Miner (pistol)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bergmann-Bayard pistol manufactured in Belgium around 1910

The Bergmann 1894 self-loading pistol was developed by the German industrialist Theodor Bergmann from Gaggenau at the end of the 19th century . In contrast to the Borchardt C93 , Mauser C96 and Browning pistols , which were launched at the same time , the weapon in its original form had little success. The Bergmann pistol had an unlocked ground lock , a fixed barrel, an exposed cock and a safety device on the side. It fired cartridges in caliber 5, 6.5 or 8 mm, depending on the model.

The problem was that the pistol fired cartridges with tapered cases, which led to gas loss. The first models did not have an extractor, the cartridge cases had no extractor groove, they were only ejected by gas pressure. The magazine box in front of the trigger held 5 cartridges, it was loaded through a cover attached to the side, which simultaneously depresses the feed spring when it is opened.

One of the gun designers in Theodor Bergmanns Waffenfabrik, Louis Schmeisser , worked on the further development of this pistol: he moved the closing spring located in the breech to the front under the barrel, which made it possible to increase the mass of the returning parts and thus improve the function. Only a few examples of this pistol, known as Bergmann-Schmeisser , have been completed.

Three years later, the Bergmann 1897 abandoned the principle of the bulk lock. The weapon was a locked recoil loader , barrel and breech ran back together until the breech was unlocked by swiveling it out to the side. It had a detachable two-row box magazine located in front of the trigger guard and fired a special 7.65 mm Bergmann cartridge. A smaller and simplified version of this pistol was the Bergmann Simplex , which was not made in Germany, but in Belgium.

literature

  • Gerhard Bock: Modern handguns and their use 1911 by Verlag J. Neumann, Neudamm, DE.
  • Melvin Johnson & Charles T. Haven Automatic Weapons of the World Copyright 1945 by M. Johnson. Publ. William Morrow and Co. New York, NY, USA.
  • WHBSmith & Joseph E. Smith Small Arms of the World 1957 by WHBSmith. Publ. The Stackpole Co. Harrisburg, PA, USA.
  • Jaroslav Lug's handguns 1956 Praha, publisher: Military Publishing House of the GDR.
  • Reiner Lidschun & Günter Wollert Infantry Weapons 1918–1945 Copyright 1998 by Brandenburgisches Verlagshaus Berlin. ISBN 3-89488-057-0