Type 97 heavy tank machine gun

The Type 97 heavy tank machine gun was the standard machine gun carried in the tanks and armored vehicles of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, and it was also pressed into service as a general purpose medium machine gun by infantry. It was designed in 1937 and produced from 1937 to 1945, with about 18,000 made. The gas-operated weapon fired the 7.7x58mm Arisaka cartridge at roughly 500 rounds per minute and, unusually, was fed from a magazine, which made it the only magazine-fed general purpose or medium machine gun of its kind. It is not the same weapon as the Type 97 aircraft machine gun used in Japanese naval aircraft such as the Zero, nor the Type 97 automatic cannon used as an anti-tank rifle.