NAME (NATIVE) – Nambu Kenju, Shiki Riku (Nambu Pistol, Army Model)
COMMON NAMES – Papa Nambu, Nambu Type A
TYPE – Semiautomatic pistol
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – Japan
DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1906
CALIBER – 8×22 mm (8mm Japanese, 8mm Nambu)
OVERALL LENGTH – 23 cm (9.06 in)
BARREL LENGTH 11.9 cm (4.69 in)
RIFLING (TYPE & TWIST) – 6 groove, Right hand twist, 1 turn in 29 cm (11.5 in)
BULLET DIAMETER – 8.13 mm (0.320 in)
BULLET WEIGHT – 7 g (107 gr)
MUZZLE VELOCITY – 290 m/s (950 fps)
MUZZLE ENERGY – 291 j (214 ft/lb)
WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 0.99 kg (2 lb 3 oz)
WEIGHT (LOADED) – 1.17 kg (2 lb 9.3 oz)
SIGHTS – Open Iron, adjustable for range, Front sight – blade, Rear sight, tangent notch, adjustable from 50 to 500 m (55 to 547 yards) in 50 meter (55 yard) increments
EFFECTIVE RANGE – 23 m (25 yards)
OPERATION – Short-recoil
TYPE OF FIRE – Semiautomatic, Single action
RATE OF FIRE – 32 rpm
FEED DEVICE – 8 round detachable box magazine, Single column, Single feed
SERVICE – Commercial sales to Japanese military officers, no official military adoption
This was a modified version of the original Nambu pistol and is known as the “Papa” among collectors. There were a number of minor changes in the overall design in order to ease production and improve the use of the weapon. Notably, the trigger guard was made larger and the trigger has ‘squared-off” flat sides which help in identifying the weapon. The tangent rear sight was retained but made smaller as the Papa version was not intended for use with a stock. Very few of this pattern pistol were made with a slot for the attachment of the stock assembly, with the first of the production made for the Japanese Navy having the stock slot filled in on the weapons that already had it cut.
