We have been able to find very little information on the Vitali 1910 automatic pistol, but we did have the opportunity to take a look at one recently. It is very clearly marked Vitali 1910 Terni, but bears no other markings whatsoever. The gun is much more typical of its era than the Hino-Komuro, with a C96 Mauser-type recoil operated mechanism. The slide and barrel recoil together for a short distance before the slide unlocks and continues backwards from inertia to eject the empty case and load a new cartridge. The design uses a large external hammer, which is hidden between the sides of the slide, probably to prevent it from snagging on holsters or clothing.

The Vitali 1910 is chambered for 9mm Glisenti, and feeds from a blind internal magazine that is reloaded using stripper clips. There is a large manual slide holdopen to allow the shooter to prevent the slide from attempting to close while the gun is being reloaded, which is a nice feature. Disassembly is also very simple, as loosening a single captive screw allows the upper and lower assemblies to separate and gives easy access to the pistol’s internal parts. We should note that this particular example of the Vitali is missing its firing pin, which is evident is several of our photos.

You can see many more photos of this interesting pistol design on the Vitali 1910 page in the Vault…