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Atrocious Historic Weapon Designs That Left a Lot to be Desired

Khalid Elhassan February 6, 2025 16 min

Weapon - An American general with a captured Krummlauf — An American general with a captured Krummlauf. Sandboxx

1. A Pistol That Frequently Fired Unintentionally

A Type 94 Nambu pistol. Guns of the World

The biggest problem, however, which made the Type 94 one of history’s most dangerous pistols, was its tendency to discharge unintentionally. The cause was a sear bar located outside the pistol that could easily snag on the user’s holster or uniform. If that happened while a round was chambered, and the pistol was then jostled, wiggled, or placed on a hard surface in a manner that depressed the sear bar, it could discharge accidentally, even with the safety switch in the ‘on’ position.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Armory Life – Japanese Type 94 Nambu: Deadliest Pistol of WWII?

Athens-Clarke County Unified Government – Double Barreled Cannon

Battery B, 4^th US Light Artillery – The Athens Double-Barreled Cannon

Blair, Clay, Jr. – Silent Victory: The US Submarine War Against Japan (1975)

D-Day Overlord – No. 74 Sticky Bomb

Defense Media Network – The Mark 14 Torpedo Scandal

Firearm Blog – The Worst Pistol Ever: Type 94 Nambu

Forgotten Weapons – History of the Krumlauf Device: Hitler’s Folly (One of Many)

History Collection – What People Don’t Know About the World War II Race for Nuclear Weapons

Imperial War Museum – Grenade, Anti-Tank, No. 74 Mk I (‘Sticky Bomb’)

Street Directory – The Strangest Medieval Weapon Ever Created: The Lantern Shield

Swords and Dorkery – The Lantern Shield

Technology Org – Probably the Worst Handgun Ever Made: What Made the Type 94 Nambu So Terrible?

Today in History – August 2, 1864, Grandissima Ruina

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.