Location: Vienna, Austria

Karel Krnka was a talented firearms inventor, born in 1858. He began his career in firearms design as a member of the Austro-Hungarian army. He made many improvements to their service rifle design. After he left the military, he took the job of head engineer, with ill-fated and short-lived "Gatling Gun Company". This company ceased operations in 1890. Krnka then went to work for the patent office and remained there for a few years. In 1898, he became foreman of Roth Cartridge Company and worked with Roth on firearm designs until the death of Roth in 1909. After this, he became associated with Hertenberger Cartridge Company; and finally in 1922 he moved to Czechoslovakia, where he became a firearms designer for the firm of C.Z. He remained at this post until his death in 1926. He recorded his first firearm patent in 1888 for a mechanical repeater with a ring trigger. His best known innovations are the internal butt magazine, that is loaded by means of a stripper clip and rotating locked bolt, with internal firing pin. These designs were never actually turned into a mass-marketed pistol, but were major contributions in the development of a practical semi-automatic pistol design. Krnka’s name is associated with the Model 1867 Russian military conversion of muzzleloading Model 1857 to a breechloading rifle. Various model-name dates have been assigned to early Krnka pistols, including Models 1895, 1897, 1898, 1899 and possibly 1892. The more commonly encountered Roth-Steyr M1907 pistol may be correctly called Roth-Krnka M7. The early Krnka firearms come on the market too seldom to publish a meaningful value estimate by condition. Sales of Krnka Model 1867 conversion rifles have been reported in the $2,000 to $5,000 range. Krnka pistols identified as Model 1895 prototypes have sold in the $13,000 to $16,000 range. Model 1905 Krnka pistols have sold in the $4,000 to $8,000 range.