade for Type 2 launcher: https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/das/image/F0000000000000218251
-Type 97 20mm Ji-Te Dan: AT grenade for Type 97 AT rifle - Axis History Forum (I’ve seen mentions that the rifle grenades were only 40-50mm but nothing to confirm that yet)
-13mm manual gun: 3d model by 伍長P https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=2005986. Details from “Introduction to Rifles, Handguns, and Machine Guns: A Thorough Study of Japanese Small Arms” pg. 100/101
