1911 (18)

The pistol’s final test was held at the Spandau proving ground. It had rained, and the mud still hadn’t dried, but the test wasn’t canceled.

My pistol, DWM’s Luger, and Mauser’s improved model were placed on the same table.

A few years ago, I’d thought that if my pistol ever stood alongside one of those three, my heart would race and I’d be deliriously happy.

But when the day finally came, the test schedule was the first thing on my mind, not the pistols.

Low-temperature firing, contamination tests, parts interchangeability, drop tests, operation with gloves on, and even partially inserted magazines.

The firearms testing commission repeated tests we’d already conducted at the workshop, then put the pistols through challenges we hadn’t even thought of.

At one point, a soldier deliberately dropped a pistol in the dirt and stomped on it several times with his boot.

“Isn’t that a bit much?”

When I protested, the officer beside me replied without expression,

“Worse things happen on the battlefield.”...