Categories
The Smith & Wesson Model 41 REVIEW
World War I era firearms have enjoyed a kind of collectors’ renaissance in recent years. This rising popularity has been partially fueled by movies and video games that encompasses many of the iconic firearms of the period. Classics, like the Mauser C96 and Springfield M1903, continue to be extremely popular among collectors and appear frequently in popular media. With the sheer number of firearms used in and around the time of World War I, it can be easy for new collectors to overlook some truly excellent guns that don’t get the same attention as their more well-known counterparts. Sometimes, the lesser-known firearms have the most to offer us as collectors and shooters. No gun illustrates this point more clearly than the Steyr M1912 pistol.
The Steyr Model of 1912 is a semi-automatic, short-recoil operated handgun chambered in 9×23 mm Steyr. Also frequently referred to as the “Steyr Hahn” (Hahn being a German word for hammer), the M1912 was first produced in 1911 by the legendary Austrian arms manufacturer ŒWG Steyr. Though it would not be immediately adopted by Austro-Hungarian troops, the gun proved popular in the export market. Both Chile and Romania would order variants of the M1912 pistol from Steyr. With the outbreak of World War I, exports to Entente-aligned Romania were no longer an option. The Austro-Hungarian government would order large quantities of Steyr M1912 pistols to supplement their supply of Roth Krnka M7 pistols. The consensus is that the M1912 had a good reputation, and was a very solid military service pistol for the time.
From a collectability standpoint, there is much to be said for the M1912. Like most other pistols of the era, the value of the Steyr Hahn is climbing steadily. That being said, it hasn’t suffered the same level of inflation that certain other surplus and historical firearms have. This means that collectors may still find a decent price on an M1912, if they know where to look and have patience. While it’s certainly not the least expensive World War I surplus firearm, the M1912 gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Most handguns similar in size and cartridge potency from this era are far more expensive to collect.
Another factor that makes the M1912 great to collect is its reliable nature and sturdy construction. I have owned and handled quite a few antique and military surplus firearms, and one thing I have come to realize is that many of these old guns are prone to parts breakages and odd malfunctions. Most of the time this is simply due to the age of the firearm, but sometimes design choices can create issues as well. For example, I have a Mauser C96, a pistol that is notoriously complicated compared to some of its peers. It has had quite a bit of work put into it, yet it still doesn’t work well. In my experience with M1912s, if you’re not missing parts, the odds are the gun will function and function well. Taking care of the pistol is not difficult, as field-stripping down to major components is simple. Many of these pistols can also be found in good condition because they were popular among officers and personnel serving off of the frontlines.
Where the Steyr Hahn really shines is at the range. For the collector who enjoys shooting their arms, getting their hands on an M1912 should be on the list of priorities. Ergonomically, it shares similarities with some of the other cutting-edge guns of the day. That is to say, the M1912 shares the more modern grip style of early 1900s Colt automatic pistols and is significantly more comfortable to hang onto than a Roth Krnka M7 or Mauser C96. The full-size grip houses an internal eight-round magazine that loads via stripper clips.
The beavertail is substantial enough that slide bite is not an issue. Controls on the M1912 are positioned in pretty natural areas for right-handed shooters. As a left-handed shooter, I’ve found that they aren’t that difficult to operate with some practice. There is also plenty of room to manipulate the slide when compared to a lot of the other service pistols of the era, without awkward two-finger pinching maneuvers to pull the slide rearward. The safety features a hook that latches into a notch in the slide, and also acts as a slide lock. A release lever is positioned further forward on the frame, allowing the remaining cartridges in the magazine to be dumped without having to cycle the slide or fire the pistol. It should be noted that pushing down on this lever will send every cartridge in the magazine flying out of the top of the pistol at once, like a geyser!
Firing the M1912 is an absolute pleasure. The 9×23 mm Steyr chambering provides decent power with a very mild recoil impulse. The 9×23 mm cartridge may lack the energy of more modern pistol rounds, but it has no problem whatsoever knocking down heavy steel targets on the range. Factory loaded 9×23 mm Steyr generally makes use of a 115-grain bullet, regardless of which manufacturer you buy from. This means that the recoil impulse of the M1912 will be relatively similar across various brands of ammo. 9×23 mm ammunition can be found on the surplus market and has been produced by brands like Fiocchi and Hornady, though availability has decreased over the last few years.
At this point, most of the 9×23 mm to be found on the internet costs in excess of a dollar per shot. Looking around at my local gun stores, I was able to buy several boxes of factory loads for around 60 cents per round. Surplus 9×23 mm Steyr tends to be less expensive, but in many cases is corrosive and will eat away at your bore if you don’t clean it promptly. As a side note, if the proprietary ammo steers you away from the M1912, there is a variant of the pistol that was re-chambered for 9 mm Luger during World War II. While this would certainly be more practical, there is something more enthralling about firing the gun in its original format.
The pistol itself feels very smooth to operate. The lugs on the rotating barrel glide easily in their notches, with the use of a bit of gun grease. The trigger pull is crisp, despite having a bit of travel. Yet the reset is nice and tactile. The sights are pretty basic, but substantial enough that they don’t hinder accuracy noticeably. The M1912 is among the most accurate military surplus pistols I have ever had the opportunity to fire. When firing with one and two hands, I was able to produce groups similar to those of modern defensive handguns. I’m not sure if this has more to do with the overall easy-to-use design of the M1912 or the quality of the barrel itself.
The Steyr Hahn handles rapid fire like a champ, though the trigger will take some getting used to in order to run it with speed. The 9×23 mm Steyr is flat shooting enough that follow up shots can be strung together without a great deal of effort. I would love to run the M1912 through a match one day, as it feels suited to that style of shooting. Although a detachable magazine will almost always be faster to reload, the stripper clips for the M1912 are surprisingly quick to use due to the very pronounced clip guide notch on the slide. The handling characteristics of the M1912 are a big part of what makes it such an excellent choice for collectors that shoot. When doing more dynamic shooting with the M1912, it doesn’t feel sluggish or unresponsive. This pistol is extremely capable despite its age.
The Steyr M1912 is truly a blast to own and shoot. There is so much interesting history tied to this pistol, and it’s a shame it is not more popular. It can still be found at a price point that is within reach for many new collectors. There is a lot of value in the Steyr Hahn. Not only do you get a piece of history that served in World War I and World War II, but you get a pistol that is fun to shoot. Whether you’re an avid collector or have never owned a vintage military surplus firearm, I highly recommend you look into the stellar Steyr M1912.
Categories
Mauser C96 Broomhandle
Categories
The History of Glock
New York – -(AmmoLand.com)-
“It is time for us to think outside the box and form two countries. Instead of civil war I propose civil separation. We are two countries, so ideologically opposed that each feels victimized and dominated by the other. Political leaders need to step up and brainstorm next steps. Clearly lay out the two ideologies and give each state a vote as to where they belong.” ~“Opinion Letter” from reader of The New York Times posted on June 5, 2022, responding to May 27, 2022 “America May Be Broken Beyond Repair,” by the Political Progressive Columnist for the Times, Michelle Goldberg. The letter writer, Dawn Menken, a Psychologist, from Portland, Oregon, is the author of “Facilitating a More Perfect Union: A Guide for Politicians and Leaders,” published in 2021*
If the American public didn’t know the truth before, it knows it now: the battle for the very Soul of the Country is on the line, and Ground Zero of that battle isn’t Uvalde, Texas. It’s New York City, New York, with the Bruen case shortly coming down the pike.
The Nation is indeed “two Countries,”—no less so now than at the time of the American Civil War: friend against friend, brother against brother, uncle against cousin, father against son. But what is different today is that ideologies cut across and into the very notion of what it means to be an American. There are those who hold to the meaning and purport of our Nation as set forth in our Constitution and especially in the Nation’s Bill of Rights. And there are those who wish to jettison all of it in the erroneous belief that our Nation is at its core, immoral, even evil. They wish to destroy the very fabric of a free Constitutional Republic.
But the salient difference between these two Countries rests on this:
Those Americans who embrace and cherish their fundamental right to keep and bear arms, and others who do not.
Those who embrace and cherish their fundamental right to keep and bear arms also recognize and embrace their sovereignty over Government. They understand that government exists to serve the interests of the people. They recognize that Government is the servant and the American people are the sole master.
Unfortunately, many Americans are of a different mindset. Such Americans have bought into the psychological conditioning programmed into them that guns are awful and gun owners are to be despised. Such Americans care not that Government is their servant, not their master. They recognize not and care not that by ceding their God-Given right to keep and bear arms, they have laid the foundation for their own demise: loss of Selfhood, loss of Dignity, loss of Self-Reliance, loss of mastery over their own destiny.
But what does the Government Tyrant do about the population of gun owners? That places the Tyrant in a quandary. The Tyrant cannot gain control over those who have the will and means to effectively resist the insinuation of tyranny over them. And, while two-thirds of the population has apparently capitulated, that still leaves a goodly third of Americans who have not and will not capitulate. One hundred million people is a lot of people by any reckoning.
What, then, does a Tyrannical Government do?
How does the Tyrant go about separating an estimated 400 million firearms (according to American Gun Facts) in the hands of roughly one-third of the population?
According to a November 2020 Gallop Poll, thirty-two percent of Americans possess firearms. See also a report of the Rand Corporation, a 2017 report of the Pew Research Center, titled, “the Demographics of gun ownership,” and an SSRN 2021 “National Firearms Survey.”
The American public is routinely bombarded with viral memes. Injected with and subjected to verbal and visual memes on a daily basis, many Americans develop a phobic reaction toward guns and toward those who possess them: word phrases such as “Gun Violence,” “Gun Culture,” “Mass Shootings,” “Assault Weapons,” “AR-15 Rifles,” “Weapons of War,” “Large Capacity Magazines,” and other such nomenclature, when coupled with images of violence, operate as visual and auditory cues, that induce a neurotic reaction in the target population. This is to be expected; in fact, this is intended. The goal is to create in the mind of the target audience a feeling of physical revulsion and repulsion toward guns.
But is it really a concern over the safety of innocent people that motivates a vigorous response against firearms and firearms ownership, misguided though that be, or is there something more sinister at play? If it were the former, one would expect a harsh response toward the massive wave of everyday criminal violence infecting and infesting our Country, especially in the major urban areas. But we see no such response.
Those State and municipal Government officials and legislators, who rabidly attack guns in the hands of average, rational, responsible, individuals, handle rampant violent and vicious crime infecting their locales with diffidence and an air of casual indifference.
So, it cannot be violent crime generally or violent gun crime committed by drug-crazed lunatics, psychopathic and psychotic gangbangers, and garden-variety criminals, particularly, that motivate these officials.
What might it be, then? Why would Globalist Government officials, along with their compatriots in the Press, go off half-cocked whenever a rare occurrence, invariably avoidable, of “mass violence” arises, occasioned by the actions of a solitary lunatic?
Why would Government officials and legislators shriek for more nonsensical gun laws, targeting tens of millions of average Americans, predicating the need for all of it on the lowest common denominator among us: the lone wolf psychotic.
The answer is plain. The actions of that lone wolf psychotic merely provide a convenient pretext. It isn’t the criminal actions of the lone wolf killer that Government is concerned about. For he doesn’t pose a viable threat to Government. Rather, it is the armed citizenry that poses a threat to a Tyrannical Government and poses a threat by virtue of the mere fact of being armed.
But why should Government fear its own armed citizenry? It shouldn’t and wouldn’t unless Government seeks to usurp the sovereignty of the citizenry, as it clearly aims to do here.
A perspicacious Tyrant would know it is a Tyrant. But this Federal Government doesn’t know it.
The Federal Government has amassed power and authority that doesn’t belong to it; power and authority that never did belong to it, believing, wrongly, that the power it has usurped from the people is rightfully its own. And the Government has become jealous in guarding this power, hoarding it.
The Federal Government has come to perceive the armed citizenry as a potential rival that must be crushed, and not as a master to whom it must serve. And we, gun owners, for our part, would do well to view this present Government as a rival to our rightful claim of sovereignty over the Federal Government.
Our claim of sole sovereignty over Government is grounded on the Constitution, and on fundamental, unalienable, immutable, eternal God-given natural law Rights. And, what, then, does the Federal Government presume to claim its sovereignty over us on? What can it presume to claim sovereignty over the American people on? Nothing but a set of limited, contingent, demarcated powers and authority handed through us to it, conditioned on the fact that Government exists to serve our interests, not its own.
Whose claim of sovereignty is superior? And, if one falls back on the aphorism, “might makes right,” well, then, the Government is not alone as the bearer of arms.
*Menken’s book purports to be a guide for political leaders on how to bring the Country together to resolve the Nation’s differences. Yet, one year after the publication of her book, it is clear from her NYTimes letter Times, that Menken has had a change of heart; surrendered to the truth that reconciliation is impossible. That should have been obvious to her all along. It wasn’t.
There are two antithetical ideologies at play. One ideology is grounded on the principles, precepts, and tenets laid down in our Nation’s sacred documents. The other intends to cast it out. One ideology was forged in the Nation’s struggle for independence from tyranny. The proponents of that ideology seek to preserve the Natural Law Rights and Liberties of the people. They intend to maintain and preserve the success of the American Revolution.
The other ideology, grounded on the principles, tenets, and precepts of Collectivism, much in evidence today, seeks to upend the hard-fought battle for Independence from tyranny. For Collectivism is predicated on Tyranny. It is inextricably tied to it. On our website, we discussed all of this in several articles some time ago. See, e.g., our article posted four years ago, in 2018, titled: “The Modern American Civil War: A Clash of Ideologies.”
About The Arbalest Quarrel:
Arbalest Group created `The Arbalest Quarrel’ website for a special purpose. That purpose is to educate the American public about recent Federal and State firearms control legislation. No other website, to our knowledge, provides as deep an analysis or as thorough an analysis. Arbalest Group offers this information free.
For more information, visit: www.arbalestquarrel.com.