History:
The commercial pistols sold with name STEYR were in fact designs from Nicolas Pieper in Belgium. The "Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft Steyr" bought the license from N.Pieper and manufactured them from 1909 onward under its own name.
There are small differences between Steyr and Pieper production, like the shape of the frame and the serrations in the slide, which are probably caused by the use of different tool-machines, but mechanically they are identical guns.
They have been made in .25 and .32 caliber and easily may be recognized by their markings.
Very useful is the Steyr marking system, which shows the last two significant digits of the year of production on the left side of the barrel block.
The production of these pistols was supended in 1914 and started again in 1921, continuing up to 1939. They were rather difficult to manufacture and therefore the pistol was not cheap. In the years of 1930 a .25 type was about 39.- Reichsmark or 63.- Österreichische Schillinge, the long barreled type 67.- ÖS (without spare magazine). To compare: The Sauer & Sohn Model 1913 in .25 caliber cost
22.50 Reichsmark at the same time.
Besides commercial use these pistols also have been used by the Austrian police and partly by the Austrian army during the interim period.
Technical Datas:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with internal hammer and tip up barrel
CARTRIDGES : 6
CALIBER : .25 ACP
BARREL LENGTH : 53 mm, 6 fields turning right
WEIGHT EMPTY : 340 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 117 mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 79.5 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 23 mm
TRIGGER : Single Action
SIGHT : fixed
SAFETY : lever
FINISH : browned
GRIPS : hard rubber