8mm BERGMANN-SCHMEISSER

Research notes

This rare cartridge was a rimless, grooveless design for an early semi-auto pistol by German industrialist, inventor and entrepreneur Theodor Bergmann together with Louis Schmeisser with an eye on the potential military application for semi-automatic rifles and handguns following the invention of smokeless propellant in 1884 by French chemist Paul Vielle. Missing out by a few months to the Salvator-Dormus patent (July 11, 1891) for the first semi-auto pistol and the November 27, 1891 German patent by Josef Laumann and the Schônberger brothers, it was the first in a line of semi-auto designs and improvements by Bergmann, both for the military and civilian markets, first through Eisenwerke Gaggenau where he was a director and partner and later through his own company Bergmann Industries.

Theodor Bergmann (1850-1931) was born in Sailauf, a small town in Bavaria and developed an early interest in engineering and metal working. While attending a trade fair in Berlin in 1879 he met with Michael Flürscheim, who at that stage was the owner of Eisenwerke Gaggenau that was purchased from Ludwig Klehe in 1873 and restructured from the original Gaggenau Hammerwerk, a company that has was formed by Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden in 1683. Flürscheim started manufacturing an air pistol in 1878 and after leaving the company in 1888, Bergmann, who was also an avid sport shooter further developed the line of air rifles and pistols, along with commercial and military rifles, barrels and reloading tools. Following on from this as well as his interest in self-loading pistols Bergmann acquired the patent for a semi-auto pistol design that was granted on April 20, 1892, to Hungarian designer and watchmaker Otto Brauswetter.

Bergmann however left the company less than a year later to form Bergmann Industries and teamed up with Louis Schmeisser (1848 – 1917), who was one of the best-known weapon technical designers during that time to refine the original Brauswetter design that led to the Bergmann-Schmeisser No. 1 for which a patent was awarded to Schmeisser but assigned to Bergmann. Louis Schmeisser left the company in 1906 and was employed by Rheinische Metallwaren und Maschinenfabrik. His son, Hugo Schmeisser was instrumental in the design of the Stg-44 or Sturmgewehr 44. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 84).