History:
After a trial-model in heavy calibre had failed in 1909, Mauser the first time postponed the idea of military adoption and developed a lighter .25 ACP-version for commercial use.
Since 1907 a patent about a vestpocket-pistol in calibre .25 ACP was already pending. This pistol was designed with locked action, but the engineer Josef Nickl of the company Mauser changed it and three years later ist was put on the market, not as locked-action but as mass-action system.
This way the model 1910 was the first vestpocket-construction of the company. As it was designed bigger and with longer barrel than the concurrent products it showed clear advantages in reliability and precision.
The pistol had very good finish and Mauser from the beginning had remarkable commercial success with it. The following sales-numbers were reported: 1911...11012 pcs., 1912...30291 pcs., 1913...18856 pcs., and the numbering was starting with no.1.
From July 1913 until December 1913 the production was stopped in order to integrate the design-details of the new .32 model into the .25 model too.
The differences between the model 1910 and the later versions of 1914 and 1934 are just in many little details. The locking-pin for the barrel is fixed by grove in the barrel and the coverplate of the action at the left side is locked by a small lever-pin above the trigger. The slide-catch is not yet existing.
Technical Datas:
SYSTEM: self-cocking pistol with mass system and firing pin
CARTRIDGES : 9
CALIBRE : .25 ACP
BARREL LENGTH : 79 mm, 6 grooves turning right
WEIGHT EMPTY : 410 g
TOTAL LENGTH : 135 mm
TOTAL HEIGHT : 101 mm
TOTAL WIDTH : 22 mm
TRIGGER : single action
SIGHT : fix
SAFETY : lever
FINISH : browned
GRIPS : hard rubber