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Midlothian, Texas 76065
serial # X 3 = experimental # 3
caliber .22 long rifle, 9" heavy target barrel with adjustable rear sight
magazine removed
Ralf Dieckmann Bridgeport Firearms Company P66
the only cut-away made, and unfortunately the pistol never went into production. The Berlin born immigrant Ralf E. Dieckmann, then living in Connecticut, patented this semi-automatic pistol. An interesting design featured in Gun World March 1966; Guns Oct. 1976; Guns Illustrated 1977; American Handgunner Sep. 1978 and Deutsches Waffen Journal DWJ. Included are copies of the U.S. Commissioner of Patents.
Description of the features of the Dieckmann P-66 semi-automatic pistol.
I am going to reference the descriptions to their individual US Patent numbers.
US Patent Reissue number 26,872, dated April 28th 1970
Covers a Pistol of conventional appearance with the following features:
A curved magazine, inserted into the front strap of the receiver.
When rimmed cartridges are stacked one on top of the other, a curve is formed. Therefore a curved magazine is the best choice for rimmed cartridges. Placing the magazine into the front strap of the receiver, automatically places the floor plate of the magazine under the fingers of the shooting hand, preventing the magazine from accidentally falling out of the pistol. Also, the receiver only has to extend downward as far as the magazine. The rest of the grip can be made from plastic or wood as can be seen in the cut-away model.
US Patent number 3,608,223, dated September 28th 1971
Covers a Firing Pin and Extractor Mechanism for Firearms with the following features:
Normally, the firing pin and the extractor are two separate parts in a firearm. In this invention I combined the two parts into one. The key feature of this design lies in the fact that the firing pin tip is offset from the extractor hook. When one looks at the breech end of a rim-fire gun, one will notice a clearance slot for the extractor hook. There is a thin web of approximately .015” between the chamber wall and the extractor clearance slot. If the firing pin and the extractor would be one flat piece, the firing pin would strike the rim of the cartridge right on top of the above mentioned thin web and unreliable ignition would result. Eventually the above mentioned web would curl into the chamber from repeated blows of the hammer. That would cause the cartridge case to jam upon extraction. Therefore, by offsetting the firing pin tip to either side of the extractor hook, the rim of the cartridge is fired above the solid part of the breech end of the barrel on either side of the extractor clearance slot.
US Patent number 3,713,241, dated January 30th 1973
Covers a Striker Assembly for Firearms with the following features:
A quick removable firing mechanism assembly, containing the hammer, the sear, the ejector and all the springs and pivots associated with those parts. This quick removable firing mechanism can be removed without removing any other part of the pistol. Once the firing mechanism has been removed, it can be further disassembled without tools. This feature allows easy maintenance of the assembly. If the owner likes to display the pistol on a wall in a safe manner, he only has to remove the firing mechanism assembly from the pistol and no one could fire the pistol. One additional feature would be the use of a dummy firing mechanism which would allow the user to dry-fire the pistol without damage. Users who use their pistols for target shooting would find this feature useful. The Walther Company used to have a dry-firing mechanism like that available for their rapid fire Olympic pistols. But it was not quick removable.
Ralf E. Dieckmann
both are part of my collection