Cast Iron Pistol Date & Maker Please !

[manokent]

Thanks for that picture CCDJG. I am more than happy to be completely wrong about that forsight. It really didn't look original to the pistol to my eye when I bought it. As a rule I prefer to buy items with honest wear or damage than repaired or altered which I thought was the case here. It must have played havoc with pocket linings.
Many thanks again.
Mark.

[DCL_dave]

Hi Mark,

I done a little digging about on the net and tipped up this handy little bit of info regarding Theodore Bergmann and Eisenwerke Gaggenau...

Bergmann
Theodor Bergmann is best known as an inventor of firearms, though most of the creative work was apparently undertaken by his long time employee Louis Schmeisser. Together with a partner named Flürscheim, Bergmann founded Eisenwerke Gaggenau in 1877 to make metalware, railings, railway lines and lamp posts. A series of patents was granted in the 1880s, usually to protect variations of the Haviland & Gunn Gem airgun. Bergmann left Eisenwerke Gaggenau in the early 1890s to exploit pistol patents. The first to be developed, based on a patent granted to a Hungarian watchmaker, Otto Brauswetter, was unsuccessful. It was followed by a series of pistols designed by Louis Schmeisser, characterised by clip-loaded magazines, pivoting magazine-cover plates, and bolts reciprocating independently within an enveloping receiver. The first few guns embodied a form of hesitation lock, but the perfected 1896 patterns were simple blowbacks lacking (at least initially) extractors; spent cases were expelled simply by residual gas pressure. The series included a tiny 5mm 'No. 1' with a folding trigger, a larger 5mm 'No. 2' with a small circular trigger guard, and a 6.5mm 'No. 3' holster pistol. They were successful enough to sell in the thousands, but were rapidly eclipsed by Browning and other designs at the beginning of the twentieth century. These early Bergmann-Schmeisser pistols were followed by the Bergmann No. 5, a fragile military-style semi-automatic, fed from a detachable box magazine ahead of the trigger guard and locked by displacing the tail of the breech-block laterally into the receiver wall. This method was patented in Germany in the Spring of 1898. Then came the Bergmann-Mars (q.v.), but work had been sub contracted to V.C. Schilling of Suhl and ceased when the Schilling factory was purchased by Sempert & Krieghoff in 1904. Rights to the handguns were then sold to Anciens Établissements Pieper and became the 'Bergmann-Bayard'. Production of blowback semi-automatics resumed after the First World War had ended, including some incorporating one-hand (Einhand) cocking systems based on the Chylewski patents. Bergmann-Bayard. Derived from the Bergmann-Mars, chambered for the 9mm 'Bergmann-Bayard' (9mm Bergmann No. 6) cartridge, this recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol — also known as the 'Mle 1908' — was supplied in quantity to Spain (as the 'Mo. 1903'), Denmark ('M/1910') and Greece prior to 1914. Though the Bayard pattern retained the exposed hammer of its Mars prototype and a detachable box magazine in the frame, its trigger aperture was approximately circular and the contours of the grip were refined. Production ceased in Belgium when the First World War began, though the Danes began work in the Haerens Tojhus, Copenhagen, in the early 1920s. These guns, which served as 'M/1910/21', customarily had enlarged wooden grips and a circular knurled-head grip on the magazine base which entered a semi-circular void in the frame.Bergmann machine-gun. This recoil-operated weapon was patented in the name of Theodor Bergmann in 1901 though the design was actually due to Louis Schmeisser. The Bergmann-MG. 02 was locked by a rising block, in the barrel extension, which engaged in the recess in the top surface of the bolt. The Bergmann deserved a better fate, but its failure was due entirely to a loss of production facilities. Work began again in 1908, probably under the supervision of Hugo Schmeisser — son of Louis — who had remained with Bergmann after his father's departure to work for Rheinische Metallwaaren- u. Maschinenfabrik. The Bergmann-MG. 10 was similar to its predecessors, firing from a closed bolt, but the feed mechanism was driven by the recoil of the barrel and barrel extension. 'Push-through' belts were replaced by the standard 'pull-out' Maxim pattern, which allowed Austrian Keller-Ruszitska disintegrating-link metallic belts to be used when appropriate. The Bergmann had a fire-rate of 480–600 rpm, owing to the short travel of the locking mechanism. A few guns were used in the First World War, adapted to standard Schlitten 08 (Maxim) mounts. The Bergmann-LMG. 15 was developed during the First World War, but was little more than a lightened air-cooled MG. 10. A pistol grip was added beneath the receiver, and a small shoulder plate was attached to the back of the receiver. The action was efficient enough in theory, but flaws in its design gave problems in aerial combat and the Bergmann-LMG. 15 was relegated to ground roles. The original guns fired from an open bolt, but accuracy was poor and a much-modified pattern designated 'LMG. 15 neuer Art (n.A.)' was substituted in 1916.
Bergmann-Mars. Based on breech-locking system patented in 1901 by Louis Schmeisser, this semi-automatic pistol was customarily chambered for the 7.8mm No. 5 or 9mm Bergmann No. 6 cartridges. Distinguished by a detachable box magazine in the frame, ahead of the trigger guard, it also had an exposed spur-hammer. The first guns were made for Theodor Bergmann by V.C. Schilling u. Co., in Suhl, but the purchase of Schilling by Krieghoff (1904) interrupted production just as the Spanish army was showing interest. Work continued until the end of 1906, when a few 11.35mm guns were made for US Army trials, but the Mars was licensed to Anciens Établissements Pieper in 1907 and re-emerged as the 'Bergmann-Bayard'.


I know most of this info is more relevant to firearms and so doesn't actually mention your pistol, but nonetheless it's a fascinating bit of info on Theodore Bergmann and Eisenwerke Gaggenau.

Info shamlessly nicked from here.

[manokent]

Thanks Dave,

It is astounding how much information there is available via this forum.
Books - who needs them
Cheers,
Mark.