Type 10, 50mm Grenade Discharger

The History of the Type 10, 50mm Grenade Launcher

The 50mm Type 10 mortar was the first of two major "light mortars" in service with the Japanese Army during World War II. Introduced as early as 1921, the Model 10 was little more than a light mortar design compared to its contemporaries.

The weapon basically fires only the highly customizable Type 91 grenade (with stabilized fins) and is therefore considered a "grenade launcher" or grenade launcher rather than a true light mortar. In addition to its inherent limitations, the Type 10 was severely limited in its effective rangebasically up to about 175 yardsmaking the system an extremely localized fire support weapon.

The limitations of the Type 10 eventually spurred the development of a better solution, which inevitably became the heavier rifled Type 89 - although it was also called a "grenade launcher". Type 10 was also used in the Second Sino-Japanese War between China and Japan.

The design of the Type 10 focuses on a smoothbore barrel attached to a simple base plate. Like most other mortar systems, the gun is muzzle loaded and fired via a trigger mechanism. This range is controlled by adjustable gas emissions.

As a smoothbore weapon, the Type 10 relies on the fins of its projectiles to maintain its trajectory. The typical projectile becomes a Type 91 High Explosive (HE) round, although smoke (Type 11) and flares (Type 10 flash/signal, Type 91 pyrotechnics) are part of the Type 10's intensity. Therefore, the biggest advantage of the Type 10 is not only its lightweight construction, but also its wide variety of ammunition.

The operator simply places the launcher on the ground and keeps the barrel away from him and is ready to fire. Live rounds can then be fired into the muzzle, the exhaust system set to range, and the trigger mechanism activated to complete the firing process.

With the arrival of the Type 89 in 1929, the Type 10 was relegated to target lighting tasks etc. Nonetheless, the gun remained in service with the Type 89 from 1921 to 1945 and was used extensively in the Pacific Theater.

An American translation error incorrectly referred to the Type 10 and Type 89 grenade launchers as "knee launchers". This comes from the Japanese manual, which instructs soldiers to carry the launcher with the base plate attached to the belt and the launch tube hanging from the thigh.

For a while, GIs confused this with the mortar's thigh-firing capability, leading to some accidents through experimentation, as the gun, despite its small size and weight, had considerable recoil when fired. Such a shot nearly broke the operator's leg.

Specification

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