Developed in 1878, the Zig-Zag revolver was the first handgun designed and developed by Paul Mauser and his firm. This is the Zig-Zag as first conceived, a solid frame, single action revolver with loading gate feed, in contrast to the (relatively) more common hinged top-break model. A competitor to be the first centerfire cartridge-fed handgun adopted by the German military, the 1878 scored high marks in overall performance, though concerns about the complexity of the design led them to chose the 1879 Reichsrevolver instead. At the heart of the mechanism is the combination of an angular track (the titular 'Zig-Zag') machined into the side of the cylinder and a toothed reciprocating bar linked to the hammer, which serves to both advance and lock the cylinder, in contrast to the more commonly seen pawl/sprocket and stop arrangement. Additionally, the spring responsible for resetting the cocking bar also powers the hammer, replacing the grip frame mounted leaf spring commonly seen in that era. For loading, the side gate also depresses the tooth of the bar out of the cylinder track, permitting free spin of the cylinder, with a free-hand ejector pin (not included) stored in the cylinder pin to remove the spent casings. Sights are fixed, with "PATENT" on top of the cannon-shaped barrel, and "GEBr MAUSER & Cie OBERNDORF a/N" on the left side of the frame below the niter blue safety lever, and "4" on the front of the frame, underside of the barrel, top of the cylinder pin, the interior of the loading gate and the front cylinder face. The knurled hammer, serrated loading gate and cylinder pin are finished in fine case color, with a niter blue trigger and grip screw and a pair of finely checkered grip panels stamped "B" on the interior.

Very fine, with 50% of the original blue finish, showing scattered light spotting, a few areas of brown patina, bright edge wear and some scratches and dings. 75% of the niter blue and about half of the case colors are present, with especially bright color on the sides of the hammer. The grips are fine with a few small dings and overall crisp checkering. Mechanically excellent. A technically novel piece of very early Mauser history, which could fill an oft-empty gap in a collection of Mausers, German military weapons, experimental weapons or antique firearms.