Japanese 8mm Hamada Type 2 Pistol
Semiauto Pistols
•
13m
Just as production of the .32ACP Type Hamada pistols was reaching full scale, Bunji Hamada was asked to redesign his pistol to use the standard 8mm Nambu cartridge. This he did, and after several changes required by the Army (which appear to have had more to do with giving the Army some claim to the design rather than for any practical reasons) it was adopted in 1943.
Production of the .32ACP pistols continued uninterrupted, while a defunct textile factory in Notobe was renovated to become the production plant for the new Type 2 Hamadas in 8mm. Machinery was provided by the Torimatsu factory, and the guns were to be sent to Torimatsu in the white for final finishing operations.
While several thousand were made according to surviving records, the only ones still known in existence today have serial numbers between 2 and 50 and are still in the white. This suggests that aside from a small initial (sample?) batch, all the Type 2 Hamadas were destroyed or lost - possibly by aerial bombing or during transit on the ocean.
Up Next in Semiauto Pistols
-
Norwegian M1914 Kongsberg Colt
After a series of pistol trials, Norway adopted a copy of the Colt 1911 in .45 ACP as its standard service pistol in 1914. A license was purchased from FN (while under German occupation, interestingly) to produce the guns locally at Kongsberg, and production ran slowly and sporadically until Germ...
-
Star Model 1920
The Model 1920 was Star's first locked-breech pistol, basically a combination of features from the Colt 1911 and their traditional Eiber blowback .32 pistols. It was tested by the Spanish Army in 1920, with inconclusive results. The Guardia Civil, however, found it to be suitable and adopted it a...
-
Alkar Cartridge Counter .25ACP
Alkartasuna SA was a company formed in 1914 by a handful of disgruntled Astra (well, Astra was still called Esperanza y Unceta at that time) employees. This was a difficult time for the Eibar gun industry - demand was low, their reputation for quality was not good (the lack of a central proof hou...
