The Hamada pistol (浜田式自動拳銃 Hamada-shiki Jidō Kenjū) is a Japanese pistol.
History[]
The Hamada pistol was designed in 1941 due to the importation of foreign firearms ceasing in 1941, along with the complete nationalization of all raw materials with the production of these firearms. The Hamada Gunshop, owned by Bunji Hamada, a maker of sporting arms, was told that their gun shop had to produce firearms for the military. As such, Hamada designed a pistol for this purpose. What came out of the design phase was the first incarnation of the Hamada pistol, known as the Type 1. Five prototypes were sent for testing, where they were approved for adoption and used as officers' guns.[1]
Just as production of the Type 1 was about to reach full speed, Hamada was approached by the military again, requesting that there be a version of the pistol produced in 8×22mm Nambu and produce that instead; within a short time, Hamada upscaled the Type 1 and updated it to allow it to chamber and fire 8×22mm Nambu. The resulting design was the Type 2 (codenamed the Hake-shiki (ハケ式) while under development), which he submitted to the Imperial Japanese Army's Ordnance Department (Hamada tested the gun prior, and it has been reported that the gun did work well); unfortunately, Maj. Kenji Yato of the Ordnance Department rejected the firearm without even firing a single shot, as he felt that it was not the best idea to issue a firearm with no military provenance to the Army.
Maj. Yato requests Hamada to make a few changes to the pistol; Hamada makes the aforementioned changes and submits the pistol a second time, only to get rejected again. The Army itself makes some changes to the design and operation of the pistol, and supposedly in order to save some face and have some claim of ownership over the design, also increases the number of manufacturing steps to produce the firearm and reduces the magazine size by two rounds.
Hamada, who didn't want to interfere with the production of the Type 1s, buys an old disused textile factory in Notobe and manufacturing tools from the Toriimatsu Factory; this textile factory was then named "The Japanese Gun Manufacturing Company". Notably, the weapons were built in Notobe "in the white" without any finishes and sent over to the Toriimatsu Factory to be finished with either blueing or parkerizing. The first batch of 500 Type 2s were produced in February 1944. 1,500 were produced by the end of World War II, with the Notobe Factory producing parts for 2,500 more weapons which were never used; production ended at the end of the war due to there being no more need for these pistols to be produced, with the parts almost certainly being melted for scrap or dumped into an ocean. Some Hamada pistols were also taken as war prizes.
At least two Hamada Type 1s are still in existence, while only seventeen Hamada Type 2s are known to exist, all of which are "in the white"; no complete Hamada Type 2 (one with parkerizing or blueing) is known to survive today.[2]
Design Details[]
Despite their drastically different appearances, the Type 1 and Type 2 are functionally identical, although internally they are both quite different; both weapons are striker-fired pistols.
The Type 1 is essentially close to a carbon copy of the FN M1910, despite Hamada claiming that he did not actually intend to copy the M1910; he claimed he simply drew up a design for a semi-automatic pistol that seemed feasible. A distinctive seal with a cherry blossom inside is located on the left side of the slide of most Hamada Type 1s; this is a seal indicating that the weapon has been approved for adoption. Not all Hamada Type 1s have this seal, though; during later production, the Imperial Japanese Army decided that they would only stamp the seal on weapons they inspected and approved for service.[1]
The Type 2 has a long rectangular slide with two semicircular cutouts; there apparenty is no specific reason for them to be there other than to serve to lighten the slide as it may have been considered too heavy for reliable operation. The Type 2 has a small little nub on the inside of the frame that lines up with a tab in the slide; if the nub is pushed down, the firing mechanism is disabled, preventing the pistol from firing out of battery. 二式 (Type 2) markings are seen prominently on the side of the slide.[2]
The disassembly procedure of both pistols is identical; push down on a nub located at the back of the frame, move the disassembly catch downwards and one can pull the slide up and off the gun.[1][2]
Variants[]
The Hamada pistol has two major variants, the Type 1 and the Type 2. Both pistols are functionally identical but are extremely different in appearance. Within the Type 1s and Type 2s, however, each pistol had some parts machined differently from others.
References[]
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