POTD: Mauser Model H 1917 Prototype #10 – The Missing Link
Sam.S 05.06.25
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! This incredibly rare Mauser prototype represents one of those fascinating dead-end paths in firearms development – a design that influenced multiple production pistols but never made it to market itself. Serial number 10 of the Mauser Model H from 1917 reveals the work of Josef Nickl, one of Mauser’s most brilliant designers who created their successful pocket pistol lineup. What makes this 9mm Luger prototype significant is how it shows Nickl attempting to scale up his smaller .32 ACP designs to handle the more powerful 9mm cartridge. The pistol features Nickl’s signature rotating barrel locking system (covered in Mauser’s 1915 German patent #300159), though this hammer-fired version differs from the striker-fired design in the patent drawings. Other distinctive features include the left-side mounted safety/slide lock and the convenient bottom frame takedown piece that allows easy disassembly. While this particular design never reached production at Mauser, its DNA lived on in the Czech vz. 22, vz. 24, and vz. 27 pistols later manufactured in Czechoslovakia – also designed by Nickl after he left Mauser. Those guns incorporated many of the features seen in this 1917 prototype. The markings “Waffenfabrik Mauser A.G. Oberndorf a.N. Mod. H. 1917” on the left slide confirm its experimental status. The handwritten “1945” in black ink inside the grip suggests this pistol may have been captured or acquired by Allied forces at the end of WWII – a common fate for many rare German prototypes. For collectors of Mauser pistols, this represents the missing evolutionary link between their smaller commercial offerings and the Czech service pistols that followed – a rare glimpse into the development process at one of Germany’s premier arms makers during the First World War.
“Prototype Mauser Model H 1917 Semi-Automatic Pistol SN 10.” Rock Island Auction Company, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4094/1458/prototype-mauser-model-h-1917-semiautomatic-pistol-sn-10. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
