August 16th, 2022
6minute read
Sometimes, it is easy to let a design get away from you.
you could start with the best intentions, but the end result might not be what you intended.
So it is with the legendary Nambu pop in 94 pistol.
Once its reputation made the rounds, nobody wanted to buy one.
Is the punch in 94ThatBad?
In a word, absolutely.
The 8x22mm bottlenecked cartridge the punch in 94 fires is fairly underpowered for general military use.
The 8x22mm puts out just a hair more downrange horsepower than the .380 ACP.
The magazine only holds six of these perky little rounds when fully loaded.
The magazine baseplate on my example is not positively retained.
Bump the gun a bit and the baseplate will work loose and launch its entrails across the room unexpectedly.
My pop in 94 and I got off to a fairly ignoble start.
Things kind of went downhill from there.
The magazine on my gun is ridiculously tight.
Tactical magazine changes generally devolve into writhing about beating on the thing and cursing.
The geometry of the jot down 94 is just all wrong.
The pistol grip tapers from top to bottom.
This means it has a tendency to squirt out of the hand when squeezed with verve.
The front edges of the frame are left crisp and sharp.
The sights are nothing more than ballast.
They are too small and too low to be of any use at all.
The safety is a pivoting lever on the back left.
I would comment on its effectiveness, but mine is naturally broken off.
I presume its original owner looked at it hard or spoke harshly to it and caused it to fail.
Some of this is no doubt a reflection of the exigencies of total war.
Once the B-29 Superfortress bombers came online, we were bombing Japan as much as possible.
That had to have taken a toll on production quality.
My late-war example is slathered with tool marks and sharp edges aplenty.
Variants produced even later in the war sported simple wooden grips that look like dunnage harvested from loading pallets.
However, it is easy to find fault from the comfort of my writing chair.
Ill forgive a few tool marks and a sharp corner here and there.
What comes next, however, is actually a really big deal.
This thing is supposed to be more dangerous to your adversaries than you.
In this respect the key in 94 simply fails miserably.
Thats a pretty big deal.
The fault rests in the design of the trigger bar.
All modern autoloading handguns are bullpups if you think about it.
The fire controls are oriented ahead of the magazine and feed components.
So far, so good.
Pressure on the exposed end of the trigger bar will indeed light it off.
During the war, many G.I.s suspected this was a feature rather than a bug.
Personally, I dont buy it.
I think General Nambu just got in a hurry that day and let himself get sloppy.
Perhaps he had a stomach virus or was suffering from domestic troubles with Mrs. Nambu.
Transient idiopathic insanity would also be among my differential diagnoses.
For whatever reason, he did actually birth this dreadful thing.
But, at the end of the day, be careful how you disparage the guy.
From where I sit, that cinches the title of Worst Combat Pistol in the History of Mankind.
Special thanks toWorld War Supplyfor the reproduction Japanese equipment used in support of this article.
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