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alvin · 02-12-2008, 04:59 PM

Let's temporarily put the auction #19 aside. Today, I read chapter 1 & 2 of Walter's classic book again and found an unexplainable thing:

On 6-22-1897, Swiss ordnance department tested a Borchardt along with a Bergmann, a Mannlicher, and a Mauser. The Loewe-made C93, #95 was demonstrated by Georg Luger (Page 43).

The myth to me are (1) Why did DWM (already setup earlier) want to send a Loewe gun (instead of DWM marked one) for Swiss test? (2) Even more interesting, why did they send a pretty early one (#95) for the testing purpose?

The 1st one could be... DWM initial products were assembled from Loewe parts anyway, either one would work. So, might not a big issue.

The 2nd one .... I stuck on the 2nd one. By end of 1896, Loewe had made at least 1,000 Borchardts (Page 33). It's also mentioned some functional enhancements, including coil springs elevated magazine follower (D.R.P. 91,998, 10-10-1896, Page 30) were made. Why didn't DWM show Switzerland their latest and best.....

Here are a few possibilities that I can think of at this moment:

(1) All enhancements were made before #95, so #95 was DWM's latest. But the patent date (10-10-1896) ran against it. It's hard to believe Borchardt could put the product on market before issuing patent application, and it's hard to believe only fewer than 100 guns were made before October 1896, and at least 900 were made in the last two months of that year.

(2) Georg Luger intentionally carried a outdated model to Switzerland. He knew Swiss would reject it so he could improve it. By reading Mauser Archive (Jon Speed, 2007), GL was a shady guy and that's not impossible. But, which gun to send to Swiss could not be a GL's decision. It's not his gun, he only performed demo.

(3) A bold one.... absolutely no evidence..... DWM could have a seperately numbered series, and #95 was a late gun in that series.

Any comments?

02-12-2008, 04:59 PM	#45
alvin User Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: US Posts: 3,843 Thanks: 132 Thanked 729 Times in 438 Posts	Let's temporarily put the auction #19 aside. Today, I read chapter 1 & 2 of Walter's classic book again and found an unexplainable thing: On 6-22-1897, Swiss ordnance department tested a Borchardt along with a Bergmann, a Mannlicher, and a Mauser. The Loewe-made C93, #95 was demonstrated by Georg Luger (Page 43). The myth to me are (1) Why did DWM (already setup earlier) want to send a Loewe gun (instead of DWM marked one) for Swiss test? (2) Even more interesting, why did they send a pretty early one (#95) for the testing purpose? The 1st one could be... DWM initial products were assembled from Loewe parts anyway, either one would work. So, might not a big issue. The 2nd one .... I stuck on the 2nd one. By end of 1896, Loewe had made at least 1,000 Borchardts (Page 33). It's also mentioned some functional enhancements, including coil springs elevated magazine follower (D.R.P. 91,998, 10-10-1896, Page 30) were made. Why didn't DWM show Switzerland their latest and best..... Here are a few possibilities that I can think of at this moment: (1) All enhancements were made before #95, so #95 was DWM's latest. But the patent date (10-10-1896) ran against it. It's hard to believe Borchardt could put the product on market before issuing patent application, and it's hard to believe only fewer than 100 guns were made before October 1896, and at least 900 were made in the last two months of that year. (2) Georg Luger intentionally carried a outdated model to Switzerland. He knew Swiss would reject it so he could improve it. By reading Mauser Archive (Jon Speed, 2007), GL was a shady guy and that's not impossible. But, which gun to send to Swiss could not be a GL's decision. It's not his gun, he only performed demo. (3) A bold one.... absolutely no evidence..... DWM could have a seperately numbered series, and #95 was a late gun in that series. Any comments?