Smooth Action Bergmann-Bayard Model 1910/21 Pistol

Hey guys I decided to do a quickie this morning because I had a new gun come in and as usual I don't have enough time to research it and do a really full-length video, because it's already sold and going out the door this afternoon. So before this goes out the door, I want to show it to you.

A Little back Story

So this is a Model 1910/21 Bergmann. Now I have to tell you a little inside story. I don't know much about these but every time I see a Bergmann at a gun show, I get the voice in my head that says Bergmann. Now if you grew up in the 80s, you know the commercial where John Houseman says we earn it [0:52-0:56 Video]. Okay I'm sorry if that gets stuck in your head like it gets stuck in my head but I now can't say it without doing that.

Bergmann-Bayard

But it's actually a Bergmann-Bayard. And as I said 1910, 1921 and let me tell you the difference in those models. So this was designed by a German, Theodore Bergmann, but actually built in Belgium in the FN Factory. So it was built by the Belgians; and the Danish military ordered about 5,000, it was 4,800 they ordered, about 5000 of these in 1910. All of them were built before World War I broke out. So it's kind of odd to me I can't explain it. Again I didn't have time to do a whole lot of research because I got up this morning, decided I got to do this and it's leaving the building in about an hour. But they stopped making them when World War I began. I can only imagine it was because they had other priority orders and so this got pushed aside for other orders, but they stopped making this when World War I started. And again the Danes had already ordered about 4,800 of them.

The Details on the Gun

So a little bit about the gun. It comes in nine millimetre. It's a little heavier load than the nine-millimeter Luger. And the action, it has a magazine and the magazine release is right here, you can actually do it one-handed but I'll show it to you this way. That's the magazine. This actually happens to come with two matching magazines. So very rare that a gun from the 1920s would still have the two matching magazines. And it also has a matching holster but I'm going to say more about that in a minute. Let's just go over the gun. You can see right here the model 1910, 1921. Beautiful blued finish. The action I already mentioned, actually the action reminds me of a broom handle, in that, you charge the bullet by pulling back this and again that looks a lot like a Mauser C96. But one difference is luckily you don't have to stick your hand down in there to close the bolt. All you do is release the magazine and it'll slam forward. And so then the chamber is loaded and you can fire. We have a quick video of Ian from Forgotten Weapons, here he is shooting one [3:38-3:56 Video]. Okay from his words, he said the action was really smooth, not a lot of kick. Even though it's a little more powerful round he found it to be a very easy gun to shoot.

The Model 21 – An improvement by the Danes

So the Danes made some improvements which designated it the Model 21, because in 1921 they reworked the ones that they had and they actually made 2,000 more in Copenhagen. So I assume they got a licenses, they made them themselves, made 2,000 more and reworked all of these. The original Belgian Bergmann's had a black plastic grip, actually not plastic but a Bakelite type material which they said was a little too brittle and chipped too easily and therefore they added the wooden grip. So you can see the wooden grip, I'm told that this is a little thicker because they found it had a better grip. So they improved that. They improved a couple of other things and they… by the way they numbered them here. The Danes numbered them that was the…this is number 3,250 out of the 4,800 that were ordered. And then the separate serial number which was done in the factory, that's the serial number which matches the magazine.

The Danish Number

So going back to the Danish number. You'll see this number on the inside of this holster. This holster is very hard to find, very rare of course, not many of them survived since 1920. Most of them are not around; I'm told the holster alone can sell for $1500 and having the number here which clearly is written in a Germanic style or an early Danish style.

Help me out Here

Now I am not Danish and I don't speak the language, but all you Danes out there, all you good Danes, I call upon all of our countrymen to come together and help me identify this. But what I'm told is this says Danish Air Force. I don't know if that's true, I don't have time to track it down but you do, so help me out. For our European friends we'll get a close-up of that writing. Is this indeed Danish Air Force? And if it is that's really cool because that would go back to 1920s, early 1920s. We're talking biplanes and it went to the Air Force, so that's very cool if true. There's also a marking on here that you can help me identify, maybe it's related to the Air Force I don't know, I've not seen the marking before. I did a little bit of searching and couldn't find it, but look on the holster here. It's this marking this is a Danish crown but underneath it, there's this marking and it's also found, if you open the flap on this flap you can see the same marking. And then again I know it must be important because on the top of the gun, on top of the barrel is the marking. And then one other location, right here on the left side of the slide. So help me out, let me know what that is and make sure you comment so we can all learn together. You thought I was an expert on everything but it turns out there's a lot of stuff I don't know and I could use your help.

Glad I got to show you this rare Gun

Hey I'm glad I decided to do a quickie this morning because you got a chance to see another really rare gun from Legacy Collectibles. By the way some people like to hear prices, this sells in about the $6,000 range but with the Air Force connection it might be, if we can confirm that, it might be worth a little bit more. But a great gun that doesn't come around very often. We’d love to see another Bergmann.

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