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ARMAG

Search matches names, aliases and the text of every page. An arm found by its service designation is found by its alias, not its title.

Pistol

Lercker pistol

Cesare LerckerEarly Cold War

Muzzle energy

How Muzzle energy is calculated

E = ½ · m · v²

Inputs

  • m3.24 g50.00 grverifiedsourcePublished as 50 grains.
  • v231.6 m/s759.8 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 50.8 mm barrel, not this arm's 104 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.

1 of 2 inputs link to their source.

86.89 J64.09 ft·lbf
Muzzle velocity

How Muzzle velocity is calculated

nearest sourced barrel length — no extrapolation (SPEC.md §8.2)

Inputs

  • v at 50.8 mm231.6 m/s759.8 fpsverifiedsourcePublished as 760 ft/s.

Assumptions

  • This figure belongs to a 50.8 mm barrel. It is shown because it is the closest measurement that exists, not because it applies here.

1 of 1 inputs link to their source.

231.6 m/s759.8 fps
Loaded mass

How Loaded mass is calculated

m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge

Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.

Assumptions

  • One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.

2 of 4 inputs link to their source.

not recordednot recorded
Free recoil

How Free recoil is calculated

E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²

Inputs

  • m_firearm0.93 kg2.050 lbestimatedsourcefrom the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
  • v_recoil0.8069 m/s2.647 fpsestimated

Assumptions

  • Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
  • Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.

1 of 2 inputs link to their source.

0.3027 J0.2233 ft·lbfestimated
Capacity

How Capacity is calculated

as published for the primary chambering

Inputs

  • capacity20estimatedsource20-round detachable box magazine, from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia

1 of 1 inputs link to their source.

20estimated

Derived figures

Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.

Momentum

How Momentum is calculated

p = m · v

Inputs

  • m3.24 g50.00 grverifiedsourcePublished as 50 grains.
  • v231.6 m/s759.8 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 50.8 mm barrel, not this arm's 104 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.

1 of 2 inputs link to their source.

0.7504 kg·m/s
Sectional density

How Sectional density is calculated

SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)

Inputs

  • mass3.24 g50.00 grverifiedsourcePublished as 50 grains.
  • diameter6.38 mm0.2512 inverifiedsourceC.I.P. G1, maximum bullet diameter.

Assumptions

  • Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.

2 of 2 inputs link to their source.

0.1132 lb/in²
Power factor

How Power factor is calculated

PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000

Inputs

  • mass3.24 g50.00 grverifiedsourcePublished as 50 grains.
  • velocity231.6 m/s759.8 fpsverifiedMeasured with a 50.8 mm barrel, not this arm's 104 mm. Velocity outside the sourced range is not projected.

Assumptions

  • A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.

1 of 2 inputs link to their source.

37.99 gr·fps/1000
Magazine dump

How Magazine dump is calculated

t = (n − 1) / (rpm / 60)

Inputs

  • n20estimatedsource20-round detachable box magazine, from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia
  • rpm1,200 rpmestimatedsourcefrom the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia, published as a single figure rather than a range

Assumptions

  • Cyclic rate held for the whole magazine, no stoppages, trigger held down. A theoretical figure for comparing mechanisms, not a measured one.

2 of 2 inputs link to their source.

0.9500 sestimated
Sight error at 1 mm

How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated

θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)

Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.

Assumptions

  • Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.

No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.

not recordednot recorded

Specifications

Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.

Identity
Type
Pistol
Fire modes
  • Semi-automatic
  • Fully automatic
Operating system
Blowback, simple
Designed in
Italy
Produced in
Introduced
1950
Production
not recorded
Dimensions and mass
Mass, empty
0.93 kg2.050 lbestimatedsource

from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia

Magazine, empty
not recorded
Length
184 mm7.244 inestimatedsource

from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia

Length, folded
not recorded
Width
not recorded
Height
not recorded
Barrel length
104 mm4.094 inestimatedsource

from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia

Sights and rifling
Sight radius
not recorded
Sight height over bore
not recorded
Rifling twist
not recorded
Twist direction
not recorded
Grooves
not recorded
Sight graduation
not recorded
Operation
Cyclic rate
1,200 rpmestimatedsource

from the infobox, uncited on Wikipedia, published as a single figure rather than a range

Trigger pull
not recorded
Effective range
not recorded
Units produced
not recorded
Launch price
not recorded

Chamberings

Scale

A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.

  • Lercker pistol184 mm7.244 inheight not recorded

Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Lercker pistol records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.

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Detail

The Lercker pistol was designed around 1950 in Italy by Carlo Cuppini together with Cesare Lercker, a gunsmith who worked at Beretta while also running his own small shop. Built to be carried and handled like an ordinary pocket pistol, it was in fact a selective-fire automatic weapon disguised in a handgun’s shape and size — a combination the Italian government judged functionally equivalent to a concealable submachine gun, and the type was seized by police after roughly 150 had been made.

Its mechanism is unusual even among selective-fire pistols: it fires from an open bolt, with a fixed firing pin on the bolt face itself rather than a separate hammer or striker, and the sear sits forward near the trigger rather than at the rear of the action as in a conventional pistol. That open-bolt layout — more typical of a submachine gun than a handgun — let the pistol control the small, low-recoiling 6.35mm (.25 ACP) cartridge at a very high cyclic rate from a 20-round magazine housed in the grip, but it also meant the bolt had to be carried locked to the rear, making it impractical to holster and carry as an ordinary pistol.

Every figure in this entry is transcribed from Wikipedia’s infobox, none of it individually cited on Wikipedia itself, so all figures are recorded as estimated. Sources disagree on the pistol’s exact production dates and total output — Wikipedia and most English-language accounts give the 1950s and about 150 pistols, while at least one Italian museum holding an example dates it to the 1960s and other accounts put total production as high as 500 — and no figure beyond the commonly cited 150 is recorded here. No manufacturing company name is established in any free source consulted; production is described there only in terms of Cuppini and Lercker’s own workshop. No free C.I.P. or SAAMI datasheet applies beyond the .25 ACP cartridge itself, and no photograph of the Lercker pistol was found across Wikimedia Commons, the Smithsonian’s open collections or DVIDS.

References

This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.

  1. Lercker pistol · Wikipedia · 1227945519 · read 2026-09-04 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Last verified 2026-09-04 · review status: draft