Borchardt C-93

Borchardt C-93

Semi-automatic pistol

 

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Type: Semi-automatic pistol

Place of origin: Germany

Designer:    Hugo Borchardt

Designed: 1893

Manufacturer: Ludwig Loewe & Company

Cartridge:    7.65×25mm Borchardt

Caliber: 7.65

Action: toggle-lock

Feed system: 8-round detachable box magazine

Sights: Iron sights

Capacity: 8 rounds

Fire Modes: Semi-Auto  

The Borchardt C-93 pistol was designed by Hugo Borchardt (1844–1921) in 1893. Ludwig Loewe & Company of Berlin, Germany, a manufacturer of machine tools, produced the C-93, a semi-automatic pistol that he had invented based upon the Maxim toggle-lock principle. He also developed the 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge around which the C-93 was built. The Borchardt C-93 was the first semi-automatic pistol to be made in appreciable numbers. The pistol used a toggle lock system, which meant that when the gun fired a two-piece arm rose and flexed as the gun recoiled, thus allowing the breech to unlock and release the empty cartridge case.

Although it was accurate and rapid, the Borchardt pistol was expensive to produce and unwieldy to handle due to its almost vertical grip. Furthermore, its recoil was unexpectedly powerful. Georg Luger studied the Borchardt design and developed the Luger Parabellum pistol in the late 1899.

The cartridge used in Borchardt C-93 Pistol inspired the development of the cartridge used for the Mauser C96 pistol (7.63×25mm Mauser); they have the same dimensions, but the 7.63 mm Mauser is too powerful to be used in a Borchard C-93.