Semiauto pistol - Forgotten Weapons

Mannlicher Model 1894 Pistols

February 26, 2017 Ian McCollum 6

The Mannlicher Model 1894 was one of the first successful semiauto pistol designs, and used a very unusual blow forward action. Instead of having a moving slide, the bullet would actually pull the barrel forward […]

Maxim Silverman Model 1896 Automatic Pistol (Video)

February 24, 2017 Ian McCollum 35

Hiram Maxim is obviously best known for the Maxim Machine Gun, but he and (most significantly) his assistant Louis Silverman also dabbled in handgun design. It appears that the work was primarily Silverman’s, done with […]

Savage .25 ACP Prototype Pocket Pistols (Video)

February 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 19

Savage was very successful with their .32 ACP and .380 ACP pocket pistols, and in the 1910s was interested in also breaking into the .25 ACP market, to compete with the Colt 1908 “Baby Browning”. […]

Czech CZ-50 Pistol: CIA Assessment

February 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 35

So those CZ50 little semiauto pistols that came into the US as surplus a few years ago? Well, those weren’t always cheap and easy to get – when first introduced, of course, the were novel […]

Astra 700 Special: Failed Copy of the FN 1910

February 12, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

The Model 700 Special was an attempt by Astra to piggyback on the popularity of the FN Model 1910 automatic pistol. Astra took their Model 100 (a renamed Ruby pistol of WWI lineage) and changed […]

Star Model A Carbine (Video)

January 21, 2017 Ian McCollum 14

Star introduced the Model A as the commercial sale version of the Model 1920 and 1921 pistols which they had entered into Spanish military trials in 1920. The pistol was rejected by the Army in […]

Bergman 1920s Trials Prototype Pistol

January 20, 2017 Ian McCollum 28

This was, as far as I can tell, the final iteration of the Bergmann pistols, developed by AEP in Liege for potential military contracts. It retains the locking system of the 1910 pattern pistol, but […]

Carl Ehbet’s Gas Operated Bergmann?

January 19, 2017 Ian McCollum 43

I got a really interesting patent in my mail recently, from Othais at C&Rsenal. It’s and idea clearly based on a Bergmann 1894 or 1896 pattern pistol, but instead of being blowback it uses a […]

Bergmann 1908, 1910, and 1910/21 Pistols

January 18, 2017 Ian McCollum 20

By the time Bergmann found a production subcontractor in AEP for the Spanish order of 1903 Bergmann pistol, the Spanish had added a few new changes to their order, which became known as the Model […]

Magnificent Engraved Bergmann Pistols

January 16, 2017 Ian McCollum 9

Today we are taking a brief side trip in Bergmann development to look at a couple of magnificent engraved Bergmann pistols – specifically, a pair of model 1896 No.3s, a Bergmann Mars 1903, and a […]