The Laumann 1891 is an early Austrian repeating pistol. It is sometimes considered the first semi-automatic pistol made, and faces competition with the Salvator-Dormus 1891 over said title.
History
The Laumann pistols were developed by Josef Laumann as an early "self-loading" pistol in the 1890s. The Laumann pistols were a massive failure, and were known to have many parts held over from earlier designs, most of which were obsolete; this led to Laumann being considered a failure in designing self-loading pistols as a result. The pistols were sent for testing by the Austro-Hungarian army by Laumann himself, but were unfortunately rejected due to the above reasons. Laumann later decided to sell some of his patents to the Schönberger brothers, who later financially assisted him; both parties would later create the Schönberger-Laumann pistol, which was sent to the Austro-Hungarian army by the Schönberger brothers, but was also rejected.
Design Details
The Laumann 1891 is an early "self-loading" pistol with an interesting mechanism. The Laumann uses 5-round Mannlicher-styled en-bloc clips. The weapon had a ring-shaped lever on the bottom of the weapon, which would be pulled back to close the bolt; this made it akin to a blow forward weapon, but it wasn't exactly one as the weapon was manually operated. When the ring-shaped lever was pulled all the way to the rear, the weapon's tiny trigger can be pulled to fire the weapon. When the ring-shaped lever was released, the spent case is ejected. A big round button is seen on the side of the weapon which is used to eject the en-bloc clip.
Ammunition
The Laumann uses a 7.8×19mmR cartridge; very little is known about said cartridge.