History
180,000 copies were produced by the firm Leopold Gasser Waffenfabrik in Vienna from 1898 to 1912. The M1898 was planned to be replaced in the Austro-Hungarian cavalry by the Roth-Steyr M1907, and in the infantry by the Steyr M1912, prior to the outbreak of the First World War. However production of newer pistols was not sufficient and the weapon continued in service, especially issued to NCOs and officers. In some armies it was used up through Second World War, including Italy and Yugoslavia. The quality manufacture and the strength of the solid-frame design make it a reliable and consistent military weapon.
The M1898 was copied in Belgium by Manufacture d'Armes Liégeoise in 7.62mm Nagant caliber.
Read more about this topic: Rast-Gasser M1898
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.
In Beverly Hills ... they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.
Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.”
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)