Who Produced The First Autoloader?

Kind of tough question. Maybe the Borchardt? Germany 1893. First practical military autoloader would have been the Mauser Broomhandle I would suppose.

I believe HoosierQ has hit the X ring.

Sam

Borchardt = 1893.
Bergman = 1894.
Mauser = 1895.
Maxim = 1896.
Schwarzlose = 1898.
Browning = 1899.

rc

Not so fast! There was one before the Borchardt. Joseph Laumann, an Austrian, had one out in 1892, a year earlier than Borchardt. It was called the Schönberger-Laumann. Borchardt was just the first one to achieve commercial success.

There may be one even earlier. I read somewhere of a couple of brothers in France names Claire, who had one out in 1888, but I can't confirm this one.

The 1892 Austrian gun was produced at the Steyr plant, only a handful were made and it was never mass produced. It did not have a detachable magazine, but loaded through the open breech down into the handle IRC.

Actually, the 1892 Schönberger-Laumann had a magazine mounted in front of the trigger, like the later broomhandle Mauser. But it looks weird and bulbous because instead of a spring directly below the follower, like the Mauser, the Schönberger-Laumann used a sort of crane that pivoted at the front to lift the column of cartridges. I don't know whether it loaded through the open ejection port, or if it had a side plate that opened like the Bergmann of 1896 did. Here are a couple of pictures (one's a cutaway).

http://www.earmi.it/armi/img/laumann1892.jpg

http://www.earmi.it/armi/img/schoenb92.gif

Don't forget Clair Pistols

The French Clair brothers invented a small version of a gas-operated shotgun which dates (according to the French) between 1885-1889.

you mean it wasn't lord BROWNING and the 1911