BSW Prototype Gas-Operated Pistol
Forgotten Weapons
•
7m 16s
In 1936 or 1937, the BSW company (Berlin-Suhler Waffenwerk) produced a small number of prototype pistols for German Army trials. These trials were eventually won by the Walther P38, and for good reason in this case. The pistol BSW submitted was a gas-accelerated blowback design, with an aluminum frame, stamped slide, 13-round magazine (in 9x19), and double-action-only shrouded-hammer firing mechanism.
I had the opportunity to try shooting one of the 3 surviving examples of this pistol thanks to the generosity of a reader named Steve (thanks, Steve!). This is one of those cases where it seems that the trials board evaluating guns made the right conclusion - this pistol was finicky to disassemble, quite large, and had harsher than normal recoil because of its light weight, high bore axis, and blowback mechanism. Its 13-round magazine was a nice touch, but one of very few positive elements in the gun.
Up Next in Forgotten Weapons
-
Remington 870 Competition - I Think T...
The Remington 870 is one of the most popular shotguns ever made, but some trap shooters decided they preferred the lighter recoil of the gas-operated Model 1100. This gave someone at Remington the idea to replace the 870's magazine tube with a gas piston much like that in the 1100, which could ac...
-
Slow Motion: StG-45(M) Prototype (Rep...
The StG-45(M) was developed by engineers at Mauser right at the end of WWII, and its designers went on to form Heckler & Koch and this rifle was their basis for the H&K roller-delayed blowback series of weapons (HK91, HK33, HK53, HK21, MP5, etc). Twenty sets of parts for the StG-45(M) were produc...
-
A Brief Tour of the Rock Island Aucti...
I have been spending this past week at the Rock Island Auction Company. I posted a few photos on Facebook, and had someone request a video. Well...why not? So I put together a brief tour of the place. This coming auction will have about 6,500 guns for sale, and that makes for some pretty impressi...
