23 June 2014

Monsieur Pieper

Nicolas Pieper is a Belgian gentleman from Liege.

He did what everyone in Liege does, designs guns.


This is a model 1907 Pistolet Automatique Démontant "N. Pieper" Modèle 1909 as near as I can tell.

Can it truly be a Forgotten Weapon if nobody's heard of you?

Update:  I forgot to mention what a finely made piece this is.  Everything runs smoothly against everything else, the trigger is a little stiff, but crisp.  And the machining...  EVERYTHING is milled.  This thing would cost $1,000 to make today.

Bunches more pics below the fold!




The action is hammer-fired blow-back, but not typical.  Just a manual safety that grabs the hammer, no magazine safety like is so common on little European vest pocket guns.

It has a BOLT!

Bolt to the rear with the recoil spring removed.  There is no hold-open.



Just once I want to find a hundred year old gun where someone always used the correct sized screwdriver.


The recoil spring is mounted above the barrel and is held captive by a screw I am not brave enough to remove.



The magazine has a heel release, but you press it down to release.  Notice the baseplate sticking out the back instead of the front?

Proof marks abound!

Top of the bolt in front of the rear sight notch.
Left-rear of the case.
Left side of the frame and barrel.
A bit of human touch.  Serial number written on the inside of the stocks with a '13' which I think is the year of manufacture.
To take it apart...  First you unscrew the recoil spring guide from the front of the gun.  Then remove it and the spring, then...


Rotate the take-down latch about 120˚.  If you go too far, it locks the take-down back down without a detent to hold it latched.



Then you wiggle it a bit and rotate it around the rearmost lug.  Now you have the barrel-bolt-case assembly free.


Now the "case" can be slid off the bolt.


The case remains stationary with the bolt running on rails milled into its top.


For cleaning the bolt can be rotated around it's recoil guide and you can now access the chamber.

If you remove the spring guide and recoil spring you end up with this:







2 comments:

  1. I believe I have a 1909 Pieper just like the one above. It is in similar condition as yours, and I also have a like-new leather holster for it. Do you have an idea of it's current value? DF

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have no clue what it's worth. The pictured gun was $100 at a local shop.

      .25's are all over the map for prices so it's hard to assign a value. Some people don't think any .25 can be worth anything thanks to companies like Phoenix Arms. That's great for a collector, like me, but bad for predicting what the gun is worth.

      Your best bet for figuring out the value is to hit gunbroker and hope there's several of your gun for sale. If not...

      I'll give you $100 for it! (GRIN)

      Delete

You are a guest here when you comment. This is my soapbox, not yours. Be polite. Inappropriate comments will be deleted without mention. Amnesty period is expired.

Do not go off on a tangent, stay with the topic of the post. If I can't tell what your point is in the first couple of sentences I'm flushing it.

If you're trying to comment anonymously: You can't. Log into your Google account.

If you can't comprehend this, don't comment; because I'm going to moderate and mock you for wasting your time.