21. History’s Worst Pistol to Ever Get Issued to an Army?
In 1935, the Imperial Japanese Army began to issue to its service personnel – particularly tankers and aircraft crews – the Type 94 Nambu 8mm Pistol. It failed in a variety of ways and is considered by many to have been one of the worst pistols ever inflicted by a military establishment upon its personnel. The Type 94’s basic maintenance was difficult because it was overly complex and had too many parts, which made disassembly and reassembly awkward. It also had an unfortunate tendency to fire off unintentionally if it was jarred.
On top of those design, defects were defects in manufacture, which stemmed from poor workmanship and inadequate quality control in the production plants. Included in the Type 94’s myriad problems was that it did not have a hammer, but used a firing pin instead – and a weak pin at that, which broke easily when the pistol was fired. When it was fired, it was just about impossible to accurately aim the Type 94 because the front blade atop the muzzle and the rear ‘v’ were often misaligned.
