Nambu Type 14 From the Auction from Hell

[Aragorn243]

This was actually an afterthought, went to the auction for a MKII Ross but that went too high. Nambu's don't tend to go real high here (still not cheap) and I figured with the Hacksaw Ridge movie coming out on DVD I better try to get one of these before the prices go up again like after "Pacific" came out.

It's a Nagoya Toriimatsu December 1942 Type 14 with the large trigger guard. Finish is thin the grips have a couple of cracks and the springs are weak but the exterior doesn't have much pitting and only pitting inside is along where the grips touch. Magazine does not match, everything else except the firing pin does. Firing pin is an original, just not to this gun. Bore was described as bad but it was mostly grease, dust with a little rust that mostly came out. Rifling looks good. It is missing the block spring and had the firing pin magazine block "pin" on the firing pin spring, easily fixed. I've located spring kits and ammo so will get some ordered shortly.

Photos tomorrow.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

a Nagoya Toriimatsu December 1942 Type 14 with the large trigger guard.

Seldom seen now. They must have made millions and every second man had one, so where did they all go? Looking forward to the pics.

[Eaglelord17]

Actually the Japanese didn't make many pistols. I believe total production for Japanese service pistols and revolvers is in the 400,000-500,000 range. Considering at its peak the IJA had about 6,000,000 people serving, that isn't many pistols to go around. There is also the Japanese Navy and Airforce which would have to be added into the numbers as well, so that decreases how many people were issued pistols even further.

I wouldn't be too worried about the firing pin, apparently they are very weak and in service they would be issued two with the pistol as it broke so often. Looking forward to the pictures

[Aragorn243]

There were approximately 279,000 Type 14 pistols manufactured from 1926 to 1945, there were 11,350 produced at Nagoya-Toriimatsu in 1942 which aside from 69 produced in 1941 was essentially the first year of major production for this factory. This pistol as noted above is matching except for the firing pin and the magazine although I believe the magazine to be of the correct type, aluminum base. The grips are not marked but based on condition I would assume they are original. Finish is probably 30% although I'm not a great judge on that. It's missing it's block spring and the others just "feel" weak to me so I'm getting a spring replacement kit. It is not well regarded as a good combat handgun, it is not dangerous to the user but has been known to occasionally fire when trying to correct a malfunction. The round is rather light and the guns themselves have a tendency to jam quite a bit. Magazine is very small, holds 8 round but they are at a very steep angle which is probably the reason for the jams. The weak springs are considered another reason for malfunctions. I will probably get a few boxes of ammo so I can shoot it and have it on hand although based on reputation, it would probably be the last handgun I would grab in an emergency.

[Eaglelord17]

One thing I have heard, which also likely contributes to the jamming is the weakness of the 8mm Nambu round and the fact it is a locked breech pistol. If they really wanted to they could have made it a simple blowback design, which might have helped a bit with reliability.

[Aragorn243]

I watched a video on You Tube and the problem with that fellows gun was the third cartridge would not advance fully to the horizontal position and the bolt would hit it on the side of the brass. He was loading 5 at a time and the other four worked correctly, always the third round. 5th round also didn't eject after firing. He said he installed "plus" springs.

[browningautorifle]

, that isn't many pistols to go around.

That's true...

it would probably be the last handgun I would grab in an emergency.

Agreed but they aren't seen much now, so as a collector I would take one for that.

A friend of mine fought in Korea and said they saw lots of Japanese weapons, mostly. He wanted a Nambu pistol the whole time, it took years for him to get one.

[Aragorn243]

This one has a small import mark on it which surprised me so it most likely came from China or Korea post war.

[Aragorn243]

Got a spring set to replace every spring on the gun and magazine from Wolfs for $20. Have two boxes of ammo coming from Grafs at $36 a box which isn't bad considering.

Weird thing though. Last night I was looking for ammo and found this one site which shall remain unnamed. Only found two last night and Grafs wasn't one of them. Anyway, this site had ammo for $49 a box, buy 3 boxes and they were $39 a box. So you saved $30 on three boxes which I figured was a lot better than the other place (they were $59 a box). Go back today and suddenly you have to buy 6 boxes to get that rate. Unless I was stoned or drunk and I don't do drugs or drink, they pulled some kind of switch on me. But all for the better, Grafs price is better than that and I didn't have to buy three boxes to get it.

[mmppres]

nice find glad you got it