Wanna see a weird pistol (WWI Jager)?

[Ian]

I got to look at a really unusual pistol this past weekend, and put together a video on it.

http://www.forgottenweapons.com/german-jager-pistol-video/

It's a German "Jager" pistol, made for officers during WWI. Never formally adopted, but a few thousand were bought privately and saw service. It's a .32 ACP blowback design, and what makes it interesting is the construction. Instead of having a solid frame, it has two stamped side plates and then milled sepatare front and rear straps. Very neat...I don't know of any other handgun built this way.

 

[Apple a Day]

Interesting design!

 

[NG VI]

That is odd.

Was it well liked by the few who had them?

 

[Ian]

Y'know, I have no idea how they fared in the field. I have not been able to find any firsthand accounts of their use. As far as I can tell from handling this one, the design seems fairly robust and effective. I expect they would be as reliable as any other semiauto available at the time, and they are a lot more comfortable in the hand than most.

 

[NG VI]

Yeah, early 20th Century pistols were generally a pretty odd bunch, lots of them clearly left much to be desired.

 

[warhwkbb]

Ian,
You are a wealth of knowledge. Thanks for sharing!

 

[TimboKhan]

Huh. Interesting!

 

[WardenWolf]

That's a pretty sad design. I honestly wonder why any German officer would choose that pistol over the countless other better designs out there at the time.

 

[VPLthrneck]

Very interesting indeed. I was expecting more of a modern set up, and was pleasently surprised by the simplicity of the entire thing, especially the trigger mechanism.

 

[bigfatdave]

fascinating
which part is the "receiver"? If that design was put out tomorrow, the BATFE would have a fit, I think

 

[Ian]

I expect ATF would treat it much like a box-frame machine gun (like a Maxim or Browning) and simply pick one of the sideplates to be the legal receiver.

 

[bigfatdave]

I suppose they're not limited by logic or anything.
Of the sideplates, I guess the one most involved in making the gun work is the one the trigger bar slides in?

I just had a laugh watching the video, when you took everything apart there wasn't a receiver left on the table, in fact almost all of those parts could be broken down and laid flat ... and not look like "gun" parts at all, just the trigger and barrel are unmistakable, I think.

 

[Dr.Rob]

That's really a cool if complicated piece. I had never heard of it before.

 

[Ian]

Actually, Dave, I think the most difficult part of the sideplates would be mounting the ejector. On a modern CNC machine, everything else would be pretty straightforward.

 

[MikePGS]

Interesting pic, thanks for sharing.

 

[bigfatdave]

the most difficult part of the sideplates would be mounting the ejector

good point