Non-revolver Mechanical Repeating Pistols

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Does anyone here on THR have experience handling, cycling, or firing any of the mechanical repeating pistol designs of the last two decades of the 19th century. Pistols such as the Krnka of 1886, Reiger of 1886, Bittner of 1893, and other single barrel, magazine fed, manually cycled, mechanical repeating pistols?

Examples:

http://www.horstheld.com/0-Schulhof.htm

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-most-elegant-pistol-ever/

http://www.manebooks.com/firearms/counet.htm

http://prytkovalexey.org/2014/03/19/steyr-laumann-model-1891-repeating-pistol/

http://prytkovalexey.org/2014/03/19...mechanically-unusual-berger-repeating-pistol/

Does anyone else think it would be interesting to see a modern replica of these evolutionary dead-ends of pistol design tested for functioning and accuracy? Apparently few were made and many patented designs never left paper. I suppose there could be a market for replicas with Steam Punk enthusiasts.
 
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I sure haven't.

There were so few of them to start with, and even fewer left now, I don't think I have even seen one at a national gun show, let alone handled or shot one.

Anyway, an original working one would be too valuable to shoot.
And already residing in an arms museum somewhere.

And I think an affordable repro would be so crappy it wouldn't work as well as the originals didn't work either!
Plus a cooperate lawyers worst nightmare!

Plus all that, I can't think of any customer base to sell such things too anyway.

rc
 
Maybe the fellow who makes working replicas of wood, often seen on the web, would be interested.
 
Also, most of those guns used special ammunition not seen before or since.

Jim
 
Sam Cade said:
I've shot a (clapped out, rotten bored) 4 barreled Lancaster in .455 Webley a few times.
Click to expand...

Right time period but not what I intended.

Deaf Smith -
Go look up the old COP pistol. 4 shot .357.
Click to expand...

Wrong time period and not what I intended.

Guys while both of those are repeaters by virtue of multiple barrels fired individually by one trigger I am specifically referring to the single barrel pistols immediately preceding and slightly overlapping the birth of semi-automatics. See the clarification added to thread starting post. I am referring to pistols that have more in common with the late 20th century Semmerling manually operated .45ACP pistol. Here are some examples in the links below.

http://www.horstheld.com/0-Schulhof.htm

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/the-most-elegant-pistol-ever/

http://www.manebooks.com/firearms/counet.htm

http://prytkovalexey.org/2014/03/19/steyr-laumann-model-1891-repeating-pistol/

http://prytkovalexey.org/2014/03/19...mechanically-unusual-berger-repeating-pistol/
 
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The closest thing I ever heard of was the guy who built a Volcanic. The action was modified to use cased ammunition, but otherwise a good capture of the experience.

I once read a short piece where somebody got one of the little square Gaulois squeezer action pocket pistols up and running.

I have not heard of anybody else doing anything with the ca 1890 repeaters.
 
There were a whole bunch of different manual repeating pistol designs around the 1880s, and I too would love to have a modern reproduction of almost any of them.

Making them in something like .32ACP would probably be the most practical way to go about the ammo issue. The actions should all be strong enough to handle that cartridge, and it's physically small like most of the original cartridges.

I would totally open carry a modern Bittner as a BBQ gun. :cool:
 
Ian said:
There were a whole bunch of different manual repeating pistol designs around the 1880s, and I too would love to have a modern reproduction of almost any of them.

Making them in something like .32ACP would probably be the most practical way to go about the ammo issue. The actions should all be strong enough to handle that cartridge, and it's physically small like most of the original cartridges.

I would totally open carry a modern Bittner as a BBQ gun. :cool:
Click to expand...

Me too! Lets hope that 3D print technology will soon make it possible to make economical copies of the Bittner and better yet let the designs that we only have patent papers for finally become available. These guns make the once exotic C96 Broomhandle look mundane.
 
There are some truly mesmerizing designs out there. Some elegant, some very funky. The ones linked are beautiful, but I still go back to the volcanic when I think manually operated gun that is not a revolver.
 
I can't seem to grasp the concept.

They're magazine-fed pistols that require manual cycling (like, I assume, a single-action revolver?), but they're "mechanically repeating?"

How could something be a mechanical repeater but also require manual cycling? Don't those two phrases contradict one another?
 
Steampunkers don't have much appreciation for ACTUAL Victorian era weaponry. Good 'props' can demand a high dollar value, but I doubt you'd sell many. Most are content with a bronze pained Nerf gun.

On the plus side I bet all those patents have expired.
 
Bobson said:
I can't seem to grasp the concept.

They're magazine-fed pistols that require manual cycling (like, I assume, a single-action revolver?), but they're "mechanically repeating?"

How could something be a mechanical repeater but also require manual cycling? Don't those two phrases contradict one another?
Click to expand...
Nom de Forum means handguns that are not operated by the power of the cartridge, like a semi-automatic or automatic firearm would be, nor a revolver, since revolvers are commonplace.
Actually almost all firearms I'm aware of are mechanical in operation. The powersource is what changes. be it expanding gasses, recoil or human muscle. The only exception I can thnk of would be a muzzle loader with a fuze at the breach.
 
Most of them are basically lever action, with the lever in the form of a moving trigger guard. The most common pistol like this is the Volcanic. We call them mechanical repeaters because they fed from a magazine or clip, but did not have any mechanism to use recoil or gas energy to do so.
 
I'd take a Volcanic over any of those shown. Actually made by Smith & Wesson in an early venture.
 
I have not, but I think the Volcanic repeating pistol is a cool design. I'd like a repro in a more conventional caliber like .38 Short Colt or something.
 
Volcanic

The Volcanic is pretty primitive compared to some of those finely fitted European fantasies.

The last time the Volcanic came up here was in May. Here is what I found then:

There was an Internet report on a one off new made Volcanic pistol.
Since it used cased ammunition, it was not a faithful reproduction, but it LOOKED good.
The ammo was loaded in shortened .40 S&W brass to keep the gun in proportion. Still not very powerful, but I guess it scratched his itch.

Found it:
Video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Dn9YK8HfH4
Looks like it would take a lot of work on levering technique to keep up with a revolver.

Production report. 28 pages of pictures and discussion at
http://www.homegunsmith.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=ST;f=3;t=22531;st=0

Ammo shown at
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?52146-Home-Built-Volcanic-Pistol-And-Ammo
 
If memory serves me, check out the BB Cody Museum in Cody WY. They have several under glass. They trace several lines of gun types from start to finish, with real examples. The gun guy will think he's in gun heaven at this place.
 
Wow! The proprietary ammo is a bit of a downer... another reason why .38 Short Colt would be a good choice, or even .380 auto. They could still scale the gun the exact same but it would use off the shelf ammo.
 
Just quick note to say thank you for sharing these pistols with the unschooled-such as I! When you consider what they had to work with, each is work of art.
 
I believe the only one made today is going to be the Mare's Leg.

Although it doesn't fit your criteria, Rossi recently made a lever action revolver rifle that, from today's stand point, was an abomination, but it had some serious Steam Punk vibes.
 
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