More elegant than Luger?
 

Tried to search this forum for a reference to an obscure prototype by Silverman-Maxim 1896. It,s unobtainable. Only 3 I believe exist.
I,m in love with this pistol, I wish a reproduction was made.
The patent paperwork is available online.

The simplicity and the silhouette well ahead of it,s time.

I find it to be extremely modern and attractive pistol.

Just wanted to share.

You could always buy a Japanese Type 14 or the Ruger Mk4...

:-)

G2

You could have grabbed one in 2014 for the low low price of $37,500.00 STEINBVG.

A very beautiful gun ... def ahead of its time.
But more elegant than Luger ?? NO
https://auctions.morphyauctions.com/...ntoryid=413879

Reminds me of animal tranquilizer pistols
https://i.imgur.com/a2e1k0J.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/B6kLall.jpg

:cheers:

Not to me. JMHO.

The lines are along the same as the Kimball 30 carbine pistol.

IMO the original, dished toggled Lugers are the height of firearm elegance.

A nod must be made here to S&W model 10 (and similar Colt revolvers) from me.

You sure picked the wrong bunch to run this by,
Epic faux pas.

Just my opinion but compared to a 1906 Luger, that is one ugly duckling without hope of ever being a swan.

Or many other target pistols to follow...

Agree...my bad.

Luger pistol had a chance and an ugly duckling for a father...
I wish Silverman in the shadow of Maxim had a similar chance to refine his creation and who knows...

Minimalist does not always equal elegance

But we are entitled to our opinion
I prefer Luger

Excuse me??? The C93 Borchardt was and still is one of the most captivating of all automatic pistols. :thumbup:

Put the C93 at one end of a table and a P08 at the other, and which do you think will receive the most attention? The Borchardt was a ground breaking design with a powerful cartridge that in itself was a giant step forward. :cheers:

No arguments on those points.

I personally find bulky Borchard or C96 to be extremely attractive and sticking out of the line of an average silhouettes of modern handguns.

But despite the innovations and some commercial success, wasn,t Borchardt,s bulkiness and awkwardness a reason that it was transformed into much more comfortable , proportionate and aesthetically pleasing and beloved by millions Luger?

I merely point out aesthetics...not popularity. Although Luger has scored on both.


And yes, some will find Silverman unattractive , but hell if it doesn,t stick out of line of early self loading pistols.

I,m also a big fun of Scwarzlose pistols, very impressive engineering and I guess to a lesser degree aesthetics- but again it,s arguable.
:thumbup:

You might look into the National Automatic Pistol Collectors Association. They have an online presence, it may be members only, but if you have wide ranging interest in automatic pistols it is a good source and some folks there are into those ugly off brands like Mannlicher and Mauser :cheers:

http://www.napca.net

Diverse tastes is what makes life interesting.

Attractive = Colt Python, Anaconda, SW 29, P04 in that order. IMHO

You missed the Sauer 1913 and 38H , and the Browning 1910, ...and the whole Smith and Wesson K frame series prior to the new bluing.
And I think you have the order wrong
I guess Bill Lyon was right. :-)

I thought it was a Luger...mistake
 

You might recognize this good looking and mechanically different handgun more than likely influenced by Luger aesthetics and ergonomics.

Does anybody possess it?

I do not but you will find lots of Lahti's here. Simpson Ltd currently has several for sale

It looks vaguely familiar... :rolleyes:

The one you show is an early Finnish L-35 'Lahti' and rarely found here in the US...The Husqvarna M40 'Lahti" is fairly common...Same pistol; different country...Totally different action than the Luger. :)

The Lahti is an interesting pistol (I have one of the "H" serial prefixed commercial version), but it is bulky, heavy and has some issues with slide cracking that required design modifications to keep it safe and operating.

The Luger was, of course, refined from the C-93's design (after Borchardt declared it "finished" and Luger asked Loewe management for the opportunity to "improve" it...). Everyone makes mistakes.

The Borchardt and Luger design derives from the Maxim toggle guns. This article will give you an idea of the progressive development of designs by Maxim that eventually incorporated the toggle principle.

http://www.victorianshipmodels.com/a...maximgun1.html

The Luger was a commercial success for DWM principally because of it's performance in the Swiss trials for replacing their revolvers with a self loading semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was one of many designs completed in the 1890's including Mauser's C-96 and a number of others. There are a small number of collectors that focus on these pre-20th century semi-automatic pistols, and they are collecting many that are "unobtainium".

As to safety, there are some design issues withe Luger that were eventually resolved with more modern designs. Walther's introduction of direct blowback single-double action pistols allowed hammer block safety designs and very compact handguns. PP, and PPK pocket pistols were preferred by many at the time they were available. Their "Army pistol", eventually the P.38, took this to the locked breech design still used in the Beretta 92F (M.9 service pistol in the USA).

In the Luger, you are holding history in your hand. I collect them because I like them for what they are and their place in the history of firearm design. They are reasonably unique, and remain landmark in their design.

Several of us do. Here's the definitive site on Lahti's...

http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/m40/pist40_1.htm

...But if you really want to influence women and gain the admiration of men...You want the Adler... :thumbup:

looks like something you would build with an erector set.....

That's even more ugly than the first one. Bill

The Adler is slightly less elegant than the Dreyse.

I have an FN 1900, which is quite similar to the Dreyse. I like it. It's much smaller than evident from photos. :)

I like the Browning, I like the Dreyse but not for its looks

Schwartzlose 1898
 

I like this gun and impressed with it,s design- rotating locking bolt, one main spring serving 4 functions, etc.