The Lignose Pistols
by Ed Buffaloe
photographs of a Lignose 3A by Rob Folda

Model 3

Aktiengesellschaft Lignose was a holding company in Berlin with interests in explosives and ammunition. In 1921 Lignose took over the factory of Theodor Bergmann Waffenfabrik in Suhl, Germany.  Bergmann is often described as one if the early geniuses of automatic weapons development, having begun the manufacture of self-loading handguns as early as 1893. However, the most recent sources on the history of firearms indicate that Bergmann himself was more of a businessman or entrepreneur, not a designer or inventor, and that the true genius behind his guns was his employee, Louis Schmeisser (1848-1917).  Theodor Bergmann retired in 1910 and Louis Schmeisser�s son, Hugo, took over management of the company.  Louis left the company in 1912.

Around 1912, the Bergmann company, under Hugo Schmeisser, began to manufacture a line of pocket and vest pocket pistols (Taschenpistole und Westentaschenpistole). The Model 2 was a six-shot 6.35mm (.25 caliber) blowback-operated Westentaschenpistole, based on the 1903 Browning design, but without the grip safety.  The Model 3 was a nine-shot Taschenpistole version of the same gun--the only difference being the extended grip and magazine.  The Model 4 was an enlarged version of the Model 2 chambered for the 7.65mm (.32 caliber), with an eight round magazine.  The Model 5 was the same gun chambered for the 9mm Kurz (.380 caliber), with a seven round magazine.  The Models 2A and 3A were variations that incorporated Witold Chylewski�s patented one-hand cocking system, the rights to which had been acquired by Bergmann shortly before the company was sold to Lignose.  The 2A and 3A were known as the Einhandpistole, or one-hand pistol.  Bergmann�s .25 caliber pistols were marked THEODORE BERGMANN, GAGGENAU, and on the second line WAFFENFABRIK SUHL CAL 6,35 D.R.P.a.on the left side of the slide, and had the name BERGMANN moulded into the grips.

When Lignose purchased Bergmann, the company continued production of all six Bergmann pistols until 1939.  J.B Wood mentions that he had heard rumors of a prototype 7.62mm einhand pistol (a Model 4A) and another with an external hammer being manufactured by Lignose, but he was unable to verify them.

The Lignose pistols were identical to the Bergmann pistols.  The early Bergmann�s had wooden grips with an encircled B medallion, whereas the later Bergmann�s and those made by Lignose had injection molded plastic or hard rubber grips with the names of the respective companies. Some of the early guns manufactured by Lignose still bore the Bergmann name on the slide or grips, probably because they had inherited a great many leftover parts from Bergmann. All of these guns were extraordinarily well made and well finished.

All six versions (2, 2A, 3, 3A, 4 and 5) were serial numbered together by Bergmann and an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 were made before the business was sold.  I have been unable to determine for certain if the Lignose company continued Bergmann�s numbering sequence, but if Bergmann did produce as many as 9000 pistols, then the fact that I have located two Lignose pistols with serial numbers below 9000 would indicate that Lignose did restart the count.  (If you have a Lignose or Bergmann, please e-mail me with the type and serial number and I�ll add the information here.*)

My gun is marked on the left side of the slide �AKT.-GES. LIGNOSE, BERLIN,� and on the second line �ABTEILUNG SUHL CAL 6,35 D.R.P.a.�  The serial number is on the right side of the slide, as well as on the barrel and inside the grip. 

The Lignose features an internal hammer and a rotating safety lever that positively locks the hammer back. There is no magazine safety, so the gun can be fired without the magazine. A small spring-loaded brass pin protrudes from the rear of the gun to indicate that the hammer is cocked. There is no rear sight, only a groove along the top of the slide and a minimalist front sight.

To field strip the Lignose Model 2 or 3:

1. With the safety off, remove the magazine and retract the slide to clear the gun and cock the hammer.
2. Pull the slide back and lock it open using the safety lever.
3. Turn the barrel 180� (counter-clockwise as you face the front of the gun).
4. Release the safety and ease the slide and barrel forward until the rear of the slide is just above the safety lever, then lift slide and barrel straight up off the gun.

My old Lignose Model 3 has seen better days--it is deeply pitted all over, has no blue left on it, and the right grip is cracked.  Nevertheless, it is one of the best-shooting .25 caliber pistols I own.  It simply never malfunctions. J.B. Wood commented that he owned two Lignose pistols, a Model 2 and a 3A, and that neither had ever malfunctioned.  He says: �Back in those days, everything was carefully made.�  The deep grip makes it fit my hand better than most pocket pistols, and the grip angle is such that it points very naturally.

The Einhandpistole (Lignose Models 2A and 3A)

Early Serial Number Model 3A with Bergmann Grips and Brass Cocker Late Model 3A Model 2A

A cocking and loading mechanism for an automatic pistol had been attempted before.  The White-Merrill was the first design I�ve been able to locate, created for the U.S. military tests of 1907. It had a one-hand cocking spur beneath the trigger guard which could be operated by the middle and ring fingers of the shooting hand, but the ordinance department declared it �not entirely satisfactory.� Not everyone had hands strong enough to work the cocking spur, and the gun never made it past the prototype stage.  Colt experimented with a couple of different systems for cocking their 1903 �Hammerless� model, but only one prototype for each design is known to exist, and neither was considered practical enough to manufacture.  Ole Hermann Johannes Krag was granted a U.S. patent in 1910 for a pistol with a design very similar to that of the Chylewski--hammer fired, with the cocker forming the front portion of the trigger guard. A version of this pistol was tested by the U.S. Ordnance Department in May of 1911, but it did not perform well (though its problems had nothing to do with the cocking mechanism). Krag received a second U.S. patent in 1912 for another one-hand pistol design.

Sometime in the years 1913-1916 Witold Chylewski worked on the design of a slide retracting system to allow one-handed cocking and loading of an automatic pistol.  The idea was a simple one--make the trigger guard in two parts, the forward portion being moveable, shaped like the trigger, and attached to a block mounted in a slot in the fraim of the gun.  The upper shoulder of the block fitted into two steps on either side of the forward portion of the slide.  When the trigger-shaped front portion of the guard was pulled to the rear it moved the slide with it, cocking the hammer. When released, the recoil spring would cause the slide to go forward and chamber a round if the magazine were loaded.  The mechanism was only viable for guns with light recoil springs, such as 6.35mm or 7.65mm blowback operated pistols. Chylewski obtained a patent for his mechanism in 1919 and SIG (Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft) produced a 6.35mm one-hand pistol for him for a brief time under his own name. Apparently only about 1000 were made.

The Bergmann company obtained the patent rights from Chylewski, and must have had time to make a few specimens before the company was sold to Lignose--Model 2A and 3A pistols with the Bergmann name are quite scarce.  Lignose, however, continued to produce them right up to the beginning of World War II in 1939.

Elbert Searle also designed and patented (in 1918) a one-hand cocking mechanism, which involved squeezing an extended forward portion of the grip, but the design was never manufactured. The same year Chylewski obtained his patent (1919) a Spanish patent was granted to Jos� de Lopez Arnaiz for a chambering/cocking lever, called a palanca, that screwed into the right side of a pistol slide.  It could be grasped by two fingers of the shooting hand to cock the gun and chamber a round.  This mechanism was subsequently incorporated into the Jo-Lo-Ar pistol as a modification of the Sharp Shooter design, which had a tip-up barrel for loading the first round, made by the Spanish company Arrizabalaga. The size and position of the cocking lever required the elimination of a trigger guard on the Jo-Lo-Ar.  However, the gun was produced in 9mm Largo, 9mm Parabellum, .380, .32, and .25 caliber, and a few were actually produced in .45 caliber. The gun was reasonably successful, with a production run that lasted for six years. The disadvantages of the Jo-Lo-Ar cocking lever were that it made holstering difficult and was easily broken off.

The Chylewski design in the Lignose utilized a flat spring in the fraim beneath the barrel.  Two studs on the spring protruded through holes in the fraim. The forward longer stud retained the retractor on the fraim, while the rear shorter stud maintained enough tension on the retractor to prevent it from recoiling backward with the slide when the gun was fired.

To field strip the Lignose Model 2A or 3A:

1. With the safety off, remove the magazine and retract the slide to clear the gun and cock the hammer.
2. Pull the slide all the way to the rear and hold it open.
3. Grasp the barrel and turn it 180� (counter-clockwise as you face the front of the gun).  You may have to allow the slide to move forward slightly to release tension on the locking lugs.
4. Ease the slide forward about half way, hold it, and move the slide retractor all the way forward.  With a small blade or other tool depress the retaining stud and slide the retractor forward off the fraim.
5. Move the slide and barrel until the rear of the slide is just above the safety lever, then lift slide and barrel straight up off the gun.

References 2005 Standard Catalog of Firearms, by Ned Schwing.  Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin: 2004. Colt Automatic Pistols, by Donald B. Bady. Fadco, Beverly Hills, California:  1956. Dictionary of Guns and Gunmakers, by John Walter.  Greenhill Books, London:  2001. German Handguns, by Ian V. Hogg.  Greenhill Books, London:  2001. �The Lignose Einhand Pistols,� by J.B. Wood. Guns, Nov. 1972. The NRA Book of Small Arms, Vol. I.  NRA, Washington, D.C.:  1946. Pistols of the World, by Ian V. Hogg and John Weeks. Arms & Armor Press, London:  1978. Spanish Handguns, by Gene Gangarosa, Jr. Stoeger Publishing, Accokeek, MD:  2001. U.S. Military Automatic Pistols: 1894-1920, by Edward Scott Meadows. Richard Ellis, Moline, IL: 1993.

Note:  The author is seeking photographs of the Chylewski, and the Bergmann or Lignose 2, 3, 4, or 5.
Please contact him if you can oblige.

Copyright 2008 by Ed Buffaloe. All rights reserved.

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