History:
After their first pistol in caliber 7.65 mm in 1920 had not been adopted by the Czech army , the company Praga tried to find her place on the public market with a vestpocket pistol of own design.
This second pistol -made in Vrgovice-arms factory- was designed like the preceeding model by chief designer Vaclav Holek. The first prototype of this pistol was made already in October 1920, and in 1921 the pistol was put on the market as "Model 21".
The pistol is an ugly, but nevertheless ingenious construction. It is designed as "onehand"-pistol with folding trigger. The slide got a part milled out at the front end, which enables the pointing finger of the same hand to pull it back. Besides that, the folding trigger comes out of it's rest automatically, when the slide is pulled back just a little bit.
The production of these strange pistols ended already in September 1922. They did not sell as good as expected by the company, as their total length was shorter than 180 mm and therefore, due to the the gun control law of that time, it wasn't possible to buy these guns without a licence.
According informations 7.367 pieces of these pistols were made, where the numbering started with No. 1. There are some factory engraved pistols known too.
The pistol is already rather scarce today.
Technical Data:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with firing pin
CARTRIDGES : 6
CALIBER : .25 ACP
BARREL LENGTH : 52 mm, 4 grooves right hand twisting
WEIGHT EMPTY : 340 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 116 mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 83 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 20 mm
TRIGGER : Single Action , onehand cocking
SIGHT : fix groove
SAFETY : magazine- and trigger-safety
FINISH : browned
GRIPS : hard rubber