The Coolest Gun You Will See All Day: China’s Type 64 Silenced Pistol

Lot 1487 in the September 2020 RIA Premier auction.

The Type 64 is a dedicated suppressed pistol first introduced in 1965 and used in the Vietnam War. It uses a rimless version of the .32 ACP cartridge (7.65x17mm) in a 9-round Makarov like magazine. Despite outward similarity to the Makarov (especially the grip), the design is wholly unique internally. It uses basically a miniaturized AK bolt to allow the shooter to select between blowback semiauto functioning and single shot manual operation. The bolts rotating locking lugs prevent it from cycling when locked, in a very clever alternative use of the rotating bolt system. The suppressor has two chambers, using a combination of baffles and wire mesh as suppressor elements. In addition to standard ammunition, a plastic-sabot frangible load was also developed for use in situations like airline hijackings, and this loading is why some sources reference a maximum effective range of 15 meters.

For all its technical cleverness, the Type 64 is a rather heavy pistol, at 1.8kg / 4 pounds. It was replaced in 1967 by the substantially lighter and simpler Type 67, which weighed only 1.05kg / 2.3 pounds. This particular Type 64 was originally owned by Mitch Werbell III, giving it an even more interesting history…

19 Comments

  1. “This particular Type 64 was originally owned by Mitch Werbell III…”

    Presumably it was originally owned by some Chinese or Vietnamese guy (or PRC or DRV government, depending on your point of view), unless Mitch Werbell was in business of getting gifts from communist states.

  2. I read somewhere and can’t remember where that Mr.Werbell acquired this pistol by shooting and killing the man who tried to kill him with it. Maybe a fictional story I don’t know.

  3. In the Mysterious Chinese pistol serie, this one have the most interesting things in the inside mechanisms contrary to the other/older models with fancy outside 😀

  4. Now that’s one way to get past the whole add-on slide lock and suppressor idea: Just design the thing from scratch to operate differently at the flick of a switch. After all, it’s not like a small batch of pistols would require an entirely new factory for mass production…

  5. Silent grenades a reckon would be usefull; essentially a tube 1cm diameter, 12cm long say… The you mount basically, those Soviet silent cartridges around said tube, outwards… Simplify etc, to fit in regards the new layout. Then instead of using guns you can throw frag grenades silently, better surely; shut your eyes and throw two over your head while looking at the sky led behind a knee high barrier.

    Boom! “Silent” toddle off and retrieve the Reichs Klunghammer; thus saving democracy and enabling everyone to be happy etc.

  6. Very accurate gps or such… Or guided anyway 51mm mortars, silent.

    They’d be good.

    Accuracy is all important; in future as you can shrink stuff, because it will hit… Much more likely to hit, and the rest is traditional; a hit is a hit.

      • I saw a mortar and some sort of Scythian birds bum, in a Russian version of Sims “not up to date, me with tech… If it was obviously porn, I would have; can’t beat Russian ye olde birds bottoms probably” is it silent if not. The round. Then that is why.

        I want the “pop” at the target, then we can sneak past.

        • A grenade of silent frag based on those piston driven odd cartridge things.

          Handy; the enemy wouldn’t know they’d been attacked for example, possibly.

  7. The well has not run dry on F/W. Sweet freaking UNOBTANIUM! And from the Ingram family collection. Closest I’ll ever get to seeing a Type 64 I’m sure. Wow.

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