"Oh man i love it! Wounder how much it is?" *sold for 12.6k* Rip dreams of owning one

Sadly, I doubt we'll be hearing much about Japanese arms in China, maybe ever. During the "Great Leap Forward" in the 1950s, the Chinese set up thousands of "backyard" forges to boost steel production. This had the effect of making China one of the largest steel producing nations in the world, albeit of inferior quality. The problem had a lot to do with where they GOT the steel. The Chinese basically looted the countryside for all the scrap iron they could find. One of the main things that went into the smelting pots were surplus firearms; obsolete or unusual guns in calibers that were non-standard. The Chinese at that time had standardized their military arms on mainly Russian standards like 7.62 Tokarev, and so any weapons which could not use this ammunition - such as guns chambered in .32 ACP - were melted down as scrap. Doubtless, vast quantities of historic firearms - among other artifacts - disappeared into the forges.

Brilliant design on that removable barrel.

Hamada and Son is still around today, and has an interesting website. It's mostly in Japanese, but there's enough English to find your way around. The section on the history of the company is light on information, but has some cool photos and old ads that show everything from Winchester 1907's to pistols and some really nice doubles. I think Hognose did a section on it over at Weaponsman a couple of years ago.

The "Hamada Symbol" looks like the second Kanji of the name: 浜田 The Symbols on the Safety lever is: 安 (Safe) and, though not on this one, you'll find it on other Japanese firearms: 火 (Fire... literally). The year Marking 昭 is short for 昭和 (Showa), this is even now used: 平 for 平成 (Heisei) and currently 令 for 令和 (Reiwa) (2021 = 令3).

I really like the one safety marking. Safe - blank. If ya can't see "safe", it ain't. BTW Ian, Showa 18 is the 18th year of the Showa (enlightened harmony) era. This was the way emperor Hirohito named his reign, so a better way to explain it would have been to say the 18th year of the Showa emperor's - Hirohito's - reign. The dynasty hasn't changed in over 2000 years. The Japanese year 2003 (1943) refers to the dynastic era.

one of the best Japanese 32s ive seen.. pretty clean compared to what they normally used.

Hey Ian. Great video on this pistol. However, I'm not sure if the kanji at 10:09 indicates that a Tokyo factory. The character is 昭 (sho) as in 昭和 (showa). So I think it is meant to read 昭18 to represent the year only.

Just saw a 1947 Japanese movie Snow Trail, and Toshiro Mifune has one of these.

It's a shame there isn't a chain of Hamada gun stores in Japan today.

Japanese small arms never cease to amaze me.

The Japanese military probably saw this pistol and said, look a gun that doesn't suck we need that!

Tokyo still has only one gun shop. they can only sell bolt action hunting rifles and break barrel shotguns. and it's very hard to obtain a licence to purchase one. it takes about 2 months of training and several thousand dollars.... or Yen...

I love the simplicity of a .32 blowback and the clean lines of the ones from this era

Looks like an Ortgies. Actually looks a lot like an Ortgies. Its always interesting how 32acp was so popular back then. Probably a different view of handguns in those days. Besides, a gentlemen/officer wouldnt want unpleasant recoil now would he ;)

Nice compact pistol. Good large mag capacity for the era.

that dovetail element is very nice

I love the simplicity of this pistol. It's my fave next to the Yovanovitch m1931....

Another foreign firearm in the 30s-40s China that I would love to know more about is the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 light machine gun. From the gun's Wikipedia page: "China also placed an order for 30,000 M/26s chambered for 7.92×57mm Mauser in 1937, but only 1,200 of these weapons were actually delivered due to Japanese diplomatic pressure.". I'd love to know if any of these 1200 Chinese M/26s survived to this day, or if there exists any Chinese photographs showing the gun.

Does the fun never stop?! Great video Ian!

a very interesting pistol. I love the unique barrel.

It really does seem like a (relatively) unique design.

im really enjoying the daily videos, i look forward to a video when i get back from class everyday and im glad you make such great content so consistently, keep it up!

that rotational dovetail to hold the barrel in place is pretty cool, is it meant to be a toolless disassembly feature or is that just an added benefit of the design i wonder?

Barrel mount is similar to the Ortgies, and I think that the cut out on the inside of the slide is for the lip on the striker spring guide to hold it in place for reassembly. Again, similar to the Ortgies.

Love the History given with the look at the Gun(s)!

I love the way barrel is removed. Awakened simplicity.

Japanese firearms are just different, I need one.

Thanks for this. Very educational and cool pistol.

Thanks. What a nice firearm Your presentations are excellent.

At first I was thinking this was Japanese handmade pistol but it would probably be even more precise

Did Hamada Inc survive post war as a fire arms maker? Did the Hamada pistol see any post war use as a police or military sidearm? It seems like a very good design that could have had many more years of useful service the way Browning, Beretta, and Walther's in 32 acp did.

Sorry, I was looking for the red bus.

Internals kind of remind me of a mixture of a Walther PPK and a Browning gun. Super interesting. If only I had the money to purchase one. XD

It looks to me like the disassembly catch would dig into the web of your hand upon firing.

Can't beat that pp type shape and system.

Great information as always. Interesting to hear all the particulars about all the fire arms, from any generation. I have family that lives in Az., it is why better than Ca. For purchasing Fire arms. Thanks Ian I enjoy every video.

I buddy of mine bought a beautiful Beretta Pocket pistol in .32 and good lord that ammo is hard to find! Fascinating to learn that John Browning invented the .25, .32 and .380 when it was realized that the rimmed .22 caliber created too many feeding issues for a small automatic pistol. John in Texas

浜田式拳銃 is one of great pistols I want to own if our nation don't have tight gun laws.

If only this gun can talk....lobe to hear his story....history...

Thanks for the lesson. When is the test?

@10:13 that's actually the kanji character for "Showa", not the factory where the firearm was made.

Its interesting how compared to most Japanese Pistols this one looks the most modern.

Very nice looking pistol.

The marking behind the date code is actually the Japanese kangji character abbreviation for "Showa", it's not an arsenal mark or logo.

Even if Browning’s patents were active...do you think the Imperial Japanese government would have enforced a foreigner’s patents? Not a chance.

That sear setup looks like it would be a simple matter to convert it to full aotumatic, althouge I don't know why you'd want to.

That's one nice pistol

Very cool. I have an old book on WWI and WWII pistols, probably written in the 70s or 80s, that talks about a lot of the pistols seen on this channel (Mauser broomhandle, Nambu, Mars, etc), but I never saw anything about this pistol before. I'm guessing that so few ended up in US hands that it was unknown during the time the book was published, since so many obscure firearms were included. Nice to see that the Japanese could make a rather nice looking pistol instead of the crappy Type 94.

すごいレアな銃だね。 Cool!!

Very interesting finding. Nothing outstanding, just couple of new features and overall looks like a solid and most likely reliable handgun. Personally I'd feel a lot more safe with this one than with Type 94 Nambu and would expect it to work far better than Type 14.

The problem with the idea that these guns survive in China is that China has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world. I would suspect that most of the guns that were in China were destroyed, taken out of the country, or are held by the military.

looks like the röhm rg42 and the deutsche werke 25 in 25acp

That's a great looking gun.:D

If you were to remove the sear reset lever, would it actually be full auto? It seems like the striker would just follow the slide forward when it's coming back into battery, would that actually hit hard enough to set another round off?

where would you find something like the details of stamp replacement? what book is that in?

If I remember correctly, the unit that responsible for Nanking Massacre was later sent to Iwo Jima... And basically all dead. So maybe some of pistols belonged to them.

Thats a gorgeous gun! Ian, did Rock Island change their name? Originally you use to say "Rock Island Auction House" and then it was changed to "Rock Island Auction Company" and in the beginning of this one, you said "House", though I think that you might have misspoke. Either way, why did they go from House to Company?

Most modern firearms are designed with many complicated parts, so I really appreciate pistols like this Hamada, that are designed so neatly. As a minimalist, I'd really like it if someone would show me examples of modern firearms that kinda follow this "Less is more" principle.

Japanese Ortgies. If only they were as common as an Ortgies...

Idea on the over stamping of the serial number. Maybe the weapon failed its first inspection with a bad barrel or for some reason the barrel was replaced with a new one. But instead of trying to over stamp the hardened steel they over stamped the rest? Also might explain it having the inspection mark, as then it had to pass to see service.

That "broken arrow" mark didn't actually break off, that's how it was. The "half-arrow" mark is very common around Japan, you see it on maps, walkways, handwriting

The front reminds me of a Walther or Makarov. Though a more current example would be the Cobra arms .380 pistols.

At 10:10 , the character there is 昭（Shou）which is the initial of 昭和（Shou Wa）, the reign title of 昭和天皇（"Shou Wa Ten Nou, who was the emperor of japan during that time, Hirohito）. It does not represent the Tokyo factory.

I think that mark on the top of the grip was 昭和18 means Showa year 18. Which is 1943.

Perfect carry pistol right there.

11:00 How many times has Ian said the phrase, "flying across the room"?

I accidentally read handmade pistol and thought that guy is a genius.

Hamada was a Japanese character in *Test Drive 2001*

Recently, Japanese guns are picked up. So, I!m happy !

Does anyone know the earliest striker fired pistol? From Ian's manipulation of the trigger I think the trigger is probably excellent! Am l correct Ian? That rotational barrel removal blew my mind...No hammer/punch or cross pins needed in the field.

Is there a large collection of WWII era Japanese weapons up for sale at this auction or are you just choosing to focus on Japanese weapons for this series of videos? I really love hearing about Japanese weapons because the gun that inspired my interest in firearms history was a Type 38 my Great-Grandfather brought back from the war (I want to say it was the Philippines or Saipan.)

Such a clever design. Simple, and probably very inexpensive. If these were designed with a more common cartridge, they'd probably still be a popular gun to own and shoot, like the 1911.

Do you think you'll be able to get your hands on a Neostead 2000 shotgun?

Looks like a Sauer 38h

Ian, the symbol in front of the "18" is the first of the two Kanji characters "昭和", meaning "Showa".

looks like a 1920's german 7.65 cal pistol i have

I wonder if this is the same Hamada that made printing presses.

Hamada and son is still a gun shop in Tokyo. They must sale shotguns and rifles now.

Reminds me of the PPK..

I found a hamata in my local gun store but didn't have any money😤

Simple technically and effective functionally

10:10 It's not a marking of factory.I think it is Kanji "昭",abbreviation of"昭和",so means Showa.

素晴らしい拳銃ですね。ZEKEさん、これ創ってよ！この方に取材申し込んで精巧な複製を安全な機構で是非！是非！

very interesting. one thing, I think americans often mistake that: japanese eras (年号 nengō) aren't dynasties, since 1868 each era last the whole reign of the emperor. So, Meiji, Taishō, Shōwa, Heisei, and the current Reiwa are just the name of the era, and also the posthumous names for the corresponding emperors. for example, a Japanese wouldn't talk about "'Hirohito", he would talk about "Shōwa emperor".

looks like a Sauer 38H and a PP had a baby.

I think there is too much resemblance in some of the parts of this pistol to the Browning FN 1910 that this is a copy of sorts of Browning's designs! The trigger group looks just like a 1910 trigger group! The firing pin on the 1910 isn't captive and can drop out the back of the slide! Now there are several differences but I will bet my life Hamada took a 1910 and made his pistol with some differences!

for some reason he imagined that the horns were starting to grow on the leading video ...

7.65 mm converts to slightly over 0.30 - even if the .32 ACP bullet is supposed to be .0.312", that seems a bit undersized. (Even 8mm is only 0.314.)

OMG! A wwII Japanese pistol that doesn't scare the hell out of me? It's bizarre they wouldn't take these instead of their other more goofy designs. While .32 ACP is not the best, It's at least reasonable.

This is way, way better than any of the Nambu series of guns. Shame the Japanese didn't use it more often.

Does anyone know the mag capacity of this gun? Will it fire modern .32 ACP? Is this particular gun operable?

Our Neighbors the Hamadas too a dark turn

Superficially it reminds me of a PPK or Makarov design

the symbol on the bottom of the clip looks a bit like the Japanese Kanji for the second part of the name Hamada, and it's slightly distorted so you can also imagine it as representing an "H". Seems like a cool logo mixing Kanji and Alphabet.

this reminds me of the German 7.65 ortgies handgun

it seems like it would be very easy to make it full auto by disabling the catch that prevents chain firing, not practical in the least as it would be just 1 long burst until the mag was empty but easy nonetheless.

thats cool gun the hamada pistol from the japanese world war 2

Is it me or does it look very much like an Ortgeis? Even down to the 90° dovetailed barrel. That would mean the Ortgeis preceded it.

I wonder how Nambu's crappy pistol got approved for use, over so many better Japanese designs. I particularly like the old pre ww1 blowforward pistol with so few moving parts to jam. I forget its name.