By the 1930's the Imperial Japanese armed forces had a sound design of automatic pistol in service, known to most westerners as the Nambu (8mm Type 14)
But following the large-scale incursions into China by Japan in the mid 1930s the greatly increased demand for pistols for the Japanese military could not be met.
The easiest solution to this problem appeared to be an 8mm automatic pistol produced 1934.
These pistols were originally issued to tank and air force personnel, but its use quickly spread to other arms of the military and by the time production ceased in 1945 71 100 had been manufactured.
From all the period accounts available, this pistol, known as the 94 Shiki Kenju (or pistol type 94) was probaly the worst service pistol ever produced.
Fundamentally the pistols basic design was unsound in several respects, on top of this the weapons appearence was wrong and the weapon handled badly, allied to this was the fact that the weapon was often unsafe.
A major reason for this last point was the fact that part of the trigger mechanism was exposed on the left side of the frame, and if this was knocked or pushed when a round was chambered the pistol would fire.
Another of the bad features was that it was fitted with a device to make sure only one round was fired each time the trigger was pulled, but this also ment that some rounds would fire before they were actually fully chambered, resulting in the gun exploding in the firers hand.
These faults on there own would have been bad enough, but when you factor in that the weapons that were made towards the end of the war were often poorly manufactured and were made from poor quality materials you were left with something that was dangerous to operate, to an alarming degree.
These problems were made worse for the Japanese personnel who had to use these pistols because the manufacture of them was often rushed so the product was often not put together correctly in the first place, but the Japanese personnel had to put up with these problems, simply because nothing else was available to replace it.
Examples of the type 94 have been found that still have file marks or other machining tool marks left on them, and the degree of ''slop'' found in some of the mechanisms signify that the type 94 should now only be considered a collectors piece, rather than a piece that can still be fired.
Specifications
Pistol type 94
Cartridge: 8mm Taisho 14
Length overall: 183mm (7.2 in)
Length over barrel: 96mm (3.78 in)
Weight: 0.688kg (1.52lbs)
muzzle velocity: 305m (1000ft) per second
Magazine: 6 round box
Type 94
Moderator: Tanaka
Type 94
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New Japanese reenactors forum
http://s13.invisionfree.com/IJA_Reenacting/
''i think the phrase ryhmes with clucking bell''
Re: Type 94
File marks are found on almost every late war japanese rifle, pistol etc.
Don't think that they are more dangerous to shoot because of this.
Don't think that they are more dangerous to shoot because of this.
Looking for T30 bayonet info.