Other Type 14 Accessories

This section covers the miscellaneous Type 14 accessories, at least the ones I have: spare magazines, cleaning rods, firing pins, lanyards, etc.

Instruction manuals are covered in a separate section reachable from the main page and straps and waist belts are covered in a separate section accessible from the Type 14 Accessories page (see link at end of page).

Bring-Back Documents

The bring-back document was not a Japanese-issued accessory, but is nevertheless a very desirable item to have with a pistol. It is a document issued by the US military to allow a serviceman to bring back a war trophy, typically a pistol, rifle or sword or some combinationof these. Some are very detailed, with model and serial number, others simply say “one Jap pistol”. If it says “one Jap Luger” it probably means a Type 14 or Papa Nambu. I was given this document by a friend who had somehow ended up with it after selling the Type 14 holster he had found it in. It was all folded up and very fragile, so he laminated it (I do not recommend this—if you have a fragile document seek professional advice on the best conservation technique). Given its provenance, it was probably for a Type 14.

The small reddish triangle in the lower right is a stamp that says: “Examined in the Field by Joint Intelligence” around the inside edge of the triangle, and “For Material Only” (as opposed to documents) underneath. In the centre it has “Passed by” and a set of initials. These examinations and stamps were required to make sure soldiers did not ship home items with possible intelligence value (like secret weapons or Tojo’s war plans) without Intelligence examining them first. I have a thousand-stitch belt with a different, round stamp that served the same purpose.

Magazines:

If you count all the different markings there are about eight variants listed in the Derby (p. 105) and Honeycutt (p. 104) books (see book section for references). However, there are only about four variants that actually look strikingly different (other variants depend on markings, etc.). The photo below shows three of these four different-looking variants.

The one on the left is the early variant: nickel-plated with no cut-out for the magazine retention spring (this spring began to be installed starting around 1940). The one in the middle is the next variant: nickeled, but with the cut-out at the bottom of the front. The one on the right is the last variant: blued with the cut-out. There was also a very early variant that had a triangular magazine release slot (the hole near the top front of the mag that is rectangular on the three variants shown here.

This photo shows the location of the magazine markings.

At the bottom of the back of the magazine is the serial number (the last three digits of the gun’s number). All guns were issued with a spare mag, and the spare had a dot over the serial number like the ones on the right and left (the one in the middle has no dot and so was the main mag for the gun it was issued with). Below the serial number you can find one or more inspection markings. The left and middle mags have the character “higashi”:

This is the first character in Tokyo (the character higashi can also be pronounced “to” in compund words). The marking on the left one is very faint, and the one in the middle is double-struck (the mark to the upper left looks almost like it was scratched on).

The mag on the right in the photo above has two inspection markings. The lower of the two is the character “na”:

This is the first character in Nagoya (it can also be pronounced “mei” in compound words). Just above this it also has the katakana (phonetic symbol) “ri”, which looks like this:

I have bought several spare magazines and a cleaning rod on eBay. Spare mags by themselves usually go for about US$50-US$57 on eBay, though I did get one rather rusty one for less than US$30. One recently went for US$75, but then someone got greedy and put a minimum bid of US$70 on one and it didn’t sell.

Cleaning Rods:

Here are two original Type 14 cleaning rods I have acquired.

There were two types of cleaning rods, which were basically the same except for finish. The early ones were nickel plated like the one on top and the later ones were blued like the one on the bottom. The straight end has a slot to accommodate a cleaning patch and the tip of the bent end is a pin punch. They are pretty similar, though there are some very minor differences between these two rods in the contours around the slot. Someone seems to always have repro cleaning rods for sale on eBay. The originals go for about US$50 to US$70 on eBay.

Spare Firing Pins:

Another major “accessory” was a spare firing pin/striker.

There were three different common lengths: 87mm=3+3/8", 73.5mm=2+29/32", and 65mm=2+9/16”. Make sure you get the right one for your gun. The original 87mm strikers were mostly replaced as part of a major recall that included a whole series of measures intended to correct problems with the guns freezing up and refusing to fire in cold weather; it would be unusual to find a gun that still had one of that original length. The 65mm strikers are from late issue guns from the Toriimatsu factory of Nagoya arsenal; most other guns seem to have the 73mm striker/firing pin.

Lanyards:

The Japanese were big on the use of lanyards. There were three different diameters: 5mm, 6mm, and 7mm. They bring big bucks: one went on eBay in fall, 2003 for about US$225. I have one original lanyard that I got as part of a package deal with a rubberized canvas holster and Tokyo Papa #4480. Although I paid very little for it as part of the package, it is in terrible condition. It is worn through completely in one spot and almost all the way through in another spot. They are about far enough apart to be where the lanyard would wear on the ring that attaches it to the pistol. It seems to be 6mm in diameter. First, here is the lanyard itself. Note that there are two leather pieces, one that joins the two ends and one that forms the lanyard into two loops, a “long loop” and a “short loop”.

Here is one side of the “binder” that joins the two ends of the rope together.

Here is the other side of that “binder”.

Here is the “slide” that separate the lanyard into two sections of adjustable size.

The pictures next three pictures here show a reproduction I bought on eBay from a guy who frequently sells repro lanyards on eBay. They look pretty good to me. It seems to be 7mm in diameter. Second, here is it mounted on a pistol (my 20.7 dated Toriimatsu last-ditch; I found the diameter was too big for my 15.11 dated Kokubunji Nagoya Nambu).

Third, here is a close-up of how it is tied. The long loop goes up and through the lanyard ring, then the short loop goes up and through the part that has gone through the lanyard ring. I think the belt would be threaded through the short loop to secure the pistol to the user.

This is what it looks like from behind.

Last updated: July 29, 2006. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not be used elsewhere in any form without prior permission.

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