Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher (January 30, 1848 – January 20, 1904) was an Austrian engineer and small arms designer. Along with James Paris Lee, Mannlicher was particularly noted for inventing the en-bloc clip charger-loading box magazine system. Later, while making improvements to other inventors' prototype designs for rotary-feed magazines, Mannlicher, together with his protégé Otto Schönauer, patented a perfected rotary magazine design, the Mannlicher–Schönauer rifle, which was a commercial and military success.
Mannlicher's successful designs during his lifetime included bolt-action rifles, both military and sporting, in both turn-bolt and straight-pull actions. Mannlicher also developed several innovative semi-automatic handgun designs in the 1890s. A measure of how far ahead of his time he was can be seen by looking at his experimental designs for semi-automatic rifles, developed at a time when ammunition was not suitable to function properly in such a weapon[citation needed]. In 1883, Mannlicher began development of an automatic rifle firing the 11mm Austrian Werndl, a black-powder cartridge.[1]
According to W. H. B. Smith in Mauser, Walther and Mannlicher Firearms, the Mannlicher 1885 became the inspiration for the M1 Garand; and the Mannlicher 1900 with the "short-stroke piston" became the inspiration for the M1 carbine.[2][page needed]
Mannlicher's automatic rifle designs
Mannlicher introduced several automatic rifle designs that were unsuccessful, but ahead of their time. He introduced fundamental principles that were used by later designers, often successfully.
Mannlicher's Model 85 semi automatic rifle used his recoil operated action originally developed in 1883; it anticipated the recoiling barrel system used later in designs like the German MG 34 and MG 42 machineguns, and the M1941 Johnson machine gun. The Model 85 would have fit the same tactical role as the American BAR or British Bren of World War II fame.
Mannlicher designed two semi-automatic rifles both called Model 93, one based on his turn-bolt rifle and the other based on his straight-pull rifle. The rifles had a recoil spring housing behind the bolt and the bolt locking lugs were angled, so the bolt started turning on firing, essentially a hesitation lock or delayed blowback much like the later Thompson Autorifle utilising the Blish lock. In this system there was no recoiling barrel nor gas piston as with other rifle-caliber autoloading designs, so the mechanism was simple, but ejection of fired cartridge casings was so fierce as to be hazardous to bystanders.
The Model 95 semi-automatic rifle was gas operated using a slide with the cocking handle on its side and gas piston at its front to operate the bolt, with the recoil spring operating on the slide. Loading was with the Mannlicher packet clip of cartridges inserted into the magazine from the top. These features were also used in the later U.S. M1 Garand rifle.
The Model 1900 semi-automatic rifle was also gas operated but used a short stroke piston with a camming lug that engaged the bolt to open it. The bolt was then carried to the rear by momentum with the recoil spring operating on the bolt. The US M1 carbine used a short stroke piston to impart momentum to a slide that opened the bolt, combining features introduced in the Mannlicher Model 95 and Model 100.[3]
The Model 1905 used a short recoil action with a tilting locking block. This was same principle Mannlicher used in his 1901 pistol-caliber carbine. However, for the rifle he scaled it up to 8mm Mauser, the standard German military rifle cartridge. The rifle also used a Schönauerrotary magazine, and sights copied from the Mauser Gewehr 98.[4] Although his company patented the design in 1905, Mannlicher's death in 1904 ended any further development of the design.
^Walter H. B. Smith, Mannlicher Rifles and Pistols, Military Service Publishing Co. 1947. Model 85 pp. 155–62; Model 91 pp. 163–69; Model 93 turning bolt pp. 170–77; Model 93 straight-pull pp. 178–84; Model 95 pp. 197–203; Model 1900 pp. 232–39.