[ Schouboe Model 1916 ]
Hey guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I'm here today at RIA
taking a look at a Schouboe Model of 1916.
This is the ... last version of the Schouboe automatic pistol out of Denmark.
Now a year or two ago I did a video overview of Schouboe pistols
in which I was able to cover every pattern except this one.
So I'm going to link to that video in the description and in the end cards here.
And if you're interested, I would highly suggest you check that one out
to see all of the other versions.
But this is the last pattern, when, as best I can tell, Schouboe basically got annoyed that
(this would be Jens Schouboe, by the way, the designer working
for ... basically the Madsen Company in Denmark),
like "Fine, everyone wants a Luger.
It ejects out the top, and it's got this stupid steep grip angle, we'll just do that."
Because the regular Schouboe pistols are
rather more square shaped.
So let's take a closer look at this one, and I'll show you what changed with the 1916 pattern.
Obviously the main design change here is going to a very steeply angled grip.
So we'll give you a little bit better close up.
This is a 1907 pattern, and this is the 1916 pattern.
So you can see the tremendous difference in grip.
Along with it, of course the trigger design had to change.
But then there are a number of other iterative design changes on this 1916.
One of the most significant design changes here is,
where on the 1907 and 1910 patterns the ... slide telescopes over the barrel slightly.
So the back of the barrel is right here, that's where the extractor is.
And then there has to be, of course, a cutout in the slide
for space for the cartridge to eject through.
On the 1916 pattern they've changed that.
So you can see that there's no longer a cutout in the slide,
and now the chamber face is right here at the front of the slide.
So the extractor is now mounted to the very front,
the slide no longer telescopes over the barrel at all.
And it's not entirely clear why that was done.
It is possible that that was done to put more mass into the slide,
because not having that cutout does make the slide a heavier element.
These guns are simple blowback in design because they were designed around a unique
Danish .45 calibre cartridge that was originally designed
as a conversion to black powder revolvers.
And so in order to keep the chamber pressure low, they designed a very light, very high velocity .45.
It's actually an aluminium clad, wooden-cored bullet
that weighs in at about 62 grains and travels at a little over 1,600 feet per second.
That made it pretty easy to do a simple blowback automatic pistol here.
But I wonder if perhaps with the 1916 pattern
they were trying to make the bullet a little bit heavier and slower,
and increase the slide mass to make that possible, but I'm not sure.
More conventionally here, we can see that they've put slide serrations
down the entire length of the slide, unlike previous versions.
We have the 1910 pattern of safety, right there, so that's safe that's fire.
The magazine release system has been made a bit more complicated,
but it's complicated to make, but it actually works fairly easily.
What you do is push this forward, and the magazine just pops right out.
This is probably 6 rounds, might be 7 rounds.
The standard straight Schouboe mags are 6, this one looks a little bit longer.
But it's also at an extreme angle, much like a Luger magazine.
We can give you a little bit of a close-up on this guy here.
You actually push the mag catch forward,
which uncouples it right here.
And then pushing it all the way backward,
the spring on the magazine catch is a little bit weak.
So push it back in like that, and it locks the mag in place.
They have added texturing to both the front strap and the back strap,
and there's some on the magazine catch.
We have the external frame pivot of the 1910 pattern.
Interestingly, this is also the only model of Schouboe that locks open on an empty magazine.
As you can see there, there's a little protrusion that comes up from the follower to catch the slide.
That locks open only until you actually take the magazine out.
Which you have a hard time doing one-handed.
When you take this out, then the slide is going to slam closed
because that little ledge is the only thing holding it open.
Disassembly works just like all of the other standard Schouboes.
So you just push in on this top surface, and it pivots open like so.
... This functions exactly the same as the ... 1910s and the 1907s.
The ... frame is elongated a little bit, just because the magazine ... presentation
here has to be elongated because it's at an angle.
But hammer fired, works just like the others.
The interior of the slide, the working mechanism here is also identical.
So we have our barrel, which is fixed and pivots on the frame.
You can see our serial number, right there, 366.
The recoil spring is located up here inside the slide assembly.
So that then locks behind these lugs
so that the slide can go backward, and it forces the spring to compress.
There you go, that's the 1916 Schouboe.
Mechanically exactly the same as previous,
with the sole exception of a slight redesign of the slide configuration.
But then it is the grip configuration that they wanted to change.
By 1917 the Schouboe would be completely out of production,
so it's a fair thing to say that this was even less successful
than all of the other versions of the gun.
Just when you think you've covered everything, another model pops up.
That's what's so cool about prototype guns like this,
is there's just always another version to take a look at, so.
This one, honestly, the grip isn't ... as good as it was probably intended to be,
it's kind of too steep of a grip angle, I think, to my mind.
They started with one that was too square, and they went to one that was too steep.
But this was ultimately not successful,
even to the extent that any of the other Schouboes were successful, which ... they weren't.
A grand total of about 500, probably a little less than 500, were made.
The highest serial number I have seen is 455.
Interestingly, number 455 was a 1910 pattern, this is number 366, as you saw.
Suggesting that they weren't always strictly done in order,
or they designed this, realised it wasn't as good, and went back to the 1910 pattern.
Perhaps. It's hard to say without some documentation
or some more examples to take a look at, we just don't really know.
So hopefully some of that will come to light at some point.
But in the meantime, hopefully you enjoyed getting a chance to take a look
at this extremely scarce pattern of extremely scarce Danish pistol.
Thanks for watching.