Bet you can’t say Schwarzlose (properly) three times fast. Translating from the German, that means black and loose. But from Ian McCollum’s video, it looks like nothing about old Andreas’s 19th century creation was loose. In fact, it’s surprisingly up-to-date, even by today’s standards. And shooting a 7.63 Mauser round, it packs a nice punch. So why isn’t someone turning these – or something darned close to them – out today?
Modern version of old guns is a great idea! Maybe Remington can take a stab at this one…
I see what you did there.
I don’t know, that design looks pretty simple….. They might not have the expertise needed to screw it up.
They can not make guns like that today , we do not have the craftsmanship and or the metal for use.
No we have both, they’re just more expensive than most are willing to pay.
Exactly.
To make this gun with modern tooling and methods today would result in a gun that has a MSRP of at least $900, probably more like $1200 or so, and that would require MIM production of the smaller parts.
Machining the rotary bolt would be the real challenge, followed by the heat treatment necessary.
I had not heard of the metal shortage…..
Puzzles me as well.
Humanity has never been in a time like this with the choice of alloys available.
Some of them will really cost you, however.
That’s ridiculous!
Really impressive design. So much clever overlapping utility – 3 springs in the whole thing (including the magazine). Thanks for sharing.
Someone send Zastava an email. They seem to love cranking out old models for cheap. They’d probably chamber it in something more modern too.
Are there any modern pistols chambered in this round? The Mauser broom handle models are the only ones I know of, although a quick web search shows one can fire this round through Tokarevs.
Modern? Mostly. Ruger made .30 Mauser P-89s for the Euro market. So I read on “the innernet”.
Back a few years, or more, I bought a p89 Ruger that had a .30 barrel included. Apparently only the barrels needed swapping. Mags worked fine with both rounds. Tho I couldn’t testify to that. 9mm was so cheap then I never bought a box of .30 and that barrel was unfired when I got rid of the gun.
This was in CA, mid 90s.
Only a few months ago there was a 30 Luger AR pistol barrel on gunbroker.
Is anybody else having a difficult time stopping themselves from yelling “Schwarzlose!” in a German accent every few minutes?
I have a hard time not scolding my friends in German on a daily basis. It’s too much fun.
If two owners happen to meet at a gun range, does one greet the other with: “I see your Schwarzlose is as big as mine…”
If you watch the video at 15:33 you can see when it fires in slow motion the entire rear sight assembly just flops around like a fish out of water.
It’s a cool gun, but totally ridiculous in many ways. The charging handle makes it impractical for anything except target shooting, as does its length. If the rear sight oddity is not simply because it’s a century old, and is instead designed in such a way that this is bound to happen, then I wouldn’t want it for any reason.
FWIW, quite a lot of sights move like that on firing, but you only notice it in slow motion. Mausers or all types, AKs, PKMs…everything with a tangent type adjustable rear sight will bounce. It doesn’t actually create any problems.
I think it’s also important to note that pistols don’t normally have adjustable sights because for the ranges that pistols shoot at, adjustability just isn’t necessary. With hand held, short barreled, short range weapons the sights are not critical.
I don’t think much of the striker sticking out the back door that much.
Schwarzlose… Black and loose. I think I have a new nickname for my girlfriend.
beer spit.
You might as well use it. The rest of us have for a while now. 🙂
Sch = Sh
w = v
arz = arts
lo = lo
se = zeh
…Shvarts-lo-zeh
Many thanks to Ian for good videos.
What about the Schwarzlose 1908? Funky little .32auto with a blow forward action.
Where are todays Paul Mauser or John Browning , we have become a much dumber peoples due to our controlled Education , media, churches etc… its a FACT the people of China are so controlled they can not think (invent new) they copy, in the west the thinker is put down or destroyed ….that is what I am saying about old gun and metal working…We need a mass awakeing or we will go under …
Part of the problem is that women (both as parents and teachers) invest so much effort in doping up little boys, trying to mold their behavior into that of little girls.
Boys don’t like to sit still in school. Women don’t like to deal with little boys. So when the pharma industry started pumping out drugs like Ritalin, women started pumping the stuff wholesale into little boys. The net result has been pretty bad for not just the creative aspects of engineering and manufacturing…
Machining compared to injection molding with metal inserts, is very expensive. High Standard .22s are similiar and are even expensive as used guns. As much as I love the gun, it’s likely the case that the market simply doesn’t support a gun like this, at least in higher volumes to make it cost less than ~$900. Hence it becomes a boutique-type gun.
For another funky early semi-auto, check out the Borchardt C-93 (Wikipedia).