Today on Gus’ Gear, I have a Roth-Krnka M7, also know as a Roth Steyr M1907. It was the first auto loading pistol adopted by a major army in the world (the Parabellum P06 was adopted by the German Navy the year before.) It was designed by Karol Krnka while employed by Georg Roth and submitted for the consideration of the Austro-Hungarian military. It was accepted as a replacement for the Rast & Gasser revolver for the cavalry. The Austro-Hungarian government took over the production of the pistol at the arsenal at Steyr, giving it its more common name and eliminating the designer from its nomenclature.
The Roth Steyr M1907 was chambered for a unique 8x19mm cartridge. It has a short recoil system that was delayed through the rotating barrel via cam lugs on the end of the barrel that engaged with the nose cap. It has an integral ten round magazine that was loaded with a stripper clip. The button on the left side above the grip is a cartridge release to empty the magazine and lower the magazine follower to close the action when the pistol is not loaded. The square button above and behind the release button is a hold open button that can be used to load the magazine a single cartridge at a time. The holster is a standard design for an unmounted soldier to be worn on the belt. A mounted holster would have a shoulder strap to keep the weapon from getting in the way when on horseback. The small pouch at the lower left of the holster holds three stripper clips of ten cartridges. The closure strap doubles as a system to lift the stripper clips out of the pouch for easy access .
The right view of the pistol shows it is cocked and ready to fire, the firing pin is protruding about a centimeter out of the cocking knob on the back of the pistol. The pistol is not fully cocked at this point, when the trigger is pulled, the first step of the pull moves the firing pin another half centimeter back before the second step releases the pin to fire. This was designed as a safety feature as the weapon was to be used by mounted troops and it was thought that this would make it less likely for an accidental discharge to occure. On the grip is a disc with the unit mark of the regiment this pistol was issued to, the 5th Reitende Artilleriedivision (5th Mounted Artillery Division) and it is the 41st weapon.
Disassembly of this weapon is very easy and requires no tools. First, lock the action open with the square button at the back of the pistol on the left side, depress the magazine release button to unload the magazine and check the chamber for a cartridge. Unscrew the cocking knob by depressing the ribbed catch at the top of the bolt just in front of the knob, keep control of the knob as you remove it as the firing pin spring is under a little pressure. Remove the spring and pin and replace the knob a few turns on the bolt, draw the bolt back to release the hold open and then depress the magazine release to allow the bolt to go home. A small latch is located just in front of the front sight, depress the split end and push it through, at this point the other end can be caught with a finger nail and pulled out of the way, this allows the barrel sleeve and barrel to be removed. At this point the cocking knob can be removed again while keeping the front of the bolt contained as it is under pressure from the main spring. Now the left side plate can be lifted off with the left grip panel and the integral magazine can be removed.
The main spring has three functions in this pistol, it moves the bolt, resets the trigger and the pin on the end is what holds the left side plate in position when assembled. Reassembly is a reverse operation. The lever sticking out from the right side of the bolt is the firing pin disconnect, it folds forward into the bolt during assembly and keeps the firing pin from contacting the primer unless the bolt is completely closed, there are no other safeties on this weapon
This weapon was one of about 53,000 manufactured at Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft Steyr and accepted in 1910. Fegyver és Gépgyár Budapest also produced around 34,000 pistols between 1910 and 1914 and will usually have Wien acceptance markings.
