I’ve always felt that weapons from World War I are far and away the most fascinating in history, because it was around that time that industrialization and technological innovation began coming together in ways never before seen. Long leaps in weapons technology emerged within a very short time period, creating a paradigm where weapons as fearsome as the Vickers gun served alongside blackpowder guns from the century before. One glance at the Steyr-Hahn tells you that it perfectly represents the technology of the early 20th century, bearing all the marks of a design torn between modernity and antiquity.
Where you’ve seen it:
The only recent film I could find featuring a scene with the Steyr-Hahn was Michael Collins
, wherein an IRA member uses one to assassinate a British intelligence officer (left).
History:
The Steyr-Hahn began as a sidearm developed for the Austria-Hungarian Army, and, as its name implies, was brought into service in 1912. Like so many weapons in the early 1900s, it went on to serve in WWII, too, this time in the holsters of the Nazi Wehrmacht. Prior to WWII, orders for the Steyr-Hahn were also placed by Chile, Romania, and Germany (this was prior to the annexation of Austria by the Nazis), so many existing examples of this weapon will bear the marks of those militaries. Estimates suggest that less than 300,000 of these weapons were produced in total.
Design:
Though it’s hard for us to wrap our heads around since we live in a time of high-capacity magazines and beveled mag wells, back in the early 1900s, the concept of a removable magazine was a brand new one. The Austrians chose instead an integral magazine (left), designing the Steyr-Hahn much like the rifles of the time—to be charged by an eight-round stripper clip. Despite this, the Steyr-Hahn proved to be a dependable performer in the trenches. One might attribute some of that reliability to the gun’s short recoil operation, similar in design to the venerable 1911 platform.
The cartridge:
The Steyr-Hahn shoots the 9×23 Steyr round, which is still accessible commercially (though you’ll probably not find it on the shelf at your local sporting goods store). The 115 grain bullet is nearly identical to the 9mm Luger’s. In fact, when the Nazis ordered the construction of Steyr-Hahns during WWII, they had them chambered to the 9mm Parabellum to jive with the rest of their weapons.
The verdict:
Like so many other service pistols through the ages, this is not a finely-tuned sports car so much as a shell-scarred battle tank. The sensation of shooting the Steyr-Hahn is a difficult one to describe: It’s as though you can feel every chunky, groaning internal part ratcheting into place when the gun recoils. The Steyr-Hahn’s sights are geared for hitting a person-sized target at no further than 25 yards, it has the ergonomics of a brick, and the process of charging the weapon with a stripper clip is hardly a lightning-fast operation. None of that means it isn’t still fun as hell to shoot, and as is usually the case with these old war horses, think of the stories it would tell if it could only talk!
Love seeing and reading about these old guns, you can see where some of the modern designs have came from. Love the history about these old guns, and yes like many others as I watch films I like to identify the handguns used. Yup the sign of an addict. I also love going round museums and such and spend ages staring at guns through the glass imagining all the sights they have seen and the hands they have been trough. We have a nice museum here under the Arch and it shows old wild west type guns, find them fascinating.
peter3101 Glad you’re enjoying them, Peter! I’m right there with you—I love shooting and researching these old guns.
that’s neat! loading from stripper clip seems like it would be a bit awkward though.
SavageHenry It certainly is!
SavageHenry It certainly is!
NateGranzow SavageHenry
I am guessing there would be no slide lock on empty so… you would need to count rounds (as one should anyway), then take cover, lock it back manually, dig out a clip and strip it in, release the slide and resume combat. it seems like a lot could go wrong. especially when you have people trying to make you dead.
SavageHenry Surprisingly, there *is* a slide lock on empty. The rest is spot on, though. I guess their logic must have been that the soldiers couldn’t lose their magazines with this design.
NateGranzow SavageHenry that is surprising. and probably very helpful but still… I just dunno about going to war with it. it makes me think how many peoples lives were saved by a 1911 and being able to change mags efficiently. > U.S. design would rather lose mags than men<
SavageHenry NateGranzow I’m with you completely. It’s amazing to me how other nations employed such limited technology even while superior weapon designs were available. (England and their Webley revolvers come to mind most immediately, but we could also look at Hitler’s infatuation with the KAR-98 as a main battle rifle and the Russian’s zealous production of Nagant revolvers.)
NateGranzow SavageHenry even the Garand was clip fed when magazine technology was available. imagine having Jerry crushing down on you and suddenly hear that all too familiar PING sound happen all around you. in a rush to save your life and the lives of your people, you grab another clip and stuff it in only to have the bolt slam down on your thumb. so right when you need to be sharp and 100% you just lost some function in your thumb for a time. guys could easily fight through a small pain like that but it probably didn’t help them to kill nazis.
I think you said it all right at the beginning: “One glance at the Steyr-Hahn tells you that it perfectly represents the
technology of the early 20th century, bearing all the marks of a design
torn between modernity and antiquity.” Excellent.
FateofDestinee Thank you ma’am 😉
Very cool!