Interesting.
I have a green Walther P99.
That is the beginning and end of crazy in my life, and that’s pretty OK by me.
One of the most beautiful guns I ever owned was an early Astra 400. Ammo was hard to find and I eventually traded it off. Wish I had kept it as ammo is now not so hard to find.
Also owned a Steyr Hahn but did not have a stripper clip or ammo.
Also had an Astra 600 which for some reason I always liked it’s looks.
“Really odd guns”? You guys must be really new to firearms!
- The Webly-Fosbury “Automatic Revolver”?
- the Dardick magazine-fed revolver that fired “Trounds”.
- the US Benet-Mercier light machine gun.
- the Whitney Wolverine (try finding one without a crack in it)
- almost anything French
They got the designation on the Steyr Hahn wrong. It’s the M1912: service pistol of the Austrian army. Brilliantly designed, very well made (true of nearly all Steyr arms), liked by users if accounts are accurate. After the Nazis took over Austria, they had many M1912s rechambered to 9x19 Parabellum.
A number of early autoloaders had internal magazines and were loaded through the open action by stripper clips (think Mauser C96). Metal fabrication and heat treatment were not as advanced then so detachable box magazines were less durable and less reliable. Internal magazines could made with larger, heavier parts; best of all, their feed lips remained inside the gun and were thus not as easily damaged.
H&R’s 755 was not the only only open-bolt 22. Winchester’s 55 was another: single shot. Just what the design rationale was is no longer clear. Some deem them safer.
Remington’s Model 8 rifle (introduced 1906, not 1907; made until 1930s, then the Model 81 {identical except for stock} took over until production ended in 1954) was the earliest semi-auto to become a sales success; also the first to fire deer-class cartridges (25, 30, 32, 35 Remington; 300 Savage). It was just about the only recoil-operated rifle ever made, and operated by long recoil like the Browning Auto 5, Remington 11, and Savage 720 series shotguns. Very few look as nicely appointed as the one in the photos - Remington has always been more of a utilitarian gunmaker.
This gun had a paper cartrige with a primer attached to back of the bullet inside the cartrige. It used a needle like firing pin to punch through the paper and set off the primer. Kind of a halfway between muzzle loaders and modern cartrige guns.
Check out this month’s American Rifleman on some of the earliest auto loading pistols. Lots of weird stuff there.