Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian, and today we are taking a look at
the 1903 Bergmann Mars automatic pistol.
No relation to the Gabbet-Fairfax Mars, I should point out.
Mars was a fairly common,
actually fairly popular name for automatic pistols.
It being of course the name of the Roman god of war.
Anyway, if you've been watching the full series on Bergmann automatic pistols,
you'll see that this one kind of looks a little bit different than the ones that preceded it.
And the basis for that is Louis Schmeisser, who is still working for Theodor Bergmann at this point,
in 1901 he patented a new design for a locking mechanism.
Now he designed this actually for heavy machine guns.
And this system, with Bergmann machine guns, would go on to be used in the First World War.
However, he also took the idea, scaled it down,
and used it for the next new model of Bergmann automatic pistol.
This new system used a square locking block that sits right about here,
and travels vertically up and down inside the receiver to lock and unlock the bolt.
These are still short recoil guns like ... the previous locked-breech model,
... but they're simpler, they're smaller, they're lighter, they're cheaper.
It's really a much more efficient system, and it's a quite strong system.
They were able at the same time, because of this new locking system,
to introduce these guns in a newer, and yet more powerful, cartridge, the 9mm Bergmann.
Now that's a 135 grain bullet travelling at approximately 1,100 feet per second.
For you metric folks, that's an 8.25 gram bullet at about 340 metres per second.
Now if those numbers sound familiar it's because Spain
(I'm jumping ahead of myself slightly here),
but Spain would adopt this cartridge and call it the 9mm Largo.
And it gained most of its longevity in Spanish use that way.
Now Bergmann was still looking for military contracts ideally.
... He was still trying to get a revised pistol that would finally be good enough
for some military to adopt, because that's where the big money was here.
So at the same time he's simplifying the locking system,
making the whole gun a little cheaper, a little lighter, a little handier, less awkward.
He's also reducing the number of available factory options.
So you could still get these engraved or get them with shoulder stocks,
we have an engraved one here we'll take a look at a little bit later.
But no longer did you have different barrel lengths available.
If you go all the way back to the Bergmann 1896s
there were different barrel lengths, multiple different calibres,
you could get folding triggers, you could get target sights, all that stuff is gone.
Now it's just a simple, basic, single style of service pistol being offered.
The stock was an option.
The stock is kind of a clever design where the stock latches onto the lanyard ring.
So ... the butt of all the pistols are all the same, and you can attach a stock to any one of them.
Now it is in fact with the 1903 Bergmann Mars
that Bergmann is finally able to make his first military break.
So he does send a gun in .45 calibre to the British.
And we have that gun here, which we'll take a look at in a moment.
They rejected it, they had initially rejected some earlier experimental 1899 models
because they weren't .45 calibre, and the British were dead set on a .45 calibre pistol.
Then apparently they rejected this one because the bullet weight wasn't heavy enough.
The Brits used a fairly heavy bullet, like 265 grains, in their revolvers,
and they wanted something equally heavy for the automatic pistol.
I don't know exactly what Bergmann supplied but apparently it was .45,
but it wasn't heavy enough, so the Brits rejected it again.
Another test pistol went to the US, and I believe, I can't prove it,
but I think we also have the US test pistol here, or one of them.
That was shipped with ammunition. The ammunition was impounded by customs, very helpfully.
So the pistol ended up having to use Frankford Armoury ammunition,
which was notoriously bad. And that ammunition actually caused problems
for almost every pistol in the US 1907 pistol trials.
The Bergmann was no exception.
The primers were quite hard and the Bergmann was not able to reliably detonate primers,
and so it was dropped from the competition for that reason.
Although apparently the US trials officers also
didn't really like this idea of the magazine forward of the grip.
So even if it had run reliably, they still might not have been particularly interested in it.
So those two failed, but finally, in September of 1905,
the Spanish government officially adopted this pistol.
Now the Spanish had tried pretty much everything
that was out there in the way of automatic pistols.
They ran a series of trials, they tested the C96 Broomhandle,
they tested the FN Model 1900, the FN Model 1903, the Schwarzlose Model 1898,
a couple of weird domestic Spanish automatic pistols, the 1901 Mannlicher.
What else? The Luger they tested. One of the early versions of the Luger.
The Borchardt they tested in addition to the Luger.
... Oh, the Charola y Anitua they tested, and there were a couple of others.
Pretty much everything they could possibly get their hands on they tested out.
And ultimately their trials came down to the final two potential guns being
the Bergmann Mars 1903 and the C96 Broomhandle.
And they ended up choosing the Bergmann Mars for a number of reasons.
They liked the fact that it could be fed either by clips or by detachable magazine.
And then they also found it to be cheaper, simpler, and lighter.
So, cool. Good for Bergmann, he finally makes a sale.
But there's a problem, Bergmann is an industrialist.
Through this whole time Bergmann never actually designed anything himself.
He was a financier and an arranger.
He had the factory, facilities for tooling and experiments.
Louis Schmeisser is the guy who was actually doing the engineering work on these pistols.
And most of the actual production was done by V.C. Schilling out of Suhl, Germany.
Well in 1904 the Schilling Company is purchased by Krieghoff.
And Krieghoff decides that they're no longer interested in working with Bergmann.
Why exactly I don't know, maybe they were competing on some other products,
maybe it wasn't profitable for them.
For whatever reason, Krieghoff decides to shut down this cooperation,
and unfortunately this leaves Bergmann with a bit of a problem.
He's got the facilities to make some of these pistols, and in total
he made about 1,000 of these guns in his own ... factory.
But then the Spanish show up and they adopt the gun, but they only order 3,000.
Which is like this in-between thing. It's good, but it's kind of got some downsides
because tooling up a production line to make 3,000 of these pistols at one run
is an expensive proposition. And it's not really necessarily justified by an order of 3,000.
And Bergmann was really hoping he could get at least one other country to adopt the gun
so that he could get a larger quantity to produce all at once.
And he spent a couple of years trying to do that,
and also looking for a new subcontractor to make the guns for him.
By 1907 he finally had someone in mind, and that was AEP out of Belgium.
Which I will make an attempt to not butcher the pronunciation of:
Anciens Etablissements Pieper, something like that.
"Piper" is what it looks like.
So he licenced production to them in 1907, and they got into work producing the Spanish guns.
However, there's been a two-year interim here between when the Spanish actually
ordered the guns and when there's any chance of them actually showing up.
During that time the Spanish decided there were actually a couple of little changes
they'd like made, so they communicated those changes to Bergmann.
And this actually resulted in the 1908 pattern of the gun,
which we will address in the next video, not in this one.
So going back to the Model 1903.
Overall what we're looking at is a new locking system, a new cartridge.
We still have detachable mags, there were two different sizes at least you can see here.
I believe this is 6, maybe 7, and I suspect this is either 8 or more likely, 10.
It's probably documented somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it in the run-up to this video.
So a couple of different sizes of mag, and there's really no reason
you couldn't have an even longer magazine if you wanted to make one.
But I believe the standard capacity was 6.
There is a stripper clip guide, so you can load them by clip as well if you'd like to.
And like I said about 1,000 of these were made, they were sold commercially as well.
That's where most of them went out because of course
the only military order was the Spanish one which
didn't get produced for several years after it was actually ordered.
So, with all that in mind, let's go ahead and take a closer look at the standard pistols,
and we'll also take a look at these .45 calibre trials guns.
Right, so we have a number of features that are hold overs from previous Bergmann pistols,
we have a number of features that are brand new. So let's go through everything.
One thing that stayed the same on the 1903 is the safety here.
This is in the fire position, flip it up like that, that's the safe position.
In the safe position the hammer is locked.
You can also put it on safe with the hammer cocked and it disconnects the trigger.
That's handy.
This button here is actually kind of a cam plunger sort of thing that removes the side plate.
I'm not going to pull that one off on this gun, but we'll take a look at that in a future video.
The magazine release is now located in the front of the trigger guard.
Honestly this seems maybe like a decent idea that
you can use your trigger finger to pop out the magazine.
The problem is every one of these I've handled, that magazine spring is
actually really quite stiff and it's difficult to do that.
So to take it out you kind of have to use your second hand
to pop the release, pull the magazine out.
This is the standard size magazine, there was also of course a larger magazine.
And there were probably other different sizes made as well at various times.
They do of course have viewing holes so that you can see how much ammo is in there,
know when you are fully loaded.
Although, unlike the previous version of the gun,
there are no ... longer viewing holes in the side of the frame.
Of course ... those always make a really good point for dirt and such to get into the gun.
It shouldn't be at all surprising that they got rid of those.
The trigger is the trigger, not a whole lot to say there.
This is a short recoil action, so the whole slide and barrel assembly
snaps ... backward when you fire.
And this is actually the locking block.
The top surface of it there is exposed, and there's a cam inside.
So when you fire, it actually pivots down, right there.
You can see it lift up, and then it gets cammed down.
As soon as it cams down, it is no longer holding the bolt into the barrel extension.
So at this point the bolt is now unlocked, and the bolt can travel backward on its own
to cycle, throw out the empty cartridge and chamber a new one.
The bolt then goes all the way forward to this point.
And then the whole assembly moves forward under the same spring tension
until this locking block is pivoted back up, and once again locked and ready to fire.
The sights on the 1903 are still a pretty typical V notch and front post there.
Not a whole lot to say there.
Markings are a bit sparse. So this is obviously a 9mm Bergmann calibre.
Now roughly the first 110 were actually made in a .30 calibre cartridge,
and then they switched to 9 Bergmann, and the vast majority
roughly, well, 890 of ... the 1,000 were made in 9 Bergmann.
You will also find a serial number here on the bottom of the barrel.
The magazines are serialised as well, this one's not a matching mag.
So we have magazine 176, pistol number 790, so a pretty late production pistol.
The one other marking you will find on these is on top of that locking block
where it says Bergmann Mars, Patent Breveté, S.G.D.G.
So that same patent marking we've seen through this whole series of pistols,
this time coupled with a Bergmann Mars designation.
And last but not least I suppose, we have a pair of German proof marks right there.
So crown over crown over U. There's one on the barrel because it was a separate piece,
and there's one on the frame.
Now the shoulder stock attachment is this lanyard ring.
This is on the base of the grip of all of the Bergmann Mars pistols,
and it's coupled with a slot here on the bottom of this stock lug.
This button pivots out to one side. This one's a little sticky, closes nice and slow.
You can see the retaining latch right in the middle, that latch
goes through the centre of that lanyard ring and holds the stock in place.
Interesting little feature to note here, these stock lugs are actually case hardened.
So they've got nice cool colouring, and that helps
keep them from getting beaten up and deformed ... with use.
So to attach this we're going to put it on.
And you can actually just snap it on because the top of that locking lug is angled.
A little bit of a wobble to this, some stock attachment systems are better than others.
This one's easy to do, and fairly simple and cheap, but it is a little bit wobbly.
Now there were three different styles of leather that were used: there's a smooth one,
there's this kind of corrugated one, and then there's a more obviously ribbed
style of leather used for the shoulder holsters.
And as with so many pistol shoulder stocks of the day, this doubles as a holster.
So we can take the flap off, there's a nice hinge here at the top, top opens up.
You can slide the pistol in there, and it's got a cutout for the grip.
There we go. Close that up, close the strap, and there you have this.
You can then slide this on your belt, carry it around that way.
Or remove it, take the pistol out, and use it as a shoulder [stock] for better shooting.
Just a quick example here of a factory engraved embellished version of the 1903.
We'll take a closer look at ... this one a little bit later in a separate video,
where we're going to look at some of the other embellished Bergmann models as well.
But I just wanted to give you a little sneak peek at that.
Alright, now these two are a pair of .45 calibre trials pistols of the Bergmann Mars Model 1903.
This one is marked with a "C11", this one's pretty much unmarked,
with the exception of magazine serial number 2 on it.
And there are a couple of differences between these and the standard guns.
Obviously the calibre is different, the magazines are larger, the barrel is larger.
We see a few differences between these two pistols individually.
Most notably ... we have a standard lanyard loop here, and we have a swivel ring on this pistol.
It seems like kind of a weird thing to go out of your way to change.
There may have been some specific military requirement where that made sense, I suppose.
So if we compare the C11, which I believe is the British trials gun
(or one of the British trials guns), to a standard Bergmann,
you can see there's really not much difference.
They used the same frame.
You would normally expect the .45 calibre gun to have a larger frame than the 9mm,
but in this case it just really didn't.
Seems to have been a relatively simple conversion to make.
So you can see a little bit of the difference here, this is the 9mm standard gun,
this is one of the .45 trials guns.
If we take our 9mm magazine it rattles around in the mag well.
And our .45 calibre magazine won't fit in the smaller 9mm gun.
So they did have to make some change to the frame, at least to the magazine well.
But the rest of it seems very similar.
I guess you can also see that this has a couple of bevelled edges down here,
where this one is rounded. So a few slight aesthetic differences.
In fact the front sights are slightly different as well, right up there.
But mechanically the .45 calibre gun is exactly the same,
and doesn't appear to have required a very substantial change.
Let's take a quick look at the other sides here.
We have this guy is the British one, this one is, I believe, the American trials gun.
There's one little subtle difference you can see between these two,
and that is the little cutouts right here on the side of the bolt are just slightly different.
So ... I'm sure handmade, they didn't make very many of these in .45, it was kind of a long shot.
At this point in history, the British military ...
Oh, by the way, the hammers are also different. We have a spur hammer on the British gun,
and a rounded hammer on the American gun.
The spur hammer was standard for all the 1903s, the round hammer is kind of,
well, it's unusual for this pattern of gun.
At any rate I was saying, the UK military would have been a great contract to get.
That would have been potentially a lot of guns.
And the US less so, in 1903/1905 the US wasn't a particularly substantial military force.
However, if you've already made one of the guns in .45,
well, it's not that much [more work] to make one in .45 ACP for the American trials.
And it's not like that would be a bad contract to get.
But it might not have justified making its own gun
if the US were the only country that was interested in a .45 Auto version.
So the "C11" here on what is I believe the British trials gun
would have originally designated "Construktion 11" for 11mm,
which is how the Germans would have referred to a .45 calibre version of the pistol.
Thank you guys for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video.
Not often we get to take a look at a handful of 1903 Bergmann Mars pistols in the same place,
and very rarely the .45 calibre trials guns.
If you enjoyed this sort of footage, this sort of video,
please consider checking out my Patreon page.
It's funding from folks there that makes it possible for me to travel around,
find these guns and bring them to you guys.
Thanks for watching.