Borchardt C-93

Borchardt C93
Borchardt C93
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	German Empire
Service history
In service	1895–1945
Production history
Designer	Hugo Borchardt
Designed	1893
Manufacturer	Ludwig Loewe & Company
Produced	1893–1902
No. built	3,100
Specifications
Mass	1,160 g (41 oz)
Length	355 mm (14.0 in)
Barrel length	195 mm (7.7 in)
Cartridge	7.65×25mm Borchardt
Action	Toggle-lock recoil action
Feed system	8-round detachable box magazine
Sights	Iron sights

The Borchardt C93 is a semi-automatic pistol designed by Hugo Borchardt in 1893.

The design is based upon the Maxim gun's toggle lock mechanism. The pistol uses a locked breech and a short recoil operating cycle, with the barrel and breech moving backward together for a short distance before the breech is unlocked.

Borchardt developed the high-velocity, bottlenecked 7.65×25mm Borchardt cartridge for the C93. His assistant at the time, Georg Luger, also claimed to have influenced its design. Machine tool manufacturer Ludwig Loewe & Company of Berlin, Germany, produced the C93 in anticipation of military orders. With about 1,100 manufactured by Loewe and nearly 2,000 more produced by Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), the Borchardt C93 was the first mass-produced semi-automatic/toggle-action pistol.^[1]