mystery mauser 3-25-06

[WmRoy]

Since I've had trouble getting these up on some Sat. I'm going ahead and putting this up right now..... thanks CoorsLightGuy for submitting this one!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v36/WmRoy/forumMAUSERS/aaagggg.jpg

Good Luck..... Spuds, LoLo & Blind Hog (and CLG of course) are sitting this one out....:D:D :D :BangHead:

[CoorsLightGuy]

I wuz robbed.......AGAIN!

[sc-closer]

Borchardt Self loading pistol, 7.65 mm.

sc-closer

[WmRoy]

Very Well Done!!!

Extremely rare 1894 Borchardt pistol by the Ludwig Loewe company (around 700 were made}, marked on top of the chamber 'Waffenfabrik Loewe Berlin', 'DRP 75837'. This is the father of the Luger and George Luger used the toggle mechanism in his later design for the PO8. This example was owned by the American showman and aviator 'Colonel' Samuel F Cody, who used it in his wild west shows. He had the custom oversize grips added and extra long wooden stock (He was a big man). The gun stayed in the Cody family until 1996 when it was sold at Sotheby's. In cowboy clothes and a stetson hat, with shoulder length hair and an extravagant moustache, the big Texan cut an outlandish figure. It was not hard to believe he had at one time been a performer in a travelling wild west show called 'The Klondyke Nugget' (as he had in the 1890s). However, it was this same man whose man-lifting kite design was accepted by the Army in 1904. Cody was retained at Aldershot to experiment with aeroplanes. On 16 October 1908, he rewarded his employer's faith by achieving the first flight in Britain, at Farnborough a few miles away. His machine was a massive Wright-based biplane nick-named The Cathedral. Cody's outgoing personality endeared him to the public and in 1909 he became a British citizen In 1911. Cody was killed in 1913 when a machine he was testing for that year's Circuit of Britain broke up in mid-air. A rare gun with a facinating history. Deactivated with a full working action, fully strippable and it can be cocked and dry fired.

[sc-closer]

Wow! That's a lotta info. I wonder if Blind Hog has one of those? ;)

sc-closer

[Rustybore]

Wow. Great information. I've only seen pictures of these. Got up too late to get in on this one. Trouble with living in the West, the pictures are up too early. You snooze, you loose.:p

Kevin in Or.

[CoorsLightGuy]

Well.......I was hoping that this one would "stump the band" at least for a little while. I'll see if I can come up with something even more obscure the next time.

[Blind Hog]

Vic,

Sadly, no I do not have one of these, yet. To one who is interested in pre 1946 self-loading pistols, the C/93 (Construktion/93) Borchardt is a Grail to search for. The C/93 picture has outstanding historical provenance.

Among the collecting community, it is agreed that the the C/93 Borchardt was the first commercially successful self-loading pistol. It was presented to several governments in hopes of securing military use contracts. It was even demonstrated to the USA military by none other than Georg Luger himself. Luger was employed by Loewe, and later DWM as a salesman and free lance engineer. Of interest, it is reported that at least one was produced with fully automatic capabilities and demonstrated.

The C93 was first produced by Ludwig Loewe & Co., Berlin with a reported serial range from 19 to 1083 (apprx) and then final production by DWM, Berlin with a reported serial range from 1164 to 3013 (apprx).

Blind Hog

[DOGolden]

That pistol is kind of ugly, but I guess that & it's rarity make it what it is. And the side story is unusual too. Thanks for posting.