Home Index Search Handguns Visual Selection British North American Italian German Belguim French Spanish Austrian Russian Czechoslovacian Turkish South African Hungarian Brazilian Israeli Competition Firearms Shotguns References Links Gunsite SAGA PAAA SAAACA Contact E-mail me!

Henri & Nicolas Pieper, herstal lez Liege, Belgium (later S Ancient Etablissements Pieper) Henri Pieper was born in 1840 in Westphalia and was later apprenticed to an engineering company. In 1859, he went to Belgium to widen his experience and became a machine shop foreman. In 1866 he opened a small workshop of machine tools to mass-produce rifle components. A second factory at Nessonveaux specialized in rifle barrels. In later years of his life he devoted considerable energy to a design of a gas seal revolver. But he allowed the patent to lapse after only four years, opening the door to Nagant’s successful application of Pieper’s principal. Henri died in 1898 and the company was reorganized with his son Nicolas a principal figure. In 1905 the company reorganized again as the SA Etablissements Pieper, and that year Nicolas took out a series of patents relating to a novel automatic pistol. Nicholas Pieper was not only a prolific arms maker at Anciens Etablissements Pieper, but he was also an inventor of some repute. On this series of pistols patented in 1905/07/19, he seemed to have relied heavily on earlier work done by Warnant, but still developed something that was fairly unique and was used for a period of more than twenty years. There was some confusion on some of his previous pistols as to the nomenclature, and model type. The primary thing in identifying his pistols is to remember even though external appearances were very similar, there were two distinct types of take-down. One was called the Demontant, the other the Basculant. The model 1919 C is generally a Demontant pistol. The 1920 D is generally a Basculant variety, so be very careful in identifying these. These pistols first began production at Steyr, Austria, as Steyr VP Model 1909, being made under licence from Nicholas Pieper. After World War I when Steyr’s production seemed to be unsure, Pieper also began manufacturing this model and seems to have made it from 1920 – 1931, with about 130000 pistols made. The Pieper Model 1919 (7.65 mm) and Model 1920 (6.36 mm) are both unlocked blowback-operated with a six-shot detachable box magazines. They both utilize internal hammers Take down is accomplished on the Demontant variety by first making sure the weapon is unloaded, Turning down the lever just above the trigger on the left side of the frame, and tipping the mechanism out of the gun. The barrel and slide are then separated for cleaning. The magazine of this pistol is easily recognizable because of the long tail at the base, which extends back to the edge of the rear grip-strap, forming a backward lip. The magazine catch on this pistol is slightly unusual. There are grooves cut on the rear of the magazine, about half an inch above the base, which lock into an internal spring-loaded catch pointing upward. The magazine release, located at the bottom rear of the grip-frame, is pushed down, rotating against the magazine lock and at the same time, camming against the lip to push the magazine down and against the well, so that it can be grasped and removed from the gun. Assembly is in reverse order. The recoil spring is located on top of the barrel. The construction and build quality is very good. There is no extractor; the casing is blown out of the weapon, by the gas in the barrel. (ref. ‘Pistols and revolvers’ - JE Smith, ‘Price guide for collector handguns’ - R H Balderson p322, ‘Pistols of the world’ by Hogg and Weeks p179, Dictionary of guns and gunmakers by John Walter p57) See “Steyr VP” in this collection.

99342