The very first automatic...
Pistol Salvator-Dormus 1896. Photo by Forgottenweapons.com
Before speaking again, Van Horn half-holstered his automatic pistol and moved the holster off his hip so that it was at his fingertips. How many guys are with you? - he asked. “My only ten guy is coming,” an old voice answered. - Get on board. - Without turning his head, unconsciously lowering his right hand to the gun, Van Horn commanded: - Hey, Tambi! Get a lantern! Not here, but aft, to the mizzen, and look both ways.
"Jerry the Islander" J. London
"Jerry the Islander" J. London
stories about weapons. By the end of the 19th century, the revolver, as a personal weapon of self-defense, had, in fact, reached its maximum perfection. But with all the perfection achieved, he turned out to have two ineradicable shortcomings, which he had to either put up with or somehow correct them. The first drawback was associated with the breakthrough of gases between the barrel and the drum, which was originally inherent in the revolver system itself. The second was connected with an attempt to correct this shortcoming: that is, with an invented mechanism for pushing the drum onto the barrel. Since it happened by pressing the trigger, it was difficult to work with such revolvers, and accuracy was significantly reduced.
There was only one way left - to come up with a pistol in which all operations would be performed with minimal participation of the shooter himself, that is, automatic, and in the terminology of the 19th century - self-loading. Several designers in different countries began to work on the problem at once, but the first truly automatic pistol, and not a conversion of a manually operated pistol, was created again in Austria, moreover, by our old acquaintances, Archduke Karl Salvator (1839–1892) and the captain of the Austrian -Hungarian army by Ritter von Dormus (1853-1940), also known to us for their unusual machine gun, created in defiance of the famous "Maxim".
And it so happened that they began their work on a self-loading pistol in 1890, and a year later they began to receive the first patents for it. True, in the future, their tandem broke up due to the death of Salvatore in 1892, but Dormus' pistol eventually turned out and even reached the stage of army testing under the name Repetierpistole Dormus, literally - "Dormus' Repeating Pistol". As was very often the case at that time, the creators of the pistol made it under their own cartridge. So this gun was no exception, but was intended for firing original 8-mm Dormus cartridges with a cylindrical welt sleeve 17,1 mm long. A bullet with a diameter of 8,15 mm was shelled and had a weight of 8,12 g. A charge of black powder weighing 0,8 g told the bullet a speed of 250 m / s - not too much, but not too little. In later-style cartridges, they were replaced with a smokeless ballistite type. It is interesting that in relation to loading this pistol, most likely, the inertia of thinking worked: since the rifles of the Austro-Hungarian army were loaded with cartridge packs, it was supposed to discharge the same pistol with a pack.
Patent for pistol M1891 Zl. 42/2086
First patent Zl. 42/2086 for their design, Karl Salvator and Georg Dormus received on July 11, 1891, and it is interesting that in it they indicated that this design could well be applied to a rifle. But for some reason, the designers did not deal with the rifle. It is interesting that if we compare the pistols they offered in their patents with the real sample of 1896 that was tested, then many differences can be immediately found. That is, the idea of an automatic pistol was developed “step by step” - sequentially, from sample to sample, and was not some kind of instant insight.
The appearance of the pistol model M1891 Zl. 42/2086
For example, in a patent dated 11.07.1891/1906/XNUMX, the designers placed a return spring under the barrel, but did not put it on the barrel. In the pistol grip there is a spring rod for the cartridge feeder from the pack. The shutter itself also looks unusual, the front of which resembled a tuning fork. The shutter was braked by friction, for which a screw thread was made on its front cylindrical part, located under the barrel. A brake clutch was provided on the barrel, through which this rifled part passed after the shot and, accordingly, rotated at the same time. There was also a return coil spring, which was again put on the front of the bolt. With this design, in order to move the bolt back, the shooter had to press the front part of the bolt frame located under the barrel. A similar shutter control system was later used on the American MXNUMX hard drive. But for a pistol, it was considered not very convenient.
M1891 pistol loading scheme
The loading system of this pistol was very original, and it was never seen or used anywhere else. To insert a pack into the magazine in the handle, it had to be turned to the left (!) On a special axis. To feed the cartridges of these models, six-shot packs were offered. Moreover, the cartridges on the patent dated July 11, 1891 are not similar to the 8-mm Dormus cartridges that were subsequently used. But many of the technical solutions from the first patent are found in the design of all the latest models of the Salvator-Dormus pistol.
Patent for a pistol dated November 21, 1891 Zl. 42/2204
New in this model was the charging technology. Now the handle does not need to be turned. It was enough to fix it in the rearmost position of the shutter when the trigger was pressed, and it was possible to insert a pack of cartridges from above, sliding it into the loading window of the pistol frame.
The design of the trigger and pistol clip according to the patent Zl. 42/2204
The return spring also looked different. Now it looked like a truncated cone and was wound from a metal tape. Braking the shutter with a rotating screw could cause delays and required complex machining of metal surfaces. Therefore, in the new sample, they managed with a simple friction retarder. Moreover, the spring-loaded bolt follower under the barrel first acted on this retarder and only after that it pressed on the bolt itself, retracting it to its rearmost position. But again, it is believed that this gun was not made in metal.
Model 1896 pistol. Right side view. Photo Rock Island Auction Company
The same gun. View from the left. Photo Rock Island Auction Company
View from above. Photo Rock Island Auction Company
Then, for a whole year from 1892 to 1893, Dormus alone improved the pistol, made it in metal, and at the end of 1893 - beginning of 1894 handed it over to the military for testing. This sample was very different from previous projects. The return spring was put on the barrel and covered with a cylindrical casing. To cock the bolt, an L-shaped underbarrel lever was adapted, which greatly facilitated loading. In the upper wooden part of the cheek of the handle on the right on the frame in a metal mandrel was placed a round button that fixed the cartridge pack in the store.
In the photo: the fuse lever on the top right. Below it is a rectangular “key” of the slide delay, by pressing which, with a clip of five rounds inserted (there were five of them in the clip on this pistol!) It was loaded. In the middle - a trigger. To the right of the frame protrudes the L-shaped lock of the cartridge pack, which replaced the button on the previous model. Photo by Forgottenweapons.com
The slide stop lever was made in the form of a large flag and was located on the pistol frame on the left above the trigger. He fixed the shutter in the open position for loading, after which he allowed him to remove it from the delay and at the same time send the cartridge from the magazine to the chamber. At the end of the end of the handle, a small ring was provided for a safety belt.
This photo clearly shows the simplest sight, the cocked hammer, the cartridge lock and the underbarrel lever that moved the bolt. Photo by Forgottenweapons.com
This pistol of the 1893-1894 model is considered the prototype of the most advanced model of 1896. Its total length was 229 mm, length 133 mm, weight 986 grams.
The shutter, laid back for loading the pack. Photo by Forgottenweapons.com
As a result, about 50 model 1896 pistols were produced, of which 31 pistols were handed over for army trials. Moreover, this model differed from the previous one primarily in the device of the handle. It was hollow inside and arranged in such a way that spent packs fell into it and accumulated there. It was possible to accumulate three packs in this way, and then take them out.
This photo clearly shows the nest for the pack, the cartridge feeder from the pack and the extractor tooth on the shutter mirror at the bottom right. Photo by Forgottenweapons.com
In military trials held in 1897, the pistols were considered “too complicated” for the army, and a defect was discovered - a cartridge stuck between the chamber and the bolt, which ultimately led to its subsequent rejection and the official adoption of the 1898 Gasser revolver of the year.
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