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The 1907 Dreyse Pistol
by Ed Buffaloe
The Rheinische Metallwaaren & Maschinenfabrik (RM&M, or Rheinmetall) was an engineering firm founded in 1889 that primarily made field artillery.
In 1901 they purchased Waffenfabrik von Dreyse, a manufacturer of sporting rifles and revolvers which had fallen on hard times. Thereafter, RM&M used the Dreyse name for its small arms production--machine guns and pistols.
The 1907 Dreyse pistol was designed by Louis Schmeisser, patented in Germany sometime between 1905 and 1907, and marketed by RM&M in 1908. It was a striker-fired blowback design that shot the 7.65mm
Browning cartridge (.32 ACP). The Dreyse was strongly influenced by the 1900 Browning, though the Browning had its recoil spring
above the barrel, while the Dreyse had a concentric recoil spring. Nonetheless, the overall shape was the same, as was the grip angle, the magazine release, and the positioning of the manual safety–plus both
had breech blocks that protruded from the rear of the gun during recoil.
When the 1910 Browning came out in 1912, it made the 1900 Browning obsolete, as well as all the guns that had been patterned after it. The Dreyse didn’t have much of a chance commercially. It was purchased by the Saxon state police and the Berlin municipal police, and saw some use during the First World War, when the P08 Luger proved to be unreliable in the trenches. A few thousand were purchased by the Czech military in 1921 and 1922, but they were removed from service in 1923 due to unspecified accidents with them.
The Dreyse is a rather awkward pistol. It’s grip angle isn’t quite right, and it seems top-heavy. All the weight of the slide is above the barrel, which tends to increase barrel flip during recoil.
The barrel is fixed into the upper portion of the frame, which is hinged so that it can be opened upward to enable removal of the slide/breech block. The recoil spring is held in place by a bushing at the front
of the upper frame.
Field Stripping:
- Remove the magazine and make sure the gun is unloaded.
- Pull the trigger to uncock the striker.
- Move the latch on the back of the gun to the right to open the action. The entire upper portion of the frame (barrel and slide included) hinges upward.
- Wrap the left hand around the upper portion of the frame. Holding a screwdriver or other tool with a half-moon cut in the end in the right hand, hook the right thumb through the trigger guard and use the
tool to depress the recoil spring bushing.
- Lift up on the slide with the left hand and very carefully ease the bushing out of the frame. Always point the gun toward something that will not be damaged if the bushing should fly free. (I’ve
never taken mine apart when the bushing didn’t get away from me at least once, either during disassembly or reassembly.)
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