Salvator Dormus pistol

Salvator-Dormus
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	Austria-Hungary
Production history
Designer	Karl Salvator Georg von Dormus ()
Designed	1891
Produced	1895
No. built	about 50
Specifications
Cartridge	8mm Dormus
Action	blowback
Feed system	5-round magazine
Sights	Iron sights

The Salvator-Dormus pistol holds the earliest patent for a semi-automatic pistol. It was patented on 11 July 1891 by Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria and Count Georg von Dormus (). As the first of its kind, it was designed without the benefit of experience with earlier models. Various modifications were made with approximately twenty prototypes before thirty pistols of a workable design were submitted for Austrian military trials in 1896. This 8mm blowback pistol loaded through the top and had a hinged magazine door on the butt. The pistol had a separate bolt release and safety. The production delay between patent and military trials allowed comparison with other self-loading pistols, and the Salvator Dormus was considered inferior to its competition. The designers abandoned this project; and the few surviving pistols are true rarities.

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