History:
At the beginning of the 1920's, Louis Schmeisser, who had previously worked with Theodor Bergmann, moved as chief-designer and -engineer to the company of C.G. Haenel. He brought ideas and documents for a small vestpocket pistol, with features that he had already patented with several German and foreign patents. Many of the patents he held jointly with his brother Hans, who also worked on the construction of these pistols. The first patent, covering the barrel attachment, goes back to 1909.
This pistol, in the usual .25-inch caliber, was of outstanding quality, had a number of remarkable features, and differs strongly from most vestpocket pistols of that time. Besides the unusual barrel attachment, it had a combination of safety functions, which for example make it
impossible to cock the firing pin with the lever in safe position, while still allowing the slide to be pulled so as to eject a cartridge. You can remove the magazine only when the pistol is on safe, and you cannot release the safety lever unless you put the magazine in again.
Although this model was not officially adopted by the military or the police, it was popular as a personal backup-gun by many of the higher-
ranking military- and police-officers.
Production started around 1920 and lasted until about 1930. The number of pistols made is unknown.
Technical Data:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with mass system and firing pin
CARTRIDGES : 6
CALIBRE : .25-inch ACP 6
BARREL LENGTH : 54 mm, 4 grooves right hand twisting
WEIGHT EMPTY : 380 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 115 mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 82 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 24 mm
TRIGGER : Single Action
SIGHT : fixed
SAFETY : safety-lever, and interactive magazine-safety
FINISH : blued
GRIPS : hard rubber