Bergmann Bayard M1910/21

[m24]

Couldn't help it, shooter.

Source: http://www.gunsandammo.com/content/berg ... 021?page=1

GAbayard_071405A.jpg

By Dennis Adler

It is hard to imagine the American West of the late 19th century, an era defined in books and movies by the presence of Colt, S&W and Remington revolvers, without thinking of anything but revolvers. But the truth is, the semiauto pistol was already a reality when the Wild West was still pretty wild.

In the hands and oddly shaped holsters of many Americans were Borchardts, Mausers and Bergmanns, unusual-looking sidearms chambered for a variety of metric calibers ranging from 7.63 and 7.82mm to 9mm Largo. As the world was changing at the dawn of the 20th century, so, too, was the design of the handgun.

There are three examples that most collectors regard as the "Triple Crown" of primitive German autos the Borchardt design of 1893, the Mauser C96 Broomhandle and the Bergmann M1910. There were other self-loaders (the 1896 Mannlicher and the Bergmann M1896), but this trio comprises the best designs conceived during an era when the time-honored wheelgun was about to become outmoded.

The idea of a self-loading pistol with a cache of cartridges stored within a magazine was actually pioneered in the 1880s. It was the work of Austrian designer Joseph Laumann, whose patent, it is believed, was signed over to the Osterreichische Waffenfabrik Gesellschaft at Steyr in Austria, where one of the very first autos, the SchOnberger-Laumann, was manufactured beginning in 1892. Though not a commercial success, the SchOnberger was succeeded by the Mannlicher in 1894, a superior design that caught the attention of arms-makers the world over.

There were numerous attempts at perfecting the self-loader throughout the early 1890s, but the first real success was the Borchardt Automatic Repeating Pistol patented in 1893 by Hugo Borchardt and his colleague Georg Luger. This was to become the underpinning for the most famous semiauto of all time, the Borchardt-Luger 9mm Parabellum introduced in 1900.

Hugo Borchardt and Georg Luger's design, however, wasn't the only means to an end. Both Paul Mauser and Theodor Bergmann found another equally successful method of creating an auto in the 1890s. Mauser and Bergmann came upon a similar approach, utilizing a bolt mechanism to extract and eject the spent cartridge casing and cock the hammer on the recoil stroke and, as the bolt rebounded, strip a round from the magazine and lock it into battery (a simple explanation for what was a relatively complicated operation).

Mauser patented his design in 1895 and produced his first prototype on March 15. The success of the Broomhandle Mauser, which was manufactured until 1939, is only eclipsed by the Luger 9mm, a design that has remained in production for more than a century.

Bergmann introduced his first auto-loader in 1894. More entrepreneur than engineer, he had acquired the 1892 patent rights to Hungarian watchmaker Otto Brauswetter's design for a locked-breech self-loader. Bergmann employed firearms designer Louis Schmeisser to make Brauswetter's pistol a reality in 1893. The first design, utilizing a hesitation lock, was not overly successful and was followed a year later by the improved M1894 Bergmann-Schmeisser, utilizing a simple blowback design. The 1894 pistol was succeeded two years later by the improved Bergmann M1896, of which more than 5,000 were produced in calibers ranging from 5mm to 6.35mm and 8mm. All three Bergmann cartridges, however, were regarded as underpowered, and the gun was still awkward to load.

The design of all early Bergmanns utilized a magazine inserted by releasing a pivoting sideplate on the magazine well, inserting the rounds and then closing and securing the cover. This was not an ideal arrangement. Bergmann and Schmeisser went back to the drawing board again and in 1897 made another change, introducing a removable magazine and the basic pistol configuration that would become characteristic of all future Bergmann designs. The new M1897 was chambered for a 7.8mm Bergmann round similar to the 7.63x25mm used in the Mauser Broomhandle. Alas, this design was not the success Bergmann had hoped for, and only around 800 were built.

In 1901 Bergmann took another significant step forward. He had patented a machine gun employing a vertically moving locking piece that was located toward the rear of the bolt. He used a similar design for an improved version of the Bergmann pistol, now called the Bergmann Mars, which was chambered for the more powerful 9x23mm. The new round came to be known as the 9mm Bergmann Bayard or 9mm Largo, a very potent cartridge of greater size than the popular 9mm Parabellum. Bergmann finally had a sidearm that piqued the interest of the military, and in 1905 Spain placed an order for 3,000.

Rather than manufacturing the new model in Germany, it was produced for Bergmann's Industriewerke GmbH in Herstal, Belgium, under license to Societe Anonyme Anciens Establissments Pieper (AEP). Featuring an improved safety mechanism, approximately 3,000 Bergmann Mars M. 1908 pistols were produced in 1907-1908 to fulfill the Spanish contract. AEP also received rights to produce a commercial version known as the Bergmann Bayard. The majority of the M1908 pistols was shipped to Spain, and the Danes adopted an improved version, known as the M1910, as their military sidearm. A total of 4,840 M1910 Bergmann Bayards was delivered to the Danish Army by AEP before the start of World War I.

The M1910 was the final evolution of the Bergmann Bayard design and featured a new S-shaped hammer mainspring, a semicircular cutout in the magazine well to permit easier removal of the six-round clip and a new grip design.

Although Bergmann had retired in 1910, the business relationship between Bergmann Industriewereke and AEP was going pretty well until June 28, 1914, the day a Serbian dissident assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia a month later, Germany sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire (thus separating the Bergmanns Industriewerke in Gaggenau, Germany, from its manufacturing partner in Belgium, which was on the opposing side). When Germany invaded Belgium in 1914, troops occupied the AEP factory in Herstal, and that was the last ever heard of the Bergmann Bayard.

My test gun is one of the pre-WWI models rebuilt by the Danes after the war. Beginning in 1922, the Danes began manufacturing Bergmann semiautos, incorporating several modifications to the original design such as an improved extractor and bolt, a screw to retain the sideplate instead of a spring-loaded catch and a new grip design extending the full length of the backstrap to the frame. The original grips (as pictured) were made of Trolit, a checkered plastic material similar to Bakelite. It was, however, prone to chipping and warping, and the majority of new 1910/21 models was fitted with checkered wooden grips.

More than 2,200 Danish Bergmann Bayard pistols were produced in Copenhagen after the war. In addition, most of the prewar M1910s delivered to the Danish army by AEP were converted to meet the new specifications. These were restamped "M1910/21" beneath the Societe Anonyme Anciens Establissments Pieper on the left side of the barrel extension.

The last Danish 1910/21 models were built in 1935, but they remained standard issue for the Danish military until 1946 when they were replaced by the Browning Hi-Power.

Although my sample has seen its fair share of use over the last eight decades, it performed admirably on a diet of original 9mm Steyr ammunition and new Fiocchi 9mm Steyr rounds, which are slightly shorter than the original 9mm Bergmann Bayard and will not function as reliably in the M910/21. Both are hard to come by, but Fiocchi continues to make ammo for models like the 9mm Bergmann and 7.63 Mauser C96.

The Trolit checkered grips on my test gun were still in very good condition with only a replaced screw. With an excellent bore and very tight action, the overall condition of the gun, which was reblued sometime in the last decade, was about 95 percent.

The larger Trolit grips, which extend the entire length of the backstrap to the frame, provide solid purchase of the gun, which has relatively modest recoil, even with the hefty 9mm Steyr rounds, which feature a 115-grain FMJ at nearly 1,100 fps.

Loading can be accomplished with a stripper clip (the 9mm Steyr rounds come 16 to the box, eight on each stripper), but the Bergmann magazine only accommodates six. It is easier to remove the clip and load it by hand. The operation of the M1910/21 is nearly identical to the C96 Mauser; the left-hand safety is also similar and easily operated with the right thumb.

At the range, I measured off the traditional 10 meters and fired three sets of six rounds freehand. With a few stovepipes along the way, I managed to keep all shots within the 8, 9 and 10 rings. The best grouping was three rounds all within an inch of each other. Not exactly worthy of a marksmanship medal, but at a distance of 33 feet it would have gotten the job done.

Considering the ease of loading and operation, and the durability of the Bergmann Bayard M1910/21, it's no wonder it has become one of the most collectible of all early semiautos.

The author wishes to credit the following sources Handguns of the World by Edward C. Ezell, Pistols of the World by Hogg and Weeks, Official R.L. Wilson Price Guide to Gun Collecting and Sociedad Largo.