History:
The Zehna-Pistol was designed and put on the market by Emil Zehner around 1919/20. Prototypes of this pistol go back to 1920, but the main production was started not earlier than 1921.
It looks similar to the pistol of Haenel/Schmeisser in a few aspects, got a barrel construction like the Mauser 1910, and as interesting construction detail an action, which can be removed as complete unit from the receiver, which for sure made the production more expensive and therefore it became not that big commercial success.
The pistol was produced for the public market only.
Production lasted up to around 1928. In 1927 it was still advertized in catalogues. Figures about amount of pistols produced are not reported, but it is estimated by the numbering, that they were not more than 20,000 pcs. Therefore this pistol is already a little bit scarce today.
Early patterns differ from the later ones by the slightly more rounded slide and the italic inscription. The did not have a load indication pin either.
Technical Data:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with inertial system and firing pin
CARTRIDGES : 6
CALIBRE : .25 ACP
BARREL LENGTH : 60 mm, 4 grooves right hand twisting
WEIGHT EMPTY : 365 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 121 mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 78 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 22 mm
TRIGGER : Single Action
SIGHT : fixed
SAFETY : safety-lever
FINISH : blued
GRIPS : hard rubber