The BAR M1918 is an excellent weapon for the USMC at just level 7, however the Japanese Type 11 is just absolutely terrible. The BAR has a high rate of fire, high damage (for an LMG), good iron sights, good reload speed, and relatively low recoil making it one of the best weapons in the entire Pacific War campaign. The Type 11 on the other hand has a slow rate of fire, low damage, terrible iron sights, slow reload speed, and an abysmal recoil pattern making it one of the worst weapons in the entire Pacific War campaign.
A 10.2kg (22.5lb) machinegun firing intermediate rifle cartridges should have a very controllable recoil pattern. However, the Type 11 in its current state loves to bounce to the right of the target, to the left, to above, to anywhere except the actual point of aim. The Type 11 would be more useful if you didn’t have to fiddle around with the bipod (and get shot in the process) trying to hit something farther than 50 yards. With all the shortcomings of the Type 11 (reload speed, rate of fire, damage, iron sights), it should at least have a low recoil to make up for it.
Seeing as how the Japanese team gets curb-stomped on nearly every game now, perhaps it is a good time to balance the machineguns.