POTD: The Papa itself – The Papa Nambu Pistol
Sam.S 11.24.23
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! The “Papa Nambu” has the dubious honor of being forever stuck standing in the shadow of its famous predecessor, the “Grandpa.” But this semi-auto pistol, introduced around 1906, brought some serious improvements to original designer Kijiro Nambu’s revolutionary gun. Don’t be fooled by the visual similarities – the Papa cleverly upgraded ergonomics for military use with a larger trigger guard, grippy wood panels, and lanyard ring. Its hardy new magazine with aluminum baseplate also boosted reliability. Over 7,000 Papa Nambus ended up in the hands of Japanese officers and sailors over the next two decades, though it never achieved official adoption. Still, the Imperial Japanese Navy took quite a shine to the sturdy Papa as its standard sidearm for nearly 20 years. While the 1934 Tokyo earthquake halted production, the Papa Nambu’s two-decade run cemented Japan as major player in semi-auto pistols. Though doomed to exist in Grandpa’s shadow, the Papa clearly left its own legacy.
“Commonly referred to as a Papa Nambu, these pistols were a continuation of the earlier Grandpa versions of the Nambu pistols and are properly without provisions for a shoulder stock. Approximately 7,100 were produced before production changed to the later standard Type 14 model. This pistol features inverted “V” blade front and tangent rear sights calibrated from 100-500 meters. The “stacked cannonballs” arsenal marking (Koishikawa-Tokyo Arsenal) appears on the chamber, and the three-symbol model nomenclature appears on the right side of the one-piece frame above the serial number. The left side of the frame has the “Army Type” characters. Straw colored trigger, extractor, magazine release button and bolt locking retainer. It is fitted with finely checkered grips, which are numbered to the gun and furnished with a nickel finished magazine numbered to the gun.”
Lot 3262: Japanese Papa Nambu Pistol 8 mm Nambu – Koishikawa-Tokyo Arsenal Model 1904 Papa Nambu Semi-Automatic Pistol. (n.d.-c). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved November 22, 2023, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/68/3262/japanese-papa-nambu-pistol-8-mm-nambu.
