I managed to go to the range today with a little historical artifact I recently acquired. It’s a Savage Model 1907 .32 Auto, made just before WWI. This little pocket rocket is over 100 years old, and it was a lot of fun to see just what I could do with it.
This was a very innovative design, especially in 1905, when Major Elbert Searle designed it. It is a striker fired pistol, and the first pistol to use a staggered double column magazine that holds 10 rounds. Weighing only 19 ounces and at 6.5” overall length, it is a true pocket pistol, with 11 round capacity. During World War I the French government bought 40,000 of them and the Portugese another 1,150, but the main sales were in the US civilian market, where the little gun was one of the most popular at the time. Built from 1907 to 1920, total production ran 235,000 pistols.
I put about 100 rounds of PPV and Remington ball, plus 20 rounds of Winchester Silvertips through the gun with no issues and surprisingly good accuracy. Recoil was non-existent.
Leftists are ranting about “semi-automatic assault weapons” right now as if this type of gun was just invented. My 1907 Savage pistol and Winchester Model 1907 .351SLR rifle both have 10 shot magazines and work with utterly boring reliability. Both are over 100 years old.