The Smallest 45 Auto Repeating Pistol isn’t an Autoloader

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.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.