Little Tom Pistols:

Way back in 1910 Alois Tomiska (Tomischka) of Czechoslovakia patented the first semi-auto pistol in 'double-action' form (double-action for the first shot without needing to cock the hammer).

The name 'Tomischka' is the diminutive form of Thomas - hence the "Little Tom" name for these pistols.

.32ACP Little Tom Pistol.

Now - with any luck you may have noticed something different in the picture - Yup, that's right - the magazine is loaded / unloaded in the gun from the top - with the slide locked-back. - It may also be re-loaded by inserting a full replacement magazine from the bottom while pushing-out / ejecting the spent unit upwards.

- There were also .25ACP versions made - and the guns were built both in Vienna Austria and later in Pilsen Czechoslovakia.

 .25ACP Little Tom Pistol

A really nice touch with these guns is that the magazines are built using brass thus eliminating problems of rusting as occurs with many folded steel magazine bodies. (some early magazines were steel built.)

Production Brass Magazines without Lips.

The top-loading magazine feature was intended to be familiar to users of other Austrian pistols of that time - the Roth-Steyr and the Steyr-Hahn which both were loaded with loose cartridges from the top.

Czech made .25"ACP - Note the standard lack of sights.

It was possible to modify Little Toms to be conventionally fed only from the bottom of the grip, and to add a floor-plate with a lip to the magazine base.

Total production of this successful design in both calibres from both factories is estimated to be in the region of  35,000 - mostly in .25"ACP calibre.

Ref: A very thorough article by J B Wood in the 1980 'Gun Digest' (and Google !).

Marty K
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