Archive for Nambu

Nambu Type-14 Firing Pins

Posted in Parts & Accessories with tags , , , on September 1, 2018 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgI have this illness where I just have to fire my collectible firearms, even just once. The Type-14 was no exception, however, these are notorious for snapping their firing pins.

So in an effort to avoid the gnashing of teeth and the inevitable mocking by Andrew, I found a guy in the US who made these pins. Terribly long winding path to get them into Canada and a long afternoon under a bedsheet attempting to not lose the springs involved in disassembly of the Nambu. A few rounds out the end, most of which misfired due to the age of the ammo. Here are the pins, dull eh?

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Nambu Type 14 Cleaning Rod

Posted in Parts & Accessories with tags , , on July 22, 2018 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThe Type 14 Nambu I hooked a couple of years ago came missing its cleaning rod. You can find these around if you look hard enough. Boring, but it helps me finish off the “rig”.

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Japanese 8mm Pistol Ammunition Cartons

Posted in Ammo & Magazine Pouches, Ammunition & Fusing with tags , , , , on November 10, 2017 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThese two cartons arrived in the mail today, all the way from the U.S. I expect you won’t be that excited by them but finding unopened cartons of wartime Japanese Nambu ammunition is almost unobtainium. Getting them into Canada from the States is a painful experience as any ammunition export from the US requires Department of the Interior approval. These two cartons are marked almost identically. The star marking is for the Tokyo First Arsenal. The first line of characters is “ju-yon-nen-shiki-ken-ju-jip-po”  which translates to “Type 14 Handgun Ammunition”. The second row is “ju-go-hatsu” meaning “15 rounds”. On the underneath of the cartons are the stamps for “sho” meaning Showa Year and 19.11, which translates to November 1944. These are perfect for my 1944 Type 14 Pistol here and fit into the front pocket of the 1944 holster I have here.

 

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Japanese Type-14 Nambu Pistol

Posted in Firearms with tags , , , on April 16, 2017 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThis is the Nambu Type-14 semi-automatic pistol. This pistol was produced from 1925 until 1945. This example has the digits 19.5 stamped into the frame. This is the year and month of manufacture. In this case you add 19 to 1925, the first year of the Showa Emperor. This gets you to 1944. May is the fifth month so the pistol was produced in May 1944. The manufacturer is Toriimatsu and this pistol is from the second series. 1944 was the high point in the manufacture of this pistol so the 19.5 is pretty common. These pistols a terribly ugly and have a bad reputation for shooting their owners. The ammunition, 8mm Nambu, is almost unobtainium.

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Japanese Nambu Holster

Posted in Holsters with tags , , , , on April 16, 2017 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgThis holster is manufactured to fit the Nambu Type 14 that I just imported from the States. The holster is made from rubberized canvas. In my experience Japanese leather was just terrible quality and little of it survived use. This material was substituted as it resisted the damp of the S.E.Asia battlefield much better. It’s marked with kanji inside but I have no idea what it says. I’ll be off to the internet to find out. The holster has a small pouch in the front for storing a 15 round carton of 8mm pistol ammunition. The cleaning rod is missing, something else for me to rectify.

The holster has two rows of kanji inside the flap. I am an idiot and have the photo upside down but basically the first row starts with “sho”, short for Showa, the emperors name. Then there is the kanji for the number 10 followed by a 5 or a 9. This would mean 1940 or 1944. 1940 is too early for one of these canvas holsters so it must be 1944. Then below is the mark for the Nagoya Arsenal and finally an acceptance mark.

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Nambu Type-14 Magazines

Posted in Magazines with tags , , , , , on March 1, 2017 by The Dude

Flag_of_Japan.svgI understand, from my friend Andrew, that importing is a slippery slope. If so, I just fell down it. I have a Japanese Nambu Type-14 pistol coming from the States and while I wait I have been gathering the bits and pieces to put together a full kit.

In this case we have two magazines made by the Toriimatsu arsenal. I also found 44 rounds of wartime ammo, no headstamp which I am told is correct.

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