Japanese Nambu pistol and holster

[mvmhm]

After 11 months, I finally have this Type 14 in hand! It had been turned in to a Police Department by the widow of a WWII veteran as part of a gun buy-back program, and luckily, one of the officers is a "history guy" and set it aside. They offered it to the National WWII Museum who in turn referred them to us. It was made by the Toriimatsu factory at Nagoya, and is a Showa 20.1 date (January 1945). It's going to need a little TLC to be sure, but the holster is in great shape. It had an original box of ammo, but I thought it would speed up the transfer process if they kept the bullets and just sent the box with the gun. I was hoping the soldier/Marine would have written his name inside the holster flap, but when I opened it up...No joy in Mudville.

 

 

Mark sends

 

[mvmhm]

...both sides...you can see the rust is pretty crusty....the bolt matches the frame, BTW....

[mvmhm]

...the Toriimatsu markings and date....

 

[mvmhm]

The holster is rubberized canvas but with a leather shoulder strap....

[mvmhm]

..I was happy to see it still had the cleaning rod inside.....the ammo pouch has this smaller piece on the side, which looks like it was added at a later time (?). Any ideas what that might be for????

[mvmhm]

...and the box that held the ammo..note the Showa 16.6 date (June 1941)...now I kind of wish I'd had them ship the cartridges too....now to make the pistol look a little sexier (Curse you, rust!).

 

 

 

Mark sends

[Terry K.]

For extra firing pin/ striker

[Sabrejet]

The "Japanese Luger"...very cool! Such a shame about the corrosion. This would probably be prohibitively expensive, but would a professional gunsmith be able to sand-blast and re-blue it?

[mvmhm]

For extra firing pin/ striker

A-ha! Thanks!

 

 

Mark sends

[mvmhm]

The "Japanese Luger"...very cool! Such a shame about the corrosion. This would probably be prohibitively expensive, but would a professional gunsmith be able to sand-blast and re-blue it?

Nope! I never refinish something like this...I'd rather have it clean and corroded. I've had pretty good luck using a number 2 lead pencil and some light gun oil before, so it will dress up a little bit...

 

Mark sends

[Ronnie]

Use the "45 gun ball cleaning pad" it really works!

Ronnie