are a series of semi-automatic pistols produced by the Japanese company Koishikawa Arsenal, later known as the Tokyo Artillery Arsenal. The series has three variants, the Type A, the Type B (also known as the Baby Nambu), and the Type 14 (十四年式拳銃, Jūyon nen shiki kenjū). The Nambu pistols were designed to replace Japan's earlier service pistol, the Type 26 revolver. The pistols were designed by Kijiro Nambu and saw extensive service in the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Pacific War. The most common variant, the Type 14, was used mostly by officers, who had to pay for their pistols themselves. History Prior to the design of the Nambu, the only pistol in Japanese service was the Type 26 revolver, which served with distinction during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). However, in the 1890s, semi-automatic pistol designs began to emerge, among them, the Mauser C96, which was influential in the production of the Nambu, as it uses the same locking mechanism as the C96, and the Nambu was designed shortly after a Japanese commission reported on European military developments. The first Nambu, the Type A, was completed in 1902. This version was never adopted, but some were sold to China and Siam. The Type B was adopted by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Royal Thai Army during the 1920s, and the later Type 14 was adopted in 1926 (Taishō 14) as the service pistol of the Imperial Japanese Army until its surrender in 1945. Nambu pistols were symbols of prestige, often carried in fanciful holsters, and were used more as a means of ornament and status rather than actual combative purposes. Japan produced about 400,000 Nambu pistols over the course of the war, whereas in this same time period the United States had made over a million M1911 pistols. Alongside other Japanese weapons, such as guntōs and Arisaka rifles, many American servicemen took Nambu pistols home with them as war trophies. Production of Nambu pistols ceased after the end of the war and Nambu pistols were replaced by M1911A1s provided by the US to the Japan Self-Defense Forces and police. Design The Nambu pistol is a recoil operated, locked breech, semi-automatic pistol. The Type A and 14 Nambus have magazine capacities of eight rounds, whereas the Type B has seven. A common flaw in the series was that the gun's safety catch and its magazine release