POTD: Not Photoshopped – Simson & Company Prototype 9mm Pistol
Sam.S 03.12.22
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a 9mm Luger prototype pistol manufactured by Simson u. Co. Suhl/Waffenfabriken. Much like the Thompson in the United States military, the infamous toggle-locked Luger pistols were well-liked, but also outrageously expensive, especially for a government like Germany after World War One. So, beginning in the late 1920s the German government asked the remaining firearm manufacturers that were still around and legally still there to find a solution to their expensive problem. The solution never really reared its head in this time, but one interesting development came out of Simson & Company. Simson & Company or Simson u. Co. Suhl/Waffenfabriken was a government-granted and allocated entity that provided maintenance to Luger pistols for what was the German military in the 1920s. Using the same grip angle and a modified Luger magazine this prototype was slapped together into a much cheaper straight blowback 9mm.
“It is estimated that probably not more than 10-15 were actually manufactured before they stopped all efforts. It is an extremely well made pistol with all machined steel parts and checkered walnut grips. You can see how the overall design was influenced by the standard German Luger, as it has the same grip angle as a Luger, with very similar shaped checkered walnut grip and it uses a slightly modified German Luger magazine. All these features would have made training and conversion to this design much easier. It has very few markings, the left side is hand engraved, “Simson u. Co. Suhl/Waffenfabriken” and directly behind that is a large rotating safety lever. When it is engaged and pushed down it exposes the hand inscribed word “Sicher” indicating “SAFE”. In the inside, front area of the trigger guard loop to a small serrated takedown lever. The top of the slide has a set of fixed sighs with a short extractor mounted directly on top behind the rear of the barrel. As noted this rare pistol comes with one slightly modified WWI era wood base magazine and it is fitted with a bottom magazine release. Currently there are only a handful of these ultra rare prototype pistols known in the world today.”
Lot 3222: Simson & Company Prototype 9mm Pistol 9 mm Luger. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved March 9, 2022, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/67/3222/simson-company-prototype-9mm-pistol-9-mm-luger.
