One of the great rarities of the War in the Pacific, this is one of the very few Type 5 Semi-Automatic Rifles manufactured by Imperial Japan during World War II. While the bolt action Type 38 and Type 99 (along with their variants) would be Japan's mainstay infantry weapons through the war, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy was already exploring an upgrade to semi-automatic as early as the 1920s. In the 1930s they were considering a home-grown weapon based on the Pedersen toggle lock, but development was stalled by the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The issue was revisited in 1944 due to requests for a new weapon that could counter the firepower advantage that the M1 Garand gave to America's soldiers and marines. Deciding to fight fire with fire, the answer was an M1 variant configured to take 7.7mm ammo, dubbed the Type 5. While a valiant attempt was made to get the Type 5 ready for the field, only about 125 complete Type 5s were produced before the war ended. The included capture paper (which simply lists "ONE JAPANESE RIFLE", no model designation or serial/assembly number) is made out to a Colonel Walter D. Buie by LTC C.W. Baluvelt (action Adjutant General) of the 25th Infantry Division and hand-dated 14 March 1946. Born in Nashville, Georgia in 1900, Walter Daniel Buie graduated from West Point in 1920, and spent the next several years in various positions, being made the commanding officer of the 272nd Infantry Regiment of the 69th Infantry Division. The 272nd, aka The Battle Axe Regiment, saw action on the Siegfried Line and the crossing of the Rhine River, and ended the war in Germany after making contact with Soviet forces, handing off their sector of the Eilenburg-Torgau Road to elements of the Ukrainian Army before moving to occupation duty. Buie himself would leave the 272 and head to the Pacific to join the 25th Infantry Division as their Chief of Staff, and stayed on board with MacArthur's Far Eastern Command. Retiring from the Army in 1954 he had a government career in civil defense and emergency preparedness before passing on in 1986. Buie maintained an extensive collection of European and Japanese firearms, some of which still retained the original transport crates; this particular rifle comes with a hardwood crate addressed to Mrs. W.D. Buie, then residing in North Carolina. Following very closely in the footsteps of the Garand, this Type 5 shows some elements of the Arisaka in its design, particularly in the construction of the stock and the configuration of the sights. A key mechanical difference is in the loading system, doing away with the Garand's en-bloc clip system in favor of external clips, and extending the magazine to permit a 10-round capacity, with an extended cupped floorplate instead of the Garand's flat plate. Dismounting the receiver is nearly identical to the Garand, but the trigger group is secured to the stock with a combination of a rear shelf and a front screw. Internally the resemblance is very strong, though the op rod is uncut. The stock is made from a similar inletted style to the Type 99, including a set of metal tang straps on the top and bottom of the wrist, side mounted sling swivels and a cupped steel buttplate. The number"13" is stamped on the bottom barrel flat near the breech. Disassembly is required to view the aforementioned number.

Excellent, with 90% of the original black finish, showing areas of bright wear and mild handling marks. The stock shows dents and scuffs appropriate to age. Mechanically excellent. Rare in any condition and absent from nearly all collections of World War II or Imperial Japanese weapons, this is undoubtedly the finest example we have ever offered at auction.