Ah, a very sweet 1913 J. P. Sauer & Sohne. They were in 7.65, of course, and had a baby brother, same design just scaled down completely, every part, in 6.35mm.
Both, of course, are horridly restricted and one very short step from completely illegal in Free Countries. In horrid dictatorships such as Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Communist Russia, it was a simple matter to own, possess, carry and use one.
They are a really nice little gun, straight blowback and much better-made than one might suppose. I went through a phase of collecting ugly guns, ended up with the pair of these, a Webley Metropolitan, 1911 Steyr and a couple of others. The Sauers I bought because I once worked with a Waffen-SS Sergeant-major who spent 6 fun-filled years touring round in the Soviet Union. His buddy was one of the "Sohne" from J.P. Sauer & Sohne.
The guns are all-machined and they are a pretty good design. They do have their quirks, such as the reversed position on the safety..... and the rear sight being made out of a single spring so it could also be used to lock the action together, thus avoiding the embarassment of having your gun field-strip itself when you want to use it. The magazine catch also works reversed from normal practice. Stripping is by pushing down on the rear sight and unscrewing the cocking-piece, which is also the action plug and tensions the recoil spring. The actual breech-block is a separate machined piece.
They are solid and well thought-out. CAREFUL with the grips!!! They come off like TT-33 grips! They are also thin, fragile after this many years (gutta-percha hardens over a century) and can be broken easily. Repros ARE available, but originals are much nicer.
These, and their later descendants, the 1938, were great favourites as pocket-pistols with German officers and with all ranks of the Waffen-SS. The tale which comes with your gun is entirely possible and would rank as one of the more unremarkable capture stories..... and that, alone, gives it much more currency than some of the hair-raising tales which are circulating.
You have scored a Very Nice Toy. 83220 says 'Hello!' to your new friend and tells me to pass on to you that they really like good quality ammunition, but nobody ever feeds them any more because they don't have racy James Bondish looks. Their favourite song (next to "Deutschland Uber Alles" and "Heil Dir im Siegerkranz".... for they are hopelessly Imperial and never were fond of siegging and heiling) just happens to be "Home On The Range"!
Tell you what: you take yours out, I'll take mine out and all four of us will have fun. You can reload the brass with .30 Carbine dies; Lee makes a nice little double-cavity mould that isn't quite right... but it will do.
Have fun!
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