[Type39]

Last year I picked up a 1910 Browning 7.65mm pistol with a Japanese holster. Both the frame & barrel have the Nagoya Arsenal NA stamp. Since "Japanese Military Cartridge Handguns" says that only the DAI (Great Japan) character was used on foreign procured pistols I sent pictures to Jim Brown (the co-author)to see what he thought. The serial number puts the production of this pistol in the 1922 - 1924 period. I suggested to Jim that Japan bought it for evaluation during the period they were developing the Type 14. Jim said his only problem with that is that to the best of his knowledge the NA stamp didn't come into use until around 1932. As the stamp has blueing in the bottom I suggested that the pistol was kept in the arsenal until the 1930s when the Japanese started buying foreign made pistols to sell to officers. Then it was inspected, stamped, reblued & issued. Another possibility is that it was returned to the arsenal for repair or rebuild & stamped at that time. However, Jim said that barrels were not stamped during rebuilds. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions?

Cliff

PS I tried to upload a picture of the pistol & holster but after 7 minuets I get a "Can not display" message. It took the picture of the markings OK.

Download Attachment: 000_0326.jpg
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[Type39]

When all else fails, read the instructions. After reading Tech Help I checked my pictures & they were 978kb size. Here they are after being reduced in size to 100kb.

Download Attachment: 000_0330.JPG
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Download Attachment: 000_0331.JPG
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[Edward Tinker]

Cliff, looks like anice pistol, the markings, well who knows? Knowledgable guys out there? (notice I didn't say "experts" )