Japanese Type 5 Pistol

[Brian Keith]

 

Here is a very uncommon souvenir from Japan after WW II. It is so crudely made, and “ugly”, I suspect that is why so few are known in collector circles.

This is the label I made for it:

Japanese Type 5 Pistol

12 Gauge Shotgun/20 mm Signal Flares

Souvenir of

U.S.N.R. Lieutenant, Junior Grade, J. Gordon Meeker

By mid-1944, the war was going very badly for Imperial Japan. Raw materials were in very short supply, much of the merchant shipping fleet had been sunk. And a tremendous amount of munitions had been lost on the battlefields. There was great pressure to keep up the production of munitions for the defense of the home Islands. The designs of standard weapons were altered to speed up production and save raw material.

This new substitute pistol design, which fires both signal flares and conventional 12 gauge shotgun shells, was probably a remedy to some of these problems. This pistol has both front and rear sights, no previous Japanese signal pistol had sights. Research indicates it was likely made at the Yokosuka Naval base, to augment the supply of pistols and sub-machine guns to be used for combat to repel the impending invasion by US forces, by the Japanese guards at the Yokosuka Naval base.

It is crudely constructed, but appears to be functional, although with an unpleasant recoil to fire with shotgun shells. Only four of these pistols are known to exist among collector circles. This pistol carries serial number 610 with what may be an assembly number of 33. The SN of 610 is the highest serial number known to exist.

This very rare pistol was a souvenir of U.S.N.R. Lt. (jg) J. Gordon Meeker of Portland, IN., who served in the Pacific Theater during WW II and in Occupied Japan as a Civil Affairs Officer.

Donated by the Family of J. Gordon Meeker

Museum of the Soldier Collection

This type pistol is described in the Derby & Brown book, Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns 1893-1945. This is an excellent book for those interested in Japanese handguns.

Thanks for looking, comments welcome!

BKW

[zk4298militaria]

Great piece made even better with the name!

[doyler]

Thanks for posting. Amazing piece of history

[iron bender]

Kinda reminds me of the Liberator but for the Japanese. Never heard of this but certainly interesting. Thanks for the post!

[jangle]

Great acquisition for the Museum.

As you know, just a handful have been reported in the Japanese collecting community.

[manayunkman]

Never seen one of these.

 

 Thank you for posting it.

[1st Sgt CES]

I always like items that come with a name of who got

[Brian Keith]

Thanks for all the comments! When it first came in, it took quite a bit of research to find out exactly what it was. As noted, very few are known in collections.

It is somewhat reminiscent of the "Liberator" pistol. The big difference is the Liberator was made to distribute to partisans/irregular forces as a disposable weapon to assist in obtaining a "real" combat arm. This was apparently made by the Japanese to arm Japanese soldiers. 

This was donated by the family after the veteran had passed away. As such, we don't know the exact story on where/how it was acquired. We always celebrate when we acquire items that are veteran identified. But it is a bit sad when we cannot ask questions of the vet.

This is one of those items that few folks will ever see in person.

BKW

As an unrelated aside, the veterans daughter's office was in one of the twin towers in NYC. She was not in her office that particular day, September 11.  And as a result of that particular September 11, I spent a year in Afghanistan. 

 

[Jean-Loup]

"This pistol has both front and rear sights, no previous Japanese signal pistol had sights. "

 

I dont understand, doesnt the Nambu pistol also have sights?

[manayunkman]

The Nambu is not a flare gun so of course it has sights.

 

This is a flare gun with sights, a gun that isn’t made with sights.

[Brian Keith]

36 minutes ago, Jean-Loup said:

"This pistol has both front and rear sights, no previous Japanese signal pistol had sights. "

 

I dont understand, doesnt the Nambu pistol also have sights?

Hello Jean-Loup,

Thanks for your question and interest in this thread. The key word in that sentence is signal. Regular combat/defensive hand guns like the Type-14 did have sights. They fired standard ammunition cartridges. But previous types of Japanese pyrotechnic signal pistols did not have sights and were clearly designed solely for signals cartridges. Generally a pyrotechnic signal pistol is aimed directly straight into the air to achieve the highest elevation possible so the signal flare can be seen for the most distance. This type, called the Type 5 in collector circles, are 20mm/12 gauge in bore size. Previous Japanese signal pistols were 35mm in bore size. The common Japanese pyrotechnic signal pistols are the Type 10, the Type 90 in double and triple barrel configuration. There is also a Type 97 signal pistol of 28mm bore. 

Something I did not mention previously is that there are a few double barrel examples similar to the Type 5 I posted in collections. 

Best regards!

BKW

[Jean-Loup]

Sorry, missed the most important word in the sentence. 🤐

[jangle]

As Brian Keith has correctly explained, these were designed to fire a 12 gage shell by the populace in the defense of the home Islands, not a signal flare cartridge.  It is believed the war ended before many of these shot pistols were made.

Since Brian mentioned a double barrel variation was also made in extremely limited quantities, I will include a copy of one from my collection.  If my example is not proper to include in this thread, feel free to delete my photos.

Regards, James

 

 

[268th C.A.]

Scary 😲 no way in He-- I'm shooting a OO buck out of that... its worse than a sawed off shot gun. You better hold onto that barrel it will knock you out when it hits you in the fore head. LOL. 

Interesting ....

[Brian Keith]

Excellent Addition James!

Thanks,

BKW