I've had one of the Dreyse 32 autos for a number of years, but recently had a chance to purchase this 9mm, which I was completely unfamiliar with. A little Google research showed it to be a pre-WW1 attempt to manufacture a military 9mm operating as a straight blow-back. The recoil spring was so strong that a disconnector was incorporated in the pistol, to temorarily separate the bolt from the recoil spring, so a round could be chambered. The second picture shows the latch, or disconnector, lifted and the bolt retracted. I did not find that one of these has ever been listed on Gunbroker, but did find two sales on Rock Island Auction. Production estimates vary from 600 to 1000 units, so I'm unsure why they are so rarely seen today. I find it interesting that Astra (see 3rd picture) was able to successfully manufacture their model 600, blow back 9mm during WWII, with a soft enough recoil spring that it is easily loaded, so why the strong recoil spring on the Dreyse?

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Both the Astra 400 and Astra 600 pistols have fairly stout recoil springs, and are not the easiest when it comes to to manipulating the slide. I had a friend who has fired the 9x23mm Winchester in an Astra 400 without failure, and that is a really high pressure round as compared to the 9x19mm. There have been some attempts to develop blowback 9mm pistols using grooved chambers to "lock" the case in the chamber briefly while under high pressure. And then there is the current Hi-Point 9mm pistol which uses a very heavy slide. I don't know much about the Dreyse 9mm, but I suspect that the mass of its slide is fairly light, even lighter than those of the Astras, necessitating use of a very stiff recoil spring.

Interesting pistol and post. I have had several of the Dreyse 25's and
32's but was unaware of the 9MM.
Nice catch.

That's a very rare gun. I've only seen one for sale, and I bought it about 1958. Unfortunatly I also sold it soon.

Never saw a 9mm, have hade several in 32, never hit anything with one, strictly gut busters. Several years ago saw a guy with
Dryse collection at big show in Cleveland, Ohio. I remember
he had a 25acp Sporting Carbine and a auto loading 16g shotgun.

I've seen 1 of the 9mm Dreyse pistols in all my gunshow and gunshop travels and 45yrs of gunsmithing and restoration work.

It's a very rare semiauto that most collectors of semiauto pistols don't get a chance to buy.

The recoilspring is extra heavy because they used a light weight bolt and slide in the design. They stuck to the .32acp pistol design so their only way to increase needed resistance in the blowback operation was to use a heavier recoil spring.
The Astra 400 and 600 use heavy recoil springs but are managable because the slides themselves are heavy also.
FWIW,,a very few Astra 600 pistols were made in 32acp..

With only 600+ of the Dreyse 9mm pistols made in the course of only a few short years before the start of WW1, it's not hard to see why they are rarely seen today.
They are 100+ yrs old, being designed and built in 1909/1912+ time frame.
They were pistols made for the Military and Police market at a time when the Luger had already been officialy adopted by both the German Army and Navy. No interest there.
A significant order was placed for the pistols by one of the German States Border & Customs dept. but never filled.

The most of the few pistols that were made I suspect found their way quickly to the Western Front probably as a private purchase by some German soldier or organization.
From there, most probably didn't last long in that real world from the looks of the design.

Certainly is an interesting and rare handgun.Congrats on a great find!