Developed in the 1890s in Austria with only approximately 500 believed to have been manufactured, Gustav Bittner's pistol is an excellent example of the "manual repeater" class of handgun. The rival to the single and double action revolvers of the early cartridge era, manual repeaters were brought to an end by the rise of semi-automatic pistols; anyone good enough to design and build a manual repeater could make a semi-automatic. Bittner's design uses a rotary locking bolt operated by a ring lever and a fixed bar lever for the trigger and feeds via an internal magazine loaded with en bloc clips (not included). Blade front and elevation adjustable notch rear sights, with "PATENT/BITTNER" above the Bittner trademark marked on the right of the frame. The steel frame construction is elegantly machined and high quality casehardened with distinct colors, with a set of checkered walnut panels covering the magazine spring and a pair of checkered fine contour grip panels. "32" marked on the left of the grip frame, "120" handwritten inside the grip panels.

Fine, retains 75% original blue finish on the barrel with some areas of light fading, and 70% plus vivid original case colors strongest on the right with the balance fading to a smooth gray patina and some scattered patches of light surface pitting. The grips are also fine with some scattered light scratches, light bottom edge wear and mostly crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent.