Kijiro Nambu is sometimes called the Japanese John Browning. He contributed immensely to the development of many small arms that were used by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. However, it should be noted that Browning's designs are still valued for their strength and simplicity of design, and Nambu weapons were often complex, not very convenient and not always reliable.
The website HistoryPistols.ru has already talked about the Japanese Nambu Type 14 pistol (Nambu Taisho 14) and its varieties. This pistol was used with success in the Japanese army, but it was rather bulky and heavy. The desire to create a lighter and more compact weapon led to the emergence of the Nambu 94 Pistol (Nambu Type 94 Pistol).
In the literature, there is an opinion that the Nambu Type 94 pistol is rather ugly and one of the worst army pistols of the Second World War.
Of course, this weapon is not the best in terms of functionality and design, but its original and unconventional design still attracts the attention of collectors and simply fans of the history of weapons today.
Some researchers claim that the Nambu 94 pistol was originally created as a commercial model and was intended for export to South America.
The pistol was developed for the 8 mm Nambu cartridges (8 × 22mm Nambu), which are familiar in the land of the rising sun. This ammunition was not very common in other countries of the world. It is unlikely that the Japanese were so naive as to believe that the weapon would be popular and in demand in the countries of South America. Most likely, the pistol was created as a personal weapon for pilots and tankers who needed a compact weapon in the conditions of small combat vehicles.
In 1934, the pistol was adopted first in the tank forces and air forces of the Imperial Japanese Army, and shortly before the outbreak of war in China in July 1937 and in the ground units. The Nambu pistol received the Type 94 designation, according to the last digits of the year it entered service. 1934 in Japanese chronology is 2594 (from 660 BC, when the first emperor of Japan ascended the throne). Serial production of weapons began in 1935, at the Nambu Rifle Manufacturing Company.
Pistol Nambu 94 (Nambu Type 94 Pistol) consists of four main units: a frame with a handle, an outer casing with a bolt, a barrel with a locking mechanism and a magazine. The pistol magazine is box-shaped, single-row, designed for 6 rounds. The magazine release button is located on the left side of the handle, in front of the trigger guard.
Automatic pistol Nambu Type 94 uses recoil energy with a short barrel stroke. The bolt engagement with the barrel is carried out by a vertically sliding wedge, which is located in the slot of the protrusion under the chamber. The pistol bolt is rather unusual design. It consists of two parts - the outer casing and the shutter itself, which is installed at the rear of the casing. The outer casing is connected to the shutter by a transverse pin.
In the extreme forward position of the barrel and the bolt, the locking wedge is at the top point, and is held by the protrusion of the frame. In this position, the side projections of the wedge fit into the grooves in the walls of the valve. After firing, the barrel with the bolt moves back together for the first time. Having passed a certain distance, the locking wedge, thanks to the bevels of the pistol frame, goes down, freeing the bolt. After disengagement, the barrel stops, and the bolt continues to move to the extreme rear position. In this case, the sleeve is removed from the chamber and the hammer is cocked. Further, under the action of the return spring, the bolt begins to move forward, while sending the cartridge from the magazine to the chamber.
Single action pistol trigger mechanism with hidden trigger. The trigger link connecting the trigger and the sear is located openly on the left side of the frame and moves in the transverse plane, so that when the hammer is cocked, an accidental pull on the trigger can cause an unexpected shot, even without pressing the trigger.
The manual safety catch is located on the frame on the left, above the grip cheek. To control the use of ammunition, the design of the pistol provides for a slide delay. After the weapon runs out of cartridges, the magazine feeder protrusion fixes the bolt in the rear position.
When the shooter removes the empty magazine, the pistol shutter closes under the action of the return spring. For this reason, after installing a new magazine with cartridges, before firing the first shot, it is necessary to distort the bolt by sending the cartridge into the chamber. This design of the slide stop sometimes causes the magazine to jam due to the strong return spring. After that, to remove the magazine from the pistol grip, the shooter has to exert considerable effort.
The cheeks of the pistol grip are usually plastic, with a diamond-shaped notch. Weapons manufactured after the first half of 1944, in order to save money, were equipped with wooden handle cheeks without any notch. The grip cheeks are attached to the frame by means of the upper protrusion, which goes into the groove of the frame, and the lower screw. This mounting method resembles a Parabellum pistol.
The total length of the pistol is 186 mm, the height is 116 mm, the barrel length is 96 mm, the aiming line is 117 mm, the mass of the weapon without ammunition is 750 g. The barrel of the Nambu Type 94 pistol has six right-angle rifling. The pistol grip is rather small for the hand of an average European, but it was just fine for a small Japanese hand. The grip angle of the grip and the overall ergonomics of the weapon, oddly enough, are quite good.
Japanese Nambu Type 94 Pistol
A sling swivel is attached to the back of the frame just above the handle, which is a trapezoidal bracket.
The pistol is equipped with an additional magazine fuse. When the magazine is removed, under the action of a spring, the safety lever rotates around its axis and its front edge abuts against the back of the trigger. When the magazine is installed in the pistol grip, the back of the safety lever turns and unlocks the trigger. Thus, the safety lock does not allow you to pull the trigger when the magazine is removed.
An oval-shaped extraction window is located in the top of the shutter casing. The sleeve is removed upward, due to the reflector installed in the pistol frame. Sights are fixed. The front sight is installed on the upper part of the shutter casing, the rear sight is located on the upper lip of the frame. The front sight and rear sight are small in height, which makes aiming with a weapon inconvenient.
The markings of Japanese weapons are not entirely familiar to Europeans. On the right side of the frame, in the tail section, there is a hieroglyphic mark indicating the era of the reign of Emperor Hirohito. It is followed by two digits "19.6" - this is the year and month of the pistol's release. The year is in Japanese. In order to determine the year of manufacture of a particular pistol, add 25 to the first digit. Accordingly, the pistol shown in the photo was made in June 1944. The serial number of the pistol "55879" is engraved on the frame above the trigger guard.
Markings on the left side of the frame in the form of three characters 式 四九 indicate the model of the weapon - Type 94. Two characters in the tail on the left side of the frame indicate the position of the safety lever (left - "fire", top - "fuse on").
The last digits of the serial number are printed on the back of the pistol magazines.
The Nambu 94 pistol was equipped with a holster and a spare magazine. The holster could be made of genuine leather or canvas. Canvas holsters were probably made at the end of the war, when the empire's resources were depleted and it was necessary to economize on everything.
Most researchers assess the Nambu Pistol 94 as an insufficiently effective weapon for use in the military. The low-power 8 mm cartridge does not quite meet the criteria for an army ammunition. Almost all experts note the difficulties in handling and maintaining the Nambu 94. The biggest complaints are about the safety of the pistol. The design features of the trigger mechanism lead to the fact that the Nambu 94, when the cocked pistol falls or even a weak blow to the weapon, can allow an accidental shot without pressing the trigger. Historians also note the shortcomings of factory assembly, especially in the last years of the war.
And yet the Nambu Type 94 pistol was a success for the Japanese. Army officers appreciated it for its compactness and for the availability of ammunition. From 1935 to 1945, approximately 71,200 copies of the Nambu 94 were produced. Most of the serial production occurs in 1942, 1943 and 1944 (10,500, 12,500 and 20,000 units, respectively). The Nambu 94 became one of the few Japanese pistols sold overseas. The Thai army and China, which purchased a small amount of this weapon, have used it with success for several decades.
The average price at antique auctions for a Nambu 94 pistol is $ 500-800.
