Nambu Typ 14, range report

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by zormpas

Fired the old Nambu for the first time today. When it shoots, it shoots well - seemingly pretty accurate with soft recoil. But I only managed to send 12 rounds down range as it was a jam-O-matic, even though I put all new springs in it, blah, blah. One was a nasty failure to extract, that took 3 hands to unfarkle - my wife had to hold back on the bolt while I pressed the mag release and extracted the mag. I'm not going to worry about it too much as I really didn't buy it to shoot (much).

Ran about 35 rds through my Luger, which performed the best it ever has what with a new recoil spring in place. The only problem I had was an occasional FTF the last round in a magazine - particularly a newly acquired 7 rounder that FTF both times I used it. G.T. it was the "new" one that I sent with the Nambu mags.

In other news, the LGS just happened to have a Ruger MKIII in the version that I've been wanting - 6 inch "standard" barrel. Its now in "jail", waiting for 10 days for me to liberate it.

Zormpas,

The Nambu is totally a handloading proposition, and, in my experienced opinion, so is the Luger.

Do you handload? If not, do you know someone who does?

The Nambu isn't as hard to get to operate properly as a Luger, but there are certain parameters to be followed.

I really enjoyed shooting my Nambus, back in the day, and will be shooting them more frequently, now that others have expressed an interest and have reignited mine.

Back in the late 1970s, when I first started collecting Nambus, nobody liked them and they were dirt cheap. One good reason for this was the lack of readily available commercial ammo.

Fast forward 40 years, and there is, at least, some interest in collecting them, but still no readily available commercial ammo to shoot through them.

Really, I feel the Nambu T-14 is of excellent design, borrowing the lower from the Luger and the upper from the Mauser C-96.

It is true that the safety could have easily been relocated for easier use and a simple hold-open devise designed and added to round out the design of the T-14 a bit, but, this wasn't the case.

Perhaps, had the Japanese simply adopted the 9mm Parabellum cartridge in their new T-14, the shooting world would have been a different place.


Sieger

PS: The feeding problem, with your Nambu, sounds like a typical cartridge O.A.L. problem to me. Original O.A.L. was at 31.5mm (1.24 inches).

[Zorba]

I'll check the extractor and the cartridge OAL. The ammo is from "Mr. Nambu", which by all accounts is supposed to cycle reliably.

Yea, it was the std Wolff spring kit - I had G.T. replace the mag springs (I have 2 mags) for me as I felt I'd screw something up if I tried. Hugh fixed up the grips for me.

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by zormpas

I'll check the extractor and the cartridge OAL. The ammo is from "Mr. Nambu", which by all accounts is supposed to cycle reliably.

Yea, it was the std Wolff spring kit - I had G.T. replace the mag springs (I have 2 mags) for me as I felt I'd screw something up if I tried. Hugh fixed up the grips for me.

Hi,

I have two of these that need new extractors, as the original ones are made out of what appears to be fairly soft metal.


Sieger

[Zorba]

Good to know, that might fix all kinds of problems. I'll have a looksee, and thank you!

[sheepherder]

Originally Posted by Sieger

I have two of these that need new extractors, as the original ones are made out of what appears to be fairly soft metal.

Mine is chipped. I contacted Don Schlickman ( dfsjpn@aol.com ) , he makes new extractors for the Nambu. If you email him, he'll send you a price list.