Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Savage Pistol Model 1907 R&D?

It turns out that the Japanese Imperial Navy used anchor stamps on Nambu pistols. Nambu pistol collectors look for this acceptance mark.
Things are beginning to become more clear for this pistol...

Ok, I think this pistol is much better understood now than when this thread was started. Or anytime before the thread for that matter.
Several commenters helped lead to this point. They are Rick99, Calhoun, Savage 1907, MESA & S. Rettke. Thanks for the help and encouragement.

In summary;
This pistol was created ~1917 and chambered in 7mm Nambu likely for the Japanese Navy in hopes it would be adopted as a service weapon.
The anchor stamp is unique. This was the Japanese Imperial Navy acceptance stamp. Possibly used on this pistol for that reason and/or the stamp was placed on individual parts similar to matching numbers on a gun, so they wouldn't get mixed with other fitted parts.
Still more information probably exists somewhere so radar remains on.

Never would have guessed the findings from the first photo posted. Interesting what can be accomplished by a collaboration of interested participants scatter across the country.

Well what do you know.

If only we had the original serial number,we could research around it for seeming oriental sales.

All of this prompted me to go back to an early long-barrel (not slide) .32 I have had for some time. #22299 M1907-10-2 originally sold to Miller-Morse Hardware Company, Winnipeg, Canada.

The barrel extends 4-5/8 inches past the slide. All original slide markings are ground away as part of some reshaping in what looks like an attempt to reduce weight of the slide. The grips were replaced with old clear plastic(?) over cloth-backed gold foil. Inlet into plastic of the left grip above the gold foil there is a very faded picture of a woman standing in a bed of tulips. I was thinking Market Garden? 22299 is in a crude homemade wooden box with an WWII Army certificate for a Staff Seargent Joy A. Christy, 11th Airborne, 127th Engineering Battalion; one copy lacquered inside the lid and its duplicate folded inside the box in a crude compartment under a few post-war .32 ACP rounds.

Canada ... Washington state ... thought perhaps he had taken a personal weapon to war and back and was playing around trying to make it into a target pistol after he got home. The slide is having trouble releasing, so I put it on the "to do someday list".

After this Nambu discussion ...
- Looked at the long barrel more closely, not a standard .32. Barrel diameter is .278 mm land-to-land.
- A recent dive online into WWII capture papers of both European and Pacific Theaters, it appears this is a bring-back weapon from the Pacific Theater.
- The 127th Engineering Battalion fought in bloody conflicts on New Guinea, Leyte and Luzon.
- A magnified re-look at the photo shows the woman may be oriental.

Now I have a burning desire to get that slide free and do some wax casting of my own. Also get into the Amy unit archives and look for more details.

I'll try to get some decent pictures posted.

I used this video as a guide.
After the foil prep was complete I applied a shot of PAM cooking spray before pouring candle wax.

Very cool bit of history there... that has to be one of a kind, or darn close to it.

Assuming you meant .278" it sounds like you may have one of them thar Savage Nambu's.

Mine has a standard .32 magazine with it currently.
The OAL of a 7mm Nambu round appears too long for the standard magazine.
This one can accommodate 1 round only and bumps the front of the magazine using a 7mm snap cap.

The snap cap was made from a .30 carbine case that doesn't dimension perfectly.
Original 7mm Nambu ammo is extremely difficult to find and if you do is ~$50-75 per round.