Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose was a German firearms designer. Most well known for his design of the MG M.07/12 medium machine gun, Schwarzlose was a fairly prolific designer who designed various other pistols, most of which having some unique form of operation.
History[]
Born in Wust in 1867, Schwarzlose served in the Austro-Hungarian Army as an ordnance officer before taking up a career as a gunsmith after he was discharged from the military. He went to Suhl for training in gunsmithing and set up his business in Berlin. Initially he worked exclusively with pistols, designing his first in 1892, but by 1908 he abandoned pistol design in favor of working with machine guns, including the M.07/12, which was adopted by the Austro-Hungarian Army and used extensively during World War I. After the war, Schwarzlose's Berlin factory was closed down in accordance with Germany's disarmament, and he instead worked as a consultant at other firms. Schwarzlose eventually retired to Charlottenburg where he died in 1936, aged 68.[1]
Works[]
Schwarzlose is most well known for his eponymous machine gun, although he was also known for designing various other firearms, including the Model 1898 and the blow forward Model 1908.