Mauser Zig-Zag

About the Mauser Zig-Zag

The Mauser Zig-Zag is a single-action revolver designed by Paul Mauser as his first handgun, produced under the factory designation Construktion 1878 (C78). It takes its name from the distinctive zig-zag grooves machined into the surface of its six-round cylinder, which engage a stud to rotate and lock the cylinder as the hammer is cocked. Developed to compete in the 1879 German military trials, it was offered in 7.6mm, 9mm and 10.6mm chamberings. Although it performed well in testing, its mechanical complexity led the trials to instead adopt the simpler Reichsrevolver M1879. Roughly 3,000 or fewer were built, and a later solid-frame version was revised around 1886 with a hinged frame and a Webley-style self-extracting mechanism to speed reloading.

The Zig-Zag was Paul Mauser's debut handgun, conceived to give the newly unified German Empire its first centerfire-cartridge service revolver. Its clever cylinder-rotation system impressed the trials board but proved too intricate and costly for mass military issue, and the contract went to the plain, robust Reichsrevolver instead.

Mauser Zig-Zag specifications

Two principal forms exist: an earlier solid-frame model requiring cylinder removal to reload, and a later hinged-frame version (c.1886) with a modified Webley-pattern simultaneous extractor. The 9mm chambering is the most commonly encountered; 10.6mm examples are rare.