This gun was called semi-automatic at that time because the weapon itself only reloaded itself, and the cock had to be made by the hands before each shot. In other words, the pistol has a single-action firing mechanism, and the automation is not interconnected with the trigger. Although there are rumors that there was also a sample that was completely identical to this one, in which Mannlicher managed to link the weapon’s automatic system with the trigger, as well as establish a double-action firing mechanism. But since this information cannot be confirmed by a specific sample, then we will omit it as possibly true and return to the simpler and really existing M1894 pistol.First of all, it is necessary to note the appearance of the weapon, and the appearance of the pistol, as for me, is so simple a masterpiece. Absolutely nothing superfluous, no curls, curly gadgets and it is not clear what, to stand out from the competition, and attract the attention of the buyer. Nevertheless, passing such a weapon would not be easy at all. It is precisely with its minimalism that the pistol draws attention to itself, plus we will add an unusual silhouette, not typical for modern weapons, and an easily outstanding real age of the sample. Weapon controls include a trigger, trigger, and reload projection. Probably the most remarkable is this very protrusion, since, knowing the common schemes for the automation of short-barreled weapons, the question may arise: why is the “bolt” in its normal state in the extreme rear position? The answer to this question is very simple - the gun does not have a shutter.
Automatic weapons does not work at the expense of recoil energy and not at the expense of powder gases, but at the expense of another phenomenon that occurs when firing a weapon, namely, due to the friction force of the bullet, during its passage through the bore. Since the bullet in the barrel bore feels far from free, if, of course, it corresponds to the barrel caliber, then if the barrel has the ability to move forward, the bullet will try to move it along with itself, this phenomenon formed the basis of the gun Ferdinand Mannlichera. Let's try to figure out how it all works. The barrel of the weapon is spring-loaded return spring and has the ability to move forward, compressing the return spring. When fired, the barrel and the bullet start moving from the shooter, it’s natural that their speeds are unequal and the bullet leaves the barrel bore before the barrel moves at least a millimeter. But a part of its energy is transmitted by the bullet to the barrel of the weapon, and due to its mass, the barrel retains it only as much as is necessary for it to reach its extreme front point. Another interesting feature of the weapon is that the pistol has a slide lag, or rather a barrel delay. It is connected with a trigger and is a spring-loaded part with a hook at the end. So, while the trigger is squeezed all the way, this part rises and slides along the barrel of the weapon until it is “grabbed” by the notch below. After the trigger is released, this part is lowered and the barrel under the influence of the return spring moves back. If step by step, then everything looks as follows. The shooter manually cocks the trigger of the weapon, pulls the trigger, causing the trigger to disrupt and raise the “barrel” delay. The primer is broken, the powder charge ignites, the powder gases expand and push the bullet through the bore, the sleeve rests against the frame of the weapon at this time. The bullet leaves the barrel, the barrel moves forward, throws out the cartridge case and compresses the return spring, stopping in its forward position. The shooter releases the trigger, the barrel is released from the delay and under the influence of the return spring moves backwards, picking up a new cartridge in the chamber, on the way. After that, everything repeats. Simplicity, but try to come up with this.
The dimensions and weight of the weapon, in principle, well fit into the framework of reasonable. The total length of the weapon is 215 millimeters, while the length of the barrel of the gun is equal to 165 millimeters, which is a kind of record in the ratio of the total length of the weapon and the length of the barrel, plus everything you should not forget about the handle, which is made much back. The weight of the gun is 1 kilogram. When fired, the barrel stroke is 50 millimeters. It feeds weapons from the non-detachable magazine with a capacity of all 5 cartridges. The caliber of the 6,55 pistol, unfortunately, I cannot say exactly what was used for the ammunition, but it is known that the initial speed of the bullet fired from the barrel of the МХNUMX pistol was 1894 meters per second. Also there is information about the version of the gun caliber 243, but the exact same cartridge is not specified back.
This gun was offered to the armies of many countries for adoption, however, referring to the heavy weight and a more objective reason in the form of a small amount of ammunition in the gun shop, this weapon was rejected everywhere. On the one hand, it’s quite possible to understand the military, this pistol in all respects was losing to revolvers, with which then the struggle for primacy was going on, and other models of pistols were more convenient and practical. Nevertheless, this weapon, in spite of all its flaws, I personally am madly in love with, and the operation scheme of automatic weapons in general is like from a parallel universe, in which everything is the opposite.