Ok, so I've seen the Browning 1900, 1903, and Colt M1911. I've seen the Borchardts, the Lugers, and Mauser "broomhandle" pistols. I've poked around world.guns.ru, wikipedia, and m1911.org, found some interesting stuff, but I still have a few questions about the early history of the self-loading pistol that perhaps the firearms history buffs here can answer, or direct me to websites that have the info.
1. What was absolutely the first self-loading pistol designed/built?
2. What was the first commercially-successful (in private, police, or military hands) self-loading pistol? (I'm guessing the Borchardt...yes?)
3. Did John Browning invent the reciprocating-slide pistol (either blowback or recoil-operated)? Or, to put it another way, were there any fixed-barrel reciprocating-slide blowback autos or locked-breech reciprocating-slide autos before, say, 1910, that JMB didn't design?
For clarification: My command of the terminology is probably passable, but not great. I use the term "reciprocating slide" to distinguish such a pistol (be it an FN HP, G17, or Ballester-Molina) from pistols such as Lugers and Ruger 22/45s.
Thanks for any replies, I posted this out of sheer historical curiosity, I have no horse in this race, and none of the above are trick questions. I recently handled a "broomhandle" Mauser (neat pistol, by the way, been familiar with the shape since 1977, Han Solo, don't you know), but was clueless about how to operate it. On the other hand, anyone during the Wilson Presidency who'd used an M1911 would probably essentially understand a GLOCK 17 or Sig 228 right away, which got me thinking again about the early history of autoloader design.
1. What was absolutely the first self-loading pistol designed/built?
2. What was the first commercially-successful (in private, police, or military hands) self-loading pistol? (I'm guessing the Borchardt...yes?)
3. Did John Browning invent the reciprocating-slide pistol (either blowback or recoil-operated)? Or, to put it another way, were there any fixed-barrel reciprocating-slide blowback autos or locked-breech reciprocating-slide autos before, say, 1910, that JMB didn't design?
For clarification: My command of the terminology is probably passable, but not great. I use the term "reciprocating slide" to distinguish such a pistol (be it an FN HP, G17, or Ballester-Molina) from pistols such as Lugers and Ruger 22/45s.
Thanks for any replies, I posted this out of sheer historical curiosity, I have no horse in this race, and none of the above are trick questions. I recently handled a "broomhandle" Mauser (neat pistol, by the way, been familiar with the shape since 1977, Han Solo, don't you know), but was clueless about how to operate it. On the other hand, anyone during the Wilson Presidency who'd used an M1911 would probably essentially understand a GLOCK 17 or Sig 228 right away, which got me thinking again about the early history of autoloader design.
