Fritz Mann automatic pistol in 9mm Short (.380)--pictures wanted

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by TTH, Sep 21, 2017.

  1. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Fritz Mann was a talented German firearms designer whose Suhl-based company produced some innovative pocket pistol designs between the wars. Mann specialized in what we would call sub-compacts today, and his guns were all notable for their tininess among other things. In the early 1920s he produced a very odd looking .25 auto which is often seen on the internet as a collector's item. Later in that decade he came out with a bigger piece which looked very like a Colt .25 but was actually chambered for either the .32 ACP or the .380 (9mm short). This piece has been called the Mann "taschen-pistole" (pocket pistol) or M1924, but I am not sure if those were official designations. Every German commercial pistol got swept up into the Wehrmacht maw during the war and some of the later model Manns (taschen-pistole) were picked up by GIs during the war and came to the States in barracks bags. About 13,000 examples of the Mann taschen-pistole were made, all but about 7% being in .32. I have seen some pictures of the .32, but none of the scarcer .380. It is possible that the .380 version was nearly identical to the .32, but I need to confirm this. Do any gun nuts here--I'm sorry, firearms scholars--have images of the .380 Mann or know where I could find same? Thanks.
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2017

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