The Smallest 45 Auto Repeating Pistol isn’t an Autoloader
Russ Chastain 05.01.20
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In this video, Ian of Forgotten Weapons shows viewers what he calls “the smallest repeating 45 ACP pistol,” the Semmerling LM-4. This firearm is described as a five-shot, manually repeating double-action pocket pistol.
The image above shows it with a Colt 1910 (same size as a 1911) for size comparison.
This odd little popper has 4+1 ammo capacity and was meticulously made to be of high quality, as reflected in its initial price of $645, a whopping sum for a handgun back in 1980 when it was new on the market.
The inventor made it manually operated to improve reliability, because it was marketed as a backup piece to be used as a last resort by, for example, a police officer who’d been somehow deprived of his main sidearm. In advertising copy, the Semmerling Corporation referred to it as “a manual pump-action weapon.”
Weirdly enough, the slide on this pistol moves forward to cycle the action, and a special lock must be engaged to prevent the slide from opening up when you draw this diminutive popper from a holster.
It’s been years since these guns were made, and they are essentially collector’s pieces now. In fact, I spotted one advertised online for a whopping 8 thousand bucks!
Here’s the video; it’s worth a watch to see how this thing is operated.