Nambu Type 14 (Large Trigger Guard)

The late production Nambu Type 14 pistol with large trigger guard was made by the Toriimatsu branch of the Nagoya arsenal. The Type 14 was an improved version of the Type A Nambu. Late production Nambu Type 14's were built between 1939 and 1945 and approximately 73,000 of them were made in that time. They can be distinguished by the enlarged trigger guard. Fighting in Manchuria (China), Japanese soldiers had problems in accessing the trigger while wearing gloves. After this modification, the late production Nambu Type 14 pistol with a large trigger guard allowed the pistol to be used with winter gloves. These pistols also featured an additional magazine retention spring mounted in the front strap of the grip, to avoid magazine loss during the use of the pistol, and a simplified bolt knob. The Nambu Type 14 pistol used unique cartridges. The 8mm Nambu is a bottleneck cartridge that pushes a 102 grain bullet at a little over 900 fps and has approximately the same power as a .380 ACP cartridge. The Nambu pistol was a semi-automatic pistol used by the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy during WWI and WWII. The Nambu pistol was designed in 1902 by General Kijiro Nambu. The pistol is a recoil operated, locked breech, semi-automatic pistol. The manual safety is located on the left side of the frame. The Nambu pistol uses a 8 x 22mm Nambu cartridge. The 8mm cartrige is a low pressure cartridge, so it is considerably less powerful than comparable Western rounds like the .45 ACP, the 7.62x25mm Tokarev or 9x19mm Parabellum. Tokyo Arsenal manufactured most Nambu pistols, others were manufactured by the Tokyo Gas and Electric company.