Help Identify? Stamped Mod 38 .38 Spc Japan, Any ideas???

[tranger2]

We are cleaning out a relatives house and I was going through some junk in the garage. I saw a Swiss Army Knife so I dug out a small bag. I threw away the old junk papers and was left with the knife and this. My wife was driving and I was fiddling with it. I thought it might be some sort of tire air gauge. I noticed it was spring loaded. I started taking it apart and found a .38 special blank, I think. There is no bullet, just a red material. Thank goodness I didn't fire this in the car driving down the interstate. Any ideas?

Can someone help me. I have tried posting pics and resizing pics but can't get them to add. Any help?

 

[JB Books]

Could be a tear gas gun. Back in the 70s, the made a spring loaded pen. You would screw a cartridge into the end of it and carry it around until needed.

 

[JB Books]

Look at this:

http://www.fightingknives.info/Default.aspx?tabid=844

 

[HMFIC]

If the cartridge is just a brass case with a red waxy paper looking end, then it is a blank. I'm not sure why it would be paired up with a pen flare though?

The small spring loaded military pen flare kits look like this.

 

[tranger2]

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[OKCShooter]

Once you figure it out, you may want to delete those pictures and lose it in a boating accident.

 

[Shriner]

looks like a tg pen , dad had one when he was runing work release in denver

 

[HMFIC]

That definitely looks more like a tear gas pen gun, but I don't know what the cartridges looked like... Can you show the headstamp and front of the cartridge?

 

[jchip123]

Sounds and looks like the ATF discription of a Pen Gun, you may want to read the following which I copied from the ATF Firearms regulation booklet, I did delete some of the examples that did not apply to shorten it. If this is what they classify as a "Pen Gun" it would be covered under NFA regulations.
M. FIREARMS - NATIONAL
FIREARMS ACT (NFA)
(M1) The types of firearms that must be registered in the National Firearm Registration and Transfer Record are defined in the NFA and
in 27 CFR Part 479. What are some examples?
Some examples of the types of firearms that must be registered are:
Machineguns;
The frames or receivers of machineguns;
A few examples of "any other
weapon" are:
H&R Handyguns; Ithaca Auto-Burglar guns; Cane guns; and, Gadget-type firearms and "pen" guns which fire a projectile by the action of an explosive.

 

[tranger2]

It appears to be a tear gas pen gun.....
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