please help to identify

[m25operator]

Any more markings that we can see, that is not asian writing, thinking 3rd or 4th world home made, but then who would number them. Looks like a Beretta design but crudely done. Nice find.

[cdcasey]

the only markings are the numbers that match between the barrel, slide, and frame on the left side and appear to be 325161.  they show up on the last 2 pics if you zoom in on them.  this lead me to believe that it was not one of a kind but i could not find anything out so i leave it up to you, THE GUN GODS 

[Pathfinder]

it looks nothing like a nambu( think ruger mk1 pistols)

it looks closer to a type 94 then it does a type 14( AKA nambu)

My bad, I was thinking Type 94 but Nambu came out. Good catch.

I just scanned about a dozen websites and cannot find anything that comes close. I wonder if it is a Jap copy of the P38? Late in the war, Germany was shipping stuff to Japan, maybe they had supplied P38 for copying. I'm stumped, but then WWII pistols are not my forte - obviously! 

[TAB]

it very well could have been made in some small shop  some where, basicly by hand.  towards the end of the war they were running out of everything.

[Texas_Bryan]

Looking up Japanese firearms, your example doesn't match some of the universal feature they have.  It lacks any oriental 'scribbles', is slide operated, has no safety, and doesn't carry that 'Luger' looking ergonomics.  If you knew what caliber it was I think you'd be alot closer to your answer.  I'm going to agree that its foreign to Japan.

Looks alot like this Mauser, but maybe produce with no safety to save on time, cost?  And has the appearance of a P-38, without some features you would think vital to operation.  Probably some kind of mutt of a European design.  But whatever it is I don't think I was an official part of any military arsenal.

Good luck.

http://members.shaw.ca/nambuworld2/foreigngallery.htm

[Sponsor]

[Solus]

Perhaps the gun was captured from some other enemy?

I mean maybe the Japanese Officer had picked up a gun from one of their enemies/

[tombogan03884]

The only other countries in the region with manufacturing were the Soviet's to the North, who's designs we're all fairly familiar with, and China, who I believe had factories manufacturing copies of Western arms. This months American Rifleman has a story about an Italian Navy Beretta that was gifted by a Japanese Officer, so the design would not have been totally unknown.

I would say that no one but the Jap's fielded such rough pistols, (It had to do with their mindset toward fire arms )  what ever it is supposed to be, it was made in Japan.

[twyacht]

As opposed to a garage project from Algeria/Turkey/or a Czech Republic? The markings/numerals are English. You may be right, tom, as a Piece Meal throw together from Asia/China prior to 1940?

Pretty crude. But with "Western Numerals"..

[Fatman]

Japanese officers had to purchase their own pistols, and up until 1943 many purchased foreign makes for both cost and function reasons. In '43, the foreign availability finally dried up. 

The pistol you have looks like it may be based on a WW 1 design, or something from between the wars - similar lines to Steyr, Mauser .32s, Webly Auto. This has really peaked my interest, and I'm going to dig on...

[fightingquaker13]

The script is odd and indechipherable, but not Asian. Maybe Russian, as in White Russian? Lots in China pre-war and many were in manufacturing. Officially they were "stateless persons" and couldn't get out. This is a WAG, but if someone knows anything about early Russian designs, maybe a copy picked up in the '30s? Its not a nambu and doesn't look like a german clone. Beyond that?
FQ13