It's a C&R Christmas! Nambu Type 14!

[Datamancer]

Thanks to some collaboration between my fiancee and my uncle, I got a Nambu Type 14 today! It's a Toriimatsu Branch, Nagoya Arsenal (matches my Type 99), made in in November 1943. I ordered some Buffalo Arms Nambu ammunition for it and some 7.7 Arisaka while I was at it.





It's easily the most ugly and awkward pistol I've ever seen, but much like an ugly pug dog, it's the ugliness that makes it charming!

-~D~-

[VegasND]

Nice addition to your C&R collection.

Remember to post a range report when you get to shoot it.

[hybridatsun350]

Very cool! I wish I would have gotten something that cool!

[Bigtwin]

Very nice. It is certianly no uglier than a Nagant revolver!

[TurboChrisB]

Wow! Youre right...it's so ugly it's cool! Nice

[morrcarr67]

Merry Christmas! have fun shooting it.

[River Jack]

Awesome. But if you're into ugly, try the T-94!

[Lucky Scott]

Looks to be in great shape.

[Datamancer]

Thanks guys, I stripped it and cleaned it last night and it looked to be in really good condition. The recoil spring was kind of bent so I straightened that out while I was in there, but the rifling was strong, most of the bluing was intact, springs are shiny, etc.
It's definitely a strange gun. Some aspects of the design are very clever, while others are confusingly idiotic. For instance, the grips are only held on by the TINIEST little bit of overlap on the grip bolts and look like they would fall right off at the slightest bump. The firing pin post is the tiniest little thing that looks like it would snap if you looked at it wrong, and there's a spring in the trigger group assembly that rests about halfway on a ledge, barely held in and crushed slightly sideways that looks to be designed that way and not just a quirk of my particular Nambu. The firing pin also barely slides in the bolt assembly and there appears to be a ledge in the rear of the firing pin caused by bad machining that makes it stick.

I also found out that it's a transitional variant and shares a few traits of a series 1 and a few of a series 2.

-~D~-

[Phouty]

Congratulations, and welcome to the Nambu family!
Yeah, I do agree. Type 14 is so ugly as to be the most beautiful handgun IMHO! Contrary to popular opinion it is a well engineered and designed gun. Units manufactured before WWII were made very well. As a war progressed, the workmanship and quality decreased significantely, but this is true for practically every weapon made by Axis countries from that period of time.
No wonder, that Ruger designed his Mark I pistol based on "philosophy" of the Nambu.

Here's mine. Love that gun. It feels like .22 cal. while shooting it. Almost no recoil. (I don't shoot it much though, just barely enough to "clean the spider webs" from the barrel). Mine was manufactured in Sept. of 1939 (Showa 14.9), and is unique in that sense, that it is a transitional model. It got enlarged trigger guard, but no mag. retaining spring in the frontstrap of the grip.



According to Terri from Canada a.k.a Nambu Lady, only 5,750 of those transitional guns were ever manufactured between September and December of 1939.

BTW
I was also able to get the "original" magazine for my Nambu.


There is a guy on Gunboards, who sells original Japanese magazines for $130 a piece. With a luck, you might get a mag with last 3 digits of your gun's serial number the way I did!
One "correct" magazine with 3-digit serial number is matching only 1 gun in 1,000 ever produced, however because of the fact, that there were 2 magazines issued per each gun, (the spare one had a "dot" above the S/N), the chances of getting a matching magazine is 1 to 500.

[johnthomas]

Your girlfriend is a keeper, I hope you got her something as cool as she got you.

[Spiggy]

Thanks guys, I stripped it and cleaned it last night and it looked to be in really good condition. The recoil spring was kind of bent so I straightened that out while I was in there, but the rifling was strong, most of the bluing was intact, springs are shiny, etc.
It's definitely a strange gun. Some aspects of the design are very clever, while others are confusingly idiotic. For instance, the grips are only held on by the TINIEST little bit of overlap on the grip bolts and look like they would fall right off at the slightest bump. The firing pin post is the tiniest little thing that looks like it would snap if you looked at it wrong, and there's a spring in the trigger group assembly that rests about halfway on a ledge, barely held in and crushed slightly sideways that looks to be designed that way and not just a quirk of my particular Nambu. The firing pin also barely slides in the bolt assembly and there appears to be a ledge in the rear of the firing pin caused by bad machining that makes it stick.

I also found out that it's a transitional variant and shares a few traits of a series 1 and a few of a series 2.

-~D~-

On that note, don't dry fire it. T14 Firing Pins are notoriously weak.

Mine's a 17.5, or May 1942, 17th year of Showa

[beerman]

That gun is ugly till you shoot it...my buddy had a few and I put lots of rounds thru one. A pleasure to shoot. As was mentioned here in a previous thread, the fact the Ruger MK1 is very similar in feel and action is probably no coincedence. Enjoy your Nambu!

[Anchors]

Never seen that before, pretty rad/ugly!!
I need to get a Japanese weapon.

[Datamancer]

Congratulations, and welcome to the Nambu family!
Yeah, I do agree. Type 14 is so ugly as to be the most beautiful handgun IMHO! Contrary to popular opinion it is a well engineered and designed gun. Units manufactured before WWII were made very well. As a war progressed, the workmanship and quality decreased significantely, but this is true for practically every weapon made by Axis countries from that period of time.
No wonder, that Ruger designed his Mark I pistol based on "philosophy" of the Nambu.

Here's mine. Love that gun. It feels like .22 cal. while shooting it. Almost no recoil. (I don't shoot it much though, just barely enough to "clean the spider webs" from the barrel). Mine was manufactured in Sept. of 1939 (Showa 14.9), and is unique in that sense, that it is a transitional model. It got enlarged trigger guard, but no mag. retaining spring in the frontstrap of the grip.


According to Terri from Canada a.k.a Nambu Lady, only 5,750 of those transitional guns were ever manufactured between September and December of 1939.

BTW
I was also able to get the "original" magazine for my Nambu.


There is a guy on Gunboards, who sells original Japanese magazines for $130 a piece. With a luck, you might get a mag with last 3 digits of your gun's serial number the way I did!
One "correct" magazine with 3-digit serial number is matching only 1 gun in 1,000 ever produced, however because of the fact, that there were 2 magazines issued per each gun, (the spare one had a "dot" above the S/N), the chances of getting a matching magazine is 1 to 500.

Nice Nambu and good score on the mag! $130 sounds a but steep though so I'll probably just keep the single mag. I don't plan on shooting it much, just enough to clean out the cobwebs, as you said. Thanks for the info! That's good to know.

-~D~-