The Borchardt pistol that takes his name was the first semiautomatic widely advertised in both America and Great Britain. As introduced in 1893, it was an expensive and less-than-elegant gun, with a 90[degrees] grip-to-frame angle and a mechanism that overhung the shooter's wrist.
It fired the 7.65mm Borchardt cartridge that was interchangeable with the later 7.63mm Mauser cartridge. The importance of the Borchardt is derived from the fact that it used a reliable and relatively powerful cartridge that was held in a removable magazine placed within the grip of the receiver, a characteristic that would influence almost all subsequent commercial self-loaders right up to today.
Additionally, the gun introduced the Maxim-derived toggle action and retracting barrel that would be refined in Georg Luger's pistol. The Borchardt was available as a pistol and as a carbine with a detachable stock and attached holster, a variation that Luger and Mauser employed.
