
Nothing symbolizes German engineering quite like a 1930s Mercedes Benz limousine (right). Heavy, grandiose, with bold sweeping lines, it just seems to scream out gruffly, “achtung!” The Germans liked those same features in their weapons, too, as proven by the Borchardt C-93—the first ever mass-produced semi-automatic handgun in the world.
Where you’ve seen it:
I hate to reference the same game twice, but it seems as though my old standby time-waster, Red Dead Redemption, is one of the only places in popular media this gun has appeared in recent times.
History:
The tale of the Borchardt is one of obstinance and opportunism. After Hugo Borchardt designed this pistol in 1893, one of the manufacturers, Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), began promoting the gun through various military and commercial channels. The U.S. Army and Navy gave it a hard look, as did the Swiss army. They all said the same thing: despite the pistol’s speedy rate of fire (particularly by 19th century standards) and accuracy, it had a weird vertical grip that wasn’t very ergonomic, poor weight distribution (just look at that tumor-like bulge at the Borchardt’s back end!), surprisingly snappy recoil, and was expensive. DWM took these concerns to heart and set out to make enough changes to the design to overcome those shortfalls and make the pistol more marketable. But wouldn’t you know it, Borchardt happened to be one of those guys who didn’t handle criticism well: He thought his design was flawless. So DWM just handed the project over to Borchardt’s assistant and told him to make the improvements. That assistant’s name was Georg Luger. Yeah, that Luger. The improved design was later named the Luger P08 and went on to serve the Germans through WWI and WWII, becoming one of the most widely recognizable pistols in history. You can bet Borchardt and Luger didn’t exchange too many Christmas cards after the dust settled.
Design:

The C-93 operated on a toggle lock system more famously known—you guessed it—as the defining action of the Luger P08 (right). When the gun was fired, the recoil forced an arm upwards via a fairly complex series of hinged linkages, allowing the breech to unlock and eject the empty cartridge case.
The cartridge:
Borchardt didn’t just design the pistol bearing his name; he designed a new cartridge to go with it, too. The 7.65×25mm Borchardt round was nearly identical to that used by the Mauser C96 (also known as the ‘Broomhandle’ Mauser and, for Star Wars fans, the basis of Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster), the 7.63×25mm Mauser. Some ammo manufacturers at the time even marketed them as interchangeable between the two guns.
The verdict:
Though it may have been one of the most peculiar looking sidearms ever dreamt up, one can’t argue with its importance in shaping history, even if Borchardt never got to enjoy the fame that came with it.
Opening composite photo courtesy of earmi.it and icollector.com.
OK, admit it. You made this one up, didn’t you. That is one strange looking firearm. I love these articles.
JoeFabeetz Haha. You can’t make this stuff up!
Interesting design. It looks as if the balance of the gun would have been a very different animal.
SteveDurant No doubt about it, Steve.
SteveDurant No doubt about it, Steve.
The Germans made and continue to make weapons at the cutting edge of technology. There is a theory that the AK was a clone of German designs and had more than a few German designers working on it. I tend to agree with this.
peter3101 Isn’t the AK just a little to simple to be a German design if there were Germans involved it should be more over engineered.
Brc peter3101 I think Peter was referring to the Nazi StG 44 as the archetype upon which the Russians based the Kalashnikov design. I think the most significant similarities between those guns is their use of an intermediate pistol/rifle cartridge that combined decent range with manageable recoil and their option for selective fire. Internally, they’re pretty different.
Brc peter3101 I think Peter was referring to the Nazi StG 44 as the archetype upon which the Russians based the Kalashnikov design. I think the most significant similarities between those guns is their use of an intermediate pistol/rifle cartridge that combined decent range with manageable recoil and their option for selective fire. Internally, they’re pretty different.
After 70 years after WWII, we’re still seeing interesting designs the Germany engineers came up with. Fascinating….
Great little piece of firearms history, and I love the star wars references.
Great little piece of firearms history, and I love the star wars references.
These were produced with a stock also so inspite of Luger being stuck with redesign there evidently was a short production run. Out of my price rage at 7.5k for the pistol and 12k for the stocked version.
hartcreek I think the total produced ended up around 3,000. Not many.
That thing looks awkward as heck to shoot. But, I liked the comparison to the Mercedes – clever.
Another excellent Weird Gun article. I love how wonderfully complex and needlessly over engineered some German weaponry was. Anyhow keep up the top-notch writing Mr. Granzow.
Don1974 Don, you’ve made my day. Thank you for the kind words!
LOL, first thing that came to my mind was “Hey, that’s the gun in Red Dead Redemption!” Excellent write up, Nate. Plenty of humor, grit and facts. You know, the stuff that you folks are known for.
HugeFan Thank you sir!