Tore’s Tuesday – Shooting yourself in the foot. The Dreyse model 1907 pistol.
When we talk about shooting oneself in the foot it is most often figuratively, meaning doing something that ends up hurting oneself instead. Well, of course there is a factual, physical, origin to that expression too, probably originating from certain types of revolvers carried in holsters with all chambers loaded. But, as with everything else, there are many ways to achieve the same end.
Even by brilliant design…
The Dreyse model 1907 was designed by Louis Schmeisser and about a quarter million was made from 1908 to 1915. It was used during WWI by both German and Austro-Hungarian forces. Though not the standard military pistol of either country, the constant need for small arms meant they had to use all that were available.
The pistol certainly looks odd, it has some unusual design features, and a very brilliant solution to a problem, that in turn created another problem.
The caliber is 7,65, a very common pistol round all over Europe. To cock it one must, quite unusually, grab the slide at the front and pull it back, a rather awkward way of doing it. Once cocked the end of the firing pin protrudes out of a hole in the rear of the slide, that serves a a cocking indicator. There is no slide stop or indicator showing empty magazine. The magazine holds seven rounds.
The brilliant feature of this gun, which is also its weakness, is that it can be cleaned without disassembling it. The top of the pistol can be tipped forwards by opening a latch at the rear. What a fabulous feature for trench use! However, there is a catch, – literally. If that latch comes loose while the gun is loaded and cocked. The top will tip forwards and the gun will go off as the trigger assembly remains in the lower part, and there is nothing to hold back the firing pin. So, it is actually possible to shoot yourself in the foot while pointing the gun forwards. Production ended in 1915, for some reason.
Post WWI the Czech army acquired a number of these, in 1921, but retired them in 1923 after a series of accidents.
A number of these pistols, strangely enough, came into the hands of the Norwegian resistance movement during WWII, as did mine. The origin of them is not known.
Interestingly huge numbers of these were dug out for use in the last ditch defense of Germany at the end of WWII. In a war where they were desperate for weapons and used all sorts of captured ones, as well as having weapons produced in occupied countries, these were only dug out for the last stand. I wonder why…?
