The Mauser brothers’ first attempt at a commercial or military handgun was this, the C77 (Construktion 1877) model of single shot pistol. Why a single-shot sidearm in 1877, well into the age of centerfire military revolvers? That is a good question. By the time the design was complete, the Mausers opted (prudently) to not bother submitting it to military trials, as it was clearly already obsolete. However, despite this fact, and a total production of barely a hundred guns, it did apparently develop a small niche reputation as a quite good target pistol.
The C77 is much more complex than a single shot handgun need be, but this complexity did bring some benefits. It was a falling block type of action. With the easy movement of the thumb from a firing grip, the breech could be dropped and an empty case ejected. When a new cartridge was inserted with the other hand, its rim would trip the ejector and automatically close the breech. A manual safety was located conveniently under the firing thumb as well, for those who wanted it. Chambered for the standard Imperial German 10.6mm revolver cartridge, the C77 also had pretty good sights. It’s one flaw as a target gun was a remarkably heavy DAO trigger, akin to the 1879 Reichsrevolver that would be adopted just a few years later.
The initial patent for what would become the Bergmann pistols was actually a delayed blowback mechanism, and it was quickly revised to simple blowback by Louis Schmeisser. The first actual production pistols, designated the No.1, used this plain blowback system.
This initial Bergmann-Schmeisser design’s notable features include loading via 5-round Mannlicher type clip, a recoil spring located under the barrel, and a unique birds-head style grip. Note also the bolt guide rail on the left side of the pistol.
Very few of the No.1 pistols would be made before a number of significant changes were made, resulting in the 1896 pattern, including the No.2, No.3, and No.4 pistols.
In the aftermath of World War II, the United States spent 12 years looking for a successor to the M1 Garand rifle. The new standard infantry arm was expected to be select-fire, lightweight, accurate, controllable, and fire a heavy .30-caliber projectile. It would replace not just the M1, but also the BAR and perhaps the M1 Carbine as well – a true universal weapon. Of course, these requirements were complete fantasy, unachievable in the real world – but that did not prevent Remington, Springfield Arsenal, and Winchester from trying to meet them.
This rifle is a Winchester prototype, which has been substantially lightened from the M1 it began life as. A pistol grip has been added, along with a fire selector lever and a box magazine system. A detachable lightweight bipod allows it to be used for supporting fire. I do not know exactly when it was made, but it is chambered for the T65 or 7.62 NATO cartridge, which dates it as definitely post-WWII.
Does anyone recognize this rifle? It was designed by Fred Woodhall in 1945 (after his unsuccessful entry in the M1 Carbine trials), and now his son Tad Woodhull is trying to track it down. If you know anything about its current whereabouts, please email me!
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The Walch revolver was a Civil War era design with the unique feature of having superimposed loads – each chamber in the cylinder held not one shot, but two, stacked one on top of the other. The revolver had two hammers and a progressive trigger, and 10 percussions caps (for the 5-chamber model). This led to a 10-shot revolver in the size of a typical 5-shot one. Of course, since the chambers were split between two powder charges, the muzzle velocity was relatively low in comparison to other revolvers of the period.
