when was the first semi automatic pistol invented
Semi-automatic pistol After Hiram Maxim introduced his recoil-powered machine gun in 1883, several gunsmiths set out to apply the same principles to handguns, including Maxim. Maxim's designs for smaller firearms using his recoil-powered ideas never went into production. In the 1880s, other designers worked on self-loading designs. The Schönberger-Laumann 1892 was the first semi-automatic pistol. The first model to gain any commercial success was the Hugo Borchardt-designed C-93, designed in 1893 and made its public debut in 1894. Borchardt invented the C-93 mechanism, based in large part upon Maxim's toggle-lock principle.[dubious – discuss] The C-93 featured a clever locking mechanism, modeled after the human knee joint, in which the mechanical joint is called a knee, or in German Kniegelenk (knee joint).