A German company called JANZ-Präzisionstechnik has introduced a new pistol designed by the company’s master gunsmith Horst Schuknecht. It is called Janz-Schuknecht pistol. It is a striker fired locked breech, short barrel recoiling firearm with quite an unusual locking mechanism.

The lockup of the barrel and slide is accomplished by a special part which is a roller with a cutout in its middle portion. You can see that part in the image below.

Upon firing, the barrel and slide recoil together for a certain distance until the locking piece reaches the cutout in the slide and rotates into it thus unlocking the slide from the barrel. At this point, the barrel stops and the slide continues its rearward motion extracting and ejecting the spent case. On its way back, the slide feeds a fresh round, then hits the barrel and forces it forward at the same time rotating the locking piece out of the cutout. Pay attention to the rotation of the cylindrical locking piece in the video below. In this video, the gun is disassembled to show that motion of the locking piece.

In the next video, you can see a fixture made by the company demonstrating the operation of this mechanism.

Other features of this pistol include the cocked striker indicator which is basically the tail of the striker protruding from the rear of the slide. The slide stop lever also doubles as a decocker if pushed up.

Another unusual feature is the press check mode. If you push up and hold the lever located on the right side of the slide (see the image below), it will block the trigger rendering the gun safe and will allow only a short slide travel (half an inch or so) just enough for doing a press check.

The Janz-Schuknecht pistol is completely made of steel (except the grips). It is chambered in 9x19mm Luger and feeds from single stack 8-round magazines. The dimensions of this pistol are as follows: Length – 222mm (8.75″), Width – 33.5mm (1.32″), Height – 140mm (5.5″). The pistol weighs 1,500 grams (53 oz). It has a single action only trigger. The company also plans to make a .45 ACP version of the Janz-Schuknecht pistol.

The Janz-Schuknecht pistol is exceptionally well made. It is an artwork of engineering. However, the price of this pistol will limit the customer base to collectors and enthusiast of firearms technology who will not mind paying $9,500 for this gun.