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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  DANISH PISTOL SCHOUBOE MODEL 1907 11.35MM SN# 499
Maker/Manufacturer:	SCHOUBOE, JENS
Date of Manufacture:	C 1907
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 2053
Measurements:	OL: 20.3CM 8" BL: 11.4CM 4 1/2"

Object Description:

DANISH PISTOL SCHOUBOE MODEL 1907 11.35MM SN#499
Manufactured by Madsen, Copenhagen, Denmark - Experimental Danish .45 caliber Schouboe pistol designed to fire a high-speed wooden bullet weighing 63 grains with a muzzle velocity of 1600 fps. Blued finish, two-piece checkered wood grips. Tested in U.S. in 1907 and rejected. This was the actual test piece used in the 1907 trials. Complete with 6-round detachable box magazine and spare magazine. Spare magazine moved to 207/12.

Markings:
Receiver: DANSK-REFYLRIFFEL SYNDIKAT/KOBENHAVN.
Frame: 499 at rear of frame.
DANSK-REFYLRIFFEL SYNDIKAT= MADSEN.

Army #1817 - "Shoots a wooden metal jacket bullet weighing 63 grains at a velocity of 1600 ft."

Exhibit label: "SCHOUBOE M1907 11.35 millimeter, 1907, 200+ made. Jens Schouboe designed an automatic pistol that fired a high velocity aluminum jacketed wooden bullet. The U.S. military, like many European governments, tested the Danish pistol but decided not to purchase it."

Notes: "The Schouboe automatic pistol referred to within has been received at this Armory and tested.
Memorandum giving results of the test in inclosed herewith.
This pistol functioned satisfactorily during the test, but is not considered superior to any respect to our service pistol...." - LTC W.S. Peirce, Commanding Officer, Springfield Armory, 1/15/1913.

March 1, 1913 - Special Bimonthly Report - "TEST OF SCHOUBOE AUTOMATIC PISTOL: This pistol functioned satisfactorily during the test, but showed no superiority in any respect over the service pistol. - Signed W.S. PEIRCE/Lt. Col., Ord. Dept."

"The Schouboe pistol, invented by Jen Theodor Suhr Schouboe of Rungsted, Denmark, was manufactured by Dansk Rekylriffel Syndikat of Copenhagen, Denmark, for whom Schouboe worked as an engineer. Schouboe patented his design in the United States in 1903. The blowback design was originally made in 7.65 m/m but caliber was later increased to 11.35 m/m. (.45 caliber). Several different models of variations of the .45 caliber Schouboe were made. The example tested by the U.S. Government in 1912 has come to be known as the M1912.
The Schouboe pistol was chambered for an unusual 11.35 m/m cartridge, developed by the Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken, which utilized a straight, rimless case and a lightweight bullet having a wooden core and an aluminum base plug. This gave the bullet a high velocity but inadequate stopping power and poor accuracy....
The pistol was shipped from Frankford Arsenal to Springfield Armory on June 6th and received the next day.
On June 18, 1913, Lt. Colonel Pierce advised the Chief of Ordnance that the pistol and cartridges had been received and placed in the Armory Museum, where they remain. - Edward Scott Meadows

The Annual Report of Chief of Ordnance for fiscal year 1913 briefly recorded the Schouboe test. "Experimental work. - The following named articles have also been tested and reports there-on rendered: Schouboe automatic pistol...."

Jens Schouboe was also inventor of the more successful Madsen machine gun.

See, Meadows, U.S. MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 1894-1920, pp. 424-428.

References:
Meadows, Edward Scott. MILITARY AUTOMATIC PISTOLS 1894-1920. Richard Ellis Publications, Inc. Moline, Il. 1993.