From the Vault: 1905 Steyr-Mannlicher Pistol

Elegant, innovative, beautifully made, classic yet futuristic at the same time…. The Steyr-Mannlicher M1905 Self-Loading Pistol looks like a prop gun straight out of the Joss Whedon TV series Firefly. But it's a real pistol that served in the Austro-Hungarian and Argentinian militaries, and Brownells resident gun historian Keith Ford shows us his beautifully preserved example. The M1905 has a unique delayed blowback operating system, and Keith opens up his gun to demonstrate us how this masterpiece of early 20th century engineering works. Like the original C96 "Broomhandle" Mauser pistol, ammo is loaded into the blind magazine in the Steyr-Mannlicher's grip via stripper clips. And that ammo - the straight-walled 7.63mm Mannlicher cartridge - is pure unobtanium today. The last commercial ammo was Argentinian stuff that's now well past its "use by" date. However, Keith and his fellow Brownells Gun Tech Steve Ostrem have been loading their own, starting with modified .32-20 Winchester brass. For most of us, though, a Steyr-Mannlicher M1905 pistol is a beautiful museum piece, rather than a shooter.

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