In the late 1890s John Moses Browning, history's greatest armsdesigner, presented Hart O. Berg, the American representative ofFabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre (FN), of Herstal, Belgium witha prototype of a small semiauto pistol. FN had been established tomanufacture Mauser rifles for the Belgian army and now that thecontracts had been completed they were casting about for a product tokeep the factory operating. The shrewd Belgians quickly saw thecommercial possibilities of JMB's pistol and a contract was signedin July of 1897.
Browning's pistol was a striker-fired weapon with a singlecolumn, seven round box magazine in the grip retained by a heel typecatch and was blowback operated. This meant that the breech was heldclosed by the weight of the slide and the resistance of the recoilspring until the bullet had left the barrel whereupon the slidereciprocated to the rear, extracting and ejecting the spent cartridgecase and cocking the striker. As the recoil spring pulled the slideforward it stripped the next cartridge from the magazine located in thegrip, chambering it as it went into battery.
Production of JMB's pistol, the FN Pistolet Modele 1899, beganin late 1898. A few minor changes resulted in it being re-baptized theModele 1900 the following year.
The Modele 1899 served as the launching platform for a newcartridge, the 7.65mm Browning. Known in the USA as the .32 ACP, itutilized a 17mm semi-rimmed case that was topped with a 71-grain FMJbullet that was propelled to approximately 800 fps. While it could onlybe considered a serious defensive cartridge by a confirmed pacifist,this round would go on to become one of the most popular centerfirepistol cartridges of all time.
But so as to get some important background information we mustfirst backtrack a couple of decades.
While it bemused and befuddled shooters and those personsknowledgeable of firearms on this side of the Big Pond, in the 1880stheir European counterparts decided that small caliber handguns wereperfectly suitable for military, police and defensive purposes.
While we crude colonials clung to our .44- and .45-caliberrevolvers, a number of European armies and gendarmeries began replacingtheir 11mm service side-arms with those firing 9mm, 8mm, 7.62mm and7.5mm cartridges that were only notable for their rather unimpressiveon-target performance.
The introduction of the first successful semiauto pistols in thelate 19th and early 20th centuries saw this trend continue. And whilesome of them--the 7.65mm Parabellum and 7.63mm Mauser come tomind--became all the rage because they propelled their bullets toimpressive velocities, these light weight, full metal jacketed (FMJ)projectiles tended to pass through an opponent doing little damageunless they struck a major organ or large bone. Despite a brief--andless than positive--flirtation with .38 caliber revolvers in the 1890sand early 20th century, the American armed forces shunned the small borecartridge and continued to soldier on with .45 caliber handguns for thenext century.
One of the reasons for the Europeans embracing the small caliberhandgun cartridge was the different attitude we had towards handguns.While we Americans--and our British cousins--considered service handgunsas true fighting weapons, the majority of Continental armies saw them asa badge of rank and authority to be issued sparingly to officers andhigh ranking noncoms. In general handguns were only issued to enlistedpersonnel such as cavalry troopers and specialist troops whose dutiesprecluded them from carrying rifles.
The belief was that if a handgun was used at all, it would be as alast-ditch defensive weapon used to prevent an officer from beingcaptured or killed. And in such a scenario it was felt a small, lighthandgun would be perfectly suitable.
As for law enforcement, it must be remembered that outside ofcertain regions--the Balkans come to mind--late 19th century Europe wasa fairly law abiding society. Most countries had homogenous populationswith low crime rates. In fact in many European countries--the UK,Denmark, Norway, etc.--police officers did not normally carry firearms.In the rare instances where the use of firearms was necessary they weregenerally issued carbines while handguns were restricted to officers andspecially trained personnel.
Now, back to semiauto pistols.
Belgium's army was the first to adopt a 7.65mm pistol when ittook Browning's design into service as the Pistolet Browning Modele1900. From then on it was an instant success being adopted by armies andpolice forces around the world in addition to the vast numbers sold onthe civilian market. Its popularity was such that in many parts of theworld the word "Browning" became synonymous with"semiautomatic pistol." By the time production ceased in 1911in excess of 700,000 units had left the FN factory.
It didn't take FN's competitors long to jump on thebandwagon in hopes of grabbing a share of this lucrative market. Overthe next decade and a half, a flood of 7.65mm pistols emerged fromfactories in Belgium, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, France, China, theUSA, Spain and Germany to be eagerly snatched up by soldier, policemanand civilian alike. While military personnel and police usually carriedthem in holsters, the majority of these pistols were small enough thatthey could be used for concealed carry and earned the sobriquet"pocket pistols" (in German "Taschenpistolen"). By1914 the majority of continental police forces from the LondonMetropolitan Police to the Tsar's okhrannoye otdelenie had adopted7,65mm pistols.
On June 28, 1914 the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne,Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie, wereassassinated by the Bosnian-Serb nationalist (or "terrorist"depending on your point of view) Gavrilo Princip who shot both of themwith a 7.65mm FN Pistolet Browning Modele 1910. This event is generallyacknowledged as the spark that set of the conflagration we now callWorld War I.
One might say that WWI was what made the 7.65mm pistol. In manyEuropean armies, officers were required to provide their own sidearmsand the choice was often dependent upon the officer's personalpreference, financial situation, duties or rank. Based upon photographicevidence I feel it's safe to say that front line/combat officersused larger caliber, more powerful service pistols while higherranking/command level officers favored 7.65mm pistols which served thetraditional role of badges of rank and authority and, in worst casescenarios, as last ditch defensive weapons.
Of the combatant armies, 7.65mm pistols saw their widest use byGermany, France and Italy. In this article we will examine those used bythe armed forces of Imperial Germany.
In 1914 the standard handgun of the Deutsches Heer (Imperial GermanArmy) was the Pistole Parabellum, Modell 1908 (P08 Luger) while theKaiserliche Marine (Imperial Navy) used the Pistole, Marine-Modell 1904,both chambered for the 9mm Patrone 08 (9mm Parabellum). While highlyregarded, the P08 was expensive to manufacture, ammunition sensitive andproved not overly reliable in the vile conditions of trench warfare.
Many German officers equipped themselves with privately purchasedMauser Selbstlade-Pistolen C96 (the "Broomhandle") firing the7.63mm Pistole-Patrone Mauser. As P08s could not be produced insufficient quantities, the German government purchased large numbers ofC96s and also contracted for Mauser to produce them chambered for the9mm Patrone 08.
But the war quickly showed that even the most pessimistic estimatesof small arms attrition were totally inaccurate. In addition, the uniqueconditions of trench warfare led to most armies issuing sidearms ingreater numbers than ever before or since. Officers, assault troops(Sturmtruppen), artillery and machine gun crews, signalers, messengers,transport drivers, military police--and every infantryman who could beg,borrow or steal one--wanted, and in many cases needed, a handgun. Thisled to the Germans (and all the other combatants) racing to findBehelfspistolen ("substitute pattern pistols") to equip theirrapidly expanding armed forces.
The obvious choice was the 7.65mm pistol. Not only were most ofthem quick and inexpensive to manufacture, but there were already anumber of German companies tooled up to produce them. While they wouldnot have been the Herr's first choice, it was a matter of"beggars can't be choosers," and contracts were placedwith a number of gunmakers for all the 7.65mm pistols they might care toproduce. Machi schnell!
Besides German-made pistols, the Imperial German armed forcesissued a wide variety of foreign and captured pistols to theirpersonnel. As a detailed discussion of them is beyond the scope of thisarticle, in this report we are going to examine three German-made 7.65mmpistols that saw wide service during WWI. One is a quality product ofGermany's premier arms maker; another can lay claim to being one ofthe stranger looking 7.65mm pistol ever produced; while the lastrepresents simplicity and ease of manufacture during wartime conditions.
Mauser-Selbstalade-Pistole Modell 1914 (1)
Josef Nickl was an Austrian (some sources say German) engineer whowas hired by Waffenfabrik Mauser in 1904. He envisioned producing afamily of pistols all based up a single design which could be scaled upor down as necessary for any cartridge.
His first designs, delayed blowback pistols chambered for the 9mmParabellum, did not function reliably and a blowback operated (masslocking, or Massenverschluss in German) design was tried next. But the9mm cartridge proved too powerful and he abandoned that idea.
Mauser desperately wanted a product to capture a share of thelucrative Taschenpistolen market and Nickl's next design provedmore successful.
Nickl's Selbstalade-Pistole Modell 1910 (also known as theTaschenpistole Mauser) was an all-steel, striker-fired design with anopen top slide, single action trigger and a removable sideplate thatallowed access to the internal mechanism for cleaning and/or repairs.
To make the pistol safe, a small lever behind the trigger waspressed down which locked the sear lever and blocked the sear. Pressinga small button below the lever caused it to pop up allowing the pistolto be fired. When the pistol is cocked a cocking indicator extends pastthe rear of the slide providing a visual and tactile indication of thepistol's condition. A single column magazine, holding nine roundsof 6.35mm Browning (.25 ACP), was retained by a heel-type catch. Likethe C96 Mauser the Modell 1910 used no screws in its construction otherthan those that retain the grips.
The Modell 1910 proved popular on the European civilian market andmany were also used by police detectives and high-ranking army officers.
In 1914, with war clouds looming, Mauser assigned Nickl the task ofupsizing the Modell 10 to handle the 7.65mm cartridge. While theresulting Selbstalade-Pistole Modell 1914 (also referred to as the NeueModell--New Model) aped the appearance of its smaller caliber brother,besides being larger it included a number of structural and mechanicaldifferences. (2)
To my way of thinking the most notable (practical?) difference wasthe slide stop. After the last round has been fired, the magazinefollower rises up and holds the slide open. As the magazine is withdrawnit tips the rear of a spring-loaded hold-open catch upward locking theslide open. When a loaded or empty magazine is reinserted, the right lipof the magazine tips the rear of the hold-open catch down, releasing theslide allowing it to run forward.
Apparently Modell 1914 pistols were sold commercially, primarily tomilitary officers, until 1915 after which all production went to fillGerman army orders with approximately 103,000 units being delivered by1918.3 Manufacture continued after the war with slight modificationsuntil 1936 (see below).
Dreyse-Selbstalade-Pistole Modell 1907
Johann Nikolaus Dreyse (1787-1867) was master locksmith from theGerman state of Saxony who turned his talents towards firearms and in1824 established a factory in Sommerda. He is best known for his boltaction, breech loading Needle Rifle which was adopted by Prussia. Knownas the PreuBische-Zundnadel-Gewehr M.41 it, and later models, weredeciding factors in Prussia's defeats of Denmark (1866), Austria(1866) and France (1870-71) which led to her becoming the preeminentGerman state.
After Johann's death, Waffenfabrik von Dreyse was run by hisson Franz who offered a variety of sporting rifles, shotguns, pistolsand revolvers, some using the needle fire mechanism. But thecompany's fortunes declined steadily and, after Franz's deathin 1894 Henrich Ehrhkardt, a major stockholder, gained control of thecompany which he sold to the Rheinische Metallwaaren &Maschinenfabrik (RM&M, later known as Rheinmetall) in 1901.
Wanting to get a share of the ever-growing Taschenpistole market,RM&M assigned the task of designing a 7.65mm pistol to theirengineer Louis Schmeisser, although there is some controversy overwhether or not Schmeisser was the actual designer. (4) RM&M'smarketing department decided to take advantage of Dreyse's namerecognition and baptized the pistol the Dreyse Selbstalade-PistoleModell 1907.
The Modell 1907 was a blowback operated, strikerfired design, whichfrom its overall shape, the grip angle, the magazine release, and thepositioning of the manual safety, it is obvious that it was stronglyinfluenced by FN's Modele 1900. As German police agencies werebuying thousands of Modele 1900s at this time, perhaps RM&M saw thesimilar appearance of their pistol as a marketing tool.
The barrel is fixed in the frame beneath the slide. About 75% ofthe slide--which provides much of the mass required for blowbackoperation--sits above the barrel and has grasping grooves at the muzzleend. An integral breechblock is located beneath the rear of the slide,inside the frame and contains the striker/firing mechanism, extractorand cocking indicator, which protrudes from the rear of the rear of thebreech when the striker is cocked. A simple rotating manual safety islocated at the left, rear of the frame. A blade front sight sits insidea groove on the top of the slide while the V notch rear is at the rearof the frame
The Modell 1907 is a hinged-frame design. Moving a catch at therear of the frame allows the slide/barrel unit to be pivoted forward fordisassembly. (5) A single column, seven round magazine was retained inthe grip frame by a heel type catch. Most pistols have a ratherprominent lanyard ring attached to the bottom of the grip frame and adisconnector.
Despite its odd appearance and complexity, the Modell 1907 proved apopular item and were purchased by a number of German police agencies.Referred to as the Polizeimodell, the Sachsische Gendarmerie (SaxonyPolice) purchased seven hundred of the first production run. There werea number of mechanical and cosmetic changes made to the pistol duringits production life, too many to discuss here. (6)
Modell 1907s proved popular on the European civilian market, A andbefore 1915 German and Austrian army officers purchased many. In 1912the Papal Swiss Guard acquired thirty pistols for issue to officers andsecurity personnel, some of which reportedly remained in service until1990. (7)
With the onset of hostilities, all RM&M production--except forsmall lots sold to Austria and Turkey was taken by the German armedforces. While they were issued to all branches of the services, most ofthe period photos I have seen show them being used by machine gun units.
Manufacture ceased sometime in 1918 with a total production ofapproximately 250,000 pistols. After the war, small numbers were sold(war reparations?) to Czechoslovakia and Lithuania while others remainedin service with German police well into the 1930s.
Selbstalade-Pistolen Beholla, Menta & Stenda
There is a bit of controversy about the pedigree of these pistols.Some credit the design to Leopold Stenda while other sources claimAugust Menz developed it.
Be that as it may, in late 1915/1916 the German governmentinstituted the Hindenburg Program with the aim of doubling Germanindustrial production to greatly increase weapons and munitions for thewar effort. As a result of this program several gun making firms in Suhlreceived contracts to produce pistols based upon Menz's(Stenda's?) design: Waffenfabriken August Menz, Becker &Hollander (B&H) and Stenda Werke. Pistols produced by Menz werecalled the Menta while Stenda's were called, well, the Stenda. Allwere produced to a more or less standard pattern although minordifferences will be found.
B&H's Selbstalade-Pistole Beholla (BE ... HOLLA from thefirm's owners names) appears to be the most common today. Amediocre quality blowback operated 7.65mm pistol, it was intended forissue to low-ranking or rear-echelon personnel. It would appear to owemany of its features to the Ruby pistols being produced by Basquegunmakers in Spain for the French and the Pistola Automatica Modello1915 being made by Beretta for the Italian army.
It had a fully exposed barrel, which not only insured positiveejection of spent cases, but reduced the machining operations necessaryto make the slide. The slide reciprocates on rails on the frame andcontains a simple striker mechanism and extractor.
The pistol has a pivoting single-action trigger and safety leverlocated at the left, rear of the frame that is rotated downward 90degrees to put the pistol on safe. The single-column, seven roundmagazine is secured by a heel-type catch while hard rubber (laterproduction were grooved wood) grip panels are retained by screws. Therewas no slide stop nor did the magazine follower hold the slide open whenit was empty.
An unusual feature of these pistols was the method of retaining thebarrel in the frame. A dovetail shaped lug beneath the chamber slid intoa matching seat in the frame, were a pin retained it. The pin had to bepunched out through two holes in the slide before the pistol wasdismantled. (8)
B&H and Menz delivered approximately 60,000 pistols to theGerman army before the 1918 Armistice.
After the war Menz continued producing the pistol and a smallquantity (less than 1,500) were sold to Lithuania. Reportedly HerrStenda gained control of B&H after the war and continued to producehis Stenda pistol. Another postwar manufacturer was H.M. Gering &Cie of Arnstadt who produced about 4,000 pistols that were sold underthe name Leonhardt (Lion Heart). It's possible that most, if notall, of the post-war pistols were assembled using parts left over fromthe military contracts.
Besides the three 7.65mm pistols examined here, the German armyalso fielded large numbers of the Selbstalade-Pistole Jager, LangenhanFL-Selbstlader, Sauer Modell 1913, Walther Modell 4, Steyr M.08,Frommer-Stop Pisztoly 12.M and the Roth-Sauer. (9)
In Part II of this report we will examine a trio of foreign-made7.65mm pistols that were among the myriad of Behelfspistolen used by theThird Reich during World War II.
I would like to thank the following for providing information andmaterials used to prepare the report: Tim Hawkins, Lisa Warren, DouglasS. Aguiar Jr., Gianluigi Usai, Gerben van Vlimmeren, George Anderson, W.Darrin Weaver, Laszlo Somogyi (www.hungariae.com), Ed Buffaloe, JanezHartman, Lou Behling, Bill Grist, Sven Schepp, Rock Island Auction Co.,James D. Julia Auctioneers (http://jamesdjulia.com) and all my friendsat Jan Still's Luger Forum (www.luger.gunboards.com).
Photos by: Paul Budde, Michael Hughes & Becky Scarlata (unlessotherwise indicated)
(1) Changes in Germanic grammar in the early 20th century saw theremoval of hyphens in many words, so Selbstalade-Pistole (Self-LoadingPistol) will also we seen written as Selbstaladepistole.
(2) These changes are beyond the scope of this report and I canrefer readers desiring more information to Ed Buffaloe's excellentwebsite at http://unblinkingeye.com/ Guns/10-14M/10-14m.html.
(3) Walter, John. Central Powers Small Arms of World War One.Ramsbury, The Crowood Press, 1999. Page 165.
(5) The catch cannot be moved if the pistol is cocked.
(6) More information can be found athttp://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/07Dreyse/07 dreyse.html
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyse_M1907
(8) This method of mounting the barrel to the frame was patented bythe Czech engineer Alois Tomiska.
(9) The Roth-Sauer was used by several German and Austrian policeforces and the Kaiserliche Schutztruppe in German Sudwest-Afrika. It waschambered for a proprietary 7,65mm cartridge that was notinterchangeable with the 7,65mm Browning. See DieOsterreichisches-ungarische Faustfeuerwaffen des Ersten Weltkriegs, PartI--Shotgun News, 8/20/13.
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