The Roth-Steyr M1907 was an early semi-automatic pistol. It was created by Georg Roth who worked at Steyr. The pistol went into production in 1907 and was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire Cavalry and later its Air Force. This was the first semi-auto pistol adopted as a primary side arm by a major world power. There were earlier semi-auto pistols but they weren't adopted offically by any military force in large numbers. Approxmiately 60,000 were built.
This was a very complicated pistol to build. The pistol worked off of an odd recoil system which utilized a rotating bolt. This bolt moved up to 90 degrees every time it was cocked or fired. It was striker fired and was loaded with a clip from the open breech into the integral magazine located in the grip. It held ten rounds of 8 mm Roth-Steyr ammo. The ammo is still manufactured by several European providers. Fiocchi lists this round with a 113 gr bullet at 1080 feet per second. That's about 290 foot pounds of energy (between a 380 ACP and a 9 MM in power). The barrel was just over 5 inches long.
The gun was a pain in the butt to manufacture and all literature states that it shouldn't be dismantled without professional help. The Roth-Steyr was obsolete by the time it was withdrawn from services in Austria in the late 1930's but a few soldiered on in Hungary and the Italian military until the end of World War 2 (Italy obtained some as reparations after World War 1).
This weapon was not sold commercially, only to the military. It's just another odd gun on my list of weird. It's ugly as sin, but it was reported to robust and reliable.
