Yovanovitch Model 1931

/ forgottenweapons
Lazar Yovanovitch was a Serbian native of Yugoslavia, born in Belgrade. He left engineering school to design firearms, and developed a couple .22 and .380 caliber pistols. None were adopted by the Yugoslav military, but he did use his .380 in international competition at the 1933 ISSF 25m rapid fire competition and the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Yovanovitch participated briefly in WWII as a petty officer in a hydroplane squadron, was captured by Italian forces, and then escaped into Switzerland in the lull between Italian surrender and German re-occpation of his POW camp. After the war he emigrated to Canada, where he made one last example of his Model 1931 .380 pistol, for his own use and enjoyment.

[@alexdemoya2119]

"Entered the 1936 olympics with a gun of his own design" How is this not a movie?

[@GrimFaceHunter]

+Alex de Moya There are also no movies about other much more famous Serbs. There is not much interest in them, and some that are made are semi-documentaries, and often pretty boring. Serbian cinematography tanked in the last decade. Also, due to political reasons, nobody thought children about many of Serbian historical figures in socialist Yugoslavia. In stead, bunch of communist partisan "heroes" were idealized to almost Rambo style figures in movies.

[@notpulverman9660]

+tman008 its probably a TV movie in Serbia. it's probably not good.

[@maxmagnus777]

@@notpulverman9660 I've just realized that this guy exists. He might had been in some documentary but there are so many people like him that you can not even recall most of them. Anyways he would had been a great addition to Zastava team with the knowledge that he had. (If we ignore politics)

[@nichevo1]

First do Tesla.

[@bradenanderson6989]

GrimFaceHunter I think we have movies about Nikola Tesla

[@SynthLizard8]

The gun is kinda like a loyal companion, huh? he's own creation has been with him though all that strife, can't imagine how much it hurt for him to sell it in the end.

[@damiangrouse4564]

I can't even imagine! I have a problem selling/trading guns that I definitely didn't "make" or have any family/heirloom value.

[@geoffedwards-tb4kp]

It's nice and sleek looking.

[@420BulletSponge]

Ian would be the absolute coolest history professor a person could ever ask for, no contest.

[@brabhamfreaman166]

John McPherson Two words: Lindybeige

[@garagebois3035]

Maybe I would have actually gone to class lol

[@American-Templar]

My history teacher let us throw decommissioned grenades around when we learned about the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

[@pb68slab18]

He'd be banned from most college campus today, 25NOV23.

[@andrewince8824]

1898 to 1975. He survived 2 World wars, designed his own pistols, was a competitive shooter, was a POW, escaped the camps, migrated away from war torn Europe, made another pistol just because he wanted one and all of that within just 77 years. An absolutely incredible man. I truly salute Lazar Yovanovich, an incredible man with an incredible story.

[@zanpule6406]

Icredible indeed.

[@altergreenhorn]

The story told by Lan aint complete it is even sader when company Anshutz realized that naive constructor didn't patented his gun as it should they ditch production as Lan said AND start a new production of simmilar match gun based on Yovanovic gun caled Anshutz Record M 210 a wining pistol on olyimpic games 1938

[@inquiz9747]

The amount of videos this man puts up on his channel along with their informativeness combined make this channel one of my favorites on youtube. I can't stress out how much I enjoy those. I tip my hat to you, Ian, your work is really impressive.

[@ForgottenWeapons]

+Andrew Vasyliew Thanks!

[@paullytle4943]

+Forgotten Weapons by the way you mispronounced Belgrade not grade as A+ it pronounced grad

[@paullytle4943]

Pronounce it in it's home language

[@Alconium]

+Paul Lytle So you call Mexico; Mehico, Japan; Nippon, Russia; Rossija, and Sweden; Sverige? How about Nederland, Italia, Polska. Here's the real question tho when it comes to home languages, do you say België, Belgique or Belgien for Belgium? There's better things to do with your life than nit pick pronunciation on KZbin. This is a video about history and firearms, not languages.

[@jorgschimmer8213]

+Alconium . Thank you. Awesome comment.

[@slobodannesevski6228]

Greetings from Belgrade-Serbia. I'm glad you mentioned our constructor of the pistol. :)

[@rodentRoundup]

Some of the stories are my favorite part of this channel, I really love the amount of work that goes into writing informative episodes.

[@jasondoe2596]

Quite a fascinating story behind this unique, elegant piece - and its equally fascinating owner. Thank you, Ian! P.S. Poor guy, getting screwed due to legal patent stuff and ending up poor later on. Gotta feel bad for all those passionate scientists and engineers who just DON'T CARE about the business side of things... :(

[@Beowulf31486]

+Jason “cyberspace entity” Doe Well, in this case I wouldn't say that he didn't care...he was just naive and didn't understand that he needed to have multiple patents to cover the areas where his invention could and would be sold.

[@jasondoe2596]

Beowulf31486 Well, apparently he didn't care *enough* to properly educate himself on the legal stuff. Naive or not, he obviously didn't lack the mental capability needed to submit a few papers...

[@damiangrouse4564]

He was a trained "engineer" not a lawyer. And he was probably working on a shoestring budget that didn't allow for legal representation (competent or otherwise) The people that should be burning in hell are those Anshutz executives that, patent or not, should have honored their commitment, as there probably was a contract (paper or verbal) on the matter.

[@jasondoe2596]

Damian Grouse Yep.

[@Davidautofull]

+Jason “cyberspace entity” Doe yep, shame on anshutz. they could have bought it instead of giving him the shaft.

[@elektro3000]

Kind of a sad story, but fascinating!

[@aleksandarsavic793]

Wow, I am from Serbia, and this is the first time I see this weapon, and the second time to hear about the constructor! Incredible channel, keep working!

[@sdgardner1954]

Again Ian does an excellent job detailing unique, and in some cases not unique firearms.

[@Spearfisher1970]

Abso-tively, posa-lutely appreciate the historical talks that are attached to the weapon platforms or concepts. Thank you Ian!

[@GuitARPlayr100]

Not the greatest looking gun in the world, but it does have a certain charm to it. But the story behind it is what would really make me want it.

[@techforhire7557]

Again Ian you've gone above and beyond to get this fascinating back story to a one of a kind pistol and gunsmith, most men will never really know if they chose the profession that best fits their skills and passions, you my friend need not waste a second with that concern!

[@Nulrom]

I absolutely love that shape. Is so slick. I can understand we all have nowadays necessity of tacticallness but I wonder why no one (with exception of Ruger) doesn't make fancy guns anymore. That story is an absolute wonder. It would be great to glorify stories like that crafting celebrating weapons.

[@rene4043]

One of my favorite stories so far. Despite the simplicity of the tale, there's something romantic about it. If I ever get the chance, I would be overjoyed to add this to my collection. Thank you!

[@kajetandziebaj6405]

One of the best episodes ever, Ian. Super cool history.

Given that "Yugoslavia" was formed in 1918 at the end of WWI - the man was probably born in Belgrade in the kingdom of Serbia in 1891.

[@antongreenberg741]

Was about to comment, but figured better look to see to if someone already has, because I can't be the only one who stopped in their tracks upon hearing this come out of Ian's mouth.

[@BoboEverest]

Very good presentation. Thank you! As a Serbian I am proud on Serbian gun designers and as a gun enthusiast love your videos… Thanks again and keep coming vid interesting videos.

[@trevorgray2238]

These videos have re-kindled my love of unique weapon history, and I appreciate Ian and Karl for putting out extensive historical and mechanical views of firearms throughout history. Thank you, crew at Forgotten Weapons. We all love you.

[@Traderjoe]

A very cool story! He seemed like a nice guy that had a few turns of bad luck, and we can all relate to that in some sense. But at least he had his mind and skills and could rebound after getting knocked down and try and reinvent himself.

[@mickemonterra5905]

Thank you for showing this pistol in such a nice video. It's like everything else Serbian, it's simple, it's functioning, and the it's personality and story behind is the best part of it.

[@D3faulted1]

This was a case where it was worth watching just for the story.

[@troy9477]

I thought the top end looked a lot like an FN profile. :) Fascinating history and quite a life story. It's also interesting that Canada gave a pistol permit to an immigrant. I wonder if they knew of his technical skills, and that was why? I love the deep history in so many of your videos. I agree, u would make a fine history professor. Great video as always.

[@joebarilari9911]

fantastic story! at first I thought it WAS a FN 1922. until the zoom in. always a fantastic channel, and reignited my appreciation for antiques

[@fivizzano]

You know Ian, you should really be hired by History Channel, your work, understated almost but exceptionally interesting is really great. Thanks.

[@IAMTHEIC3MAN]

That’s not the only surviving one. There’s a dude on reddit who’s grandfather owns one, he’s got photographic proof and the serial number is different.

[@juanmanuelmarchioli]

Urgent Ian!!! take a caliper and bluepint that old beauty... and by the way... sweet vid... ;-)))))

[@notpulverman9660]

+juan manuel marchioli That would be cool if he could at least disassemble it, so his design doesn't need to die.

[@mysss29]

It seems there was a Yugoslavian patent for it, though? I wonder if that's still in some dusty drawer somewhere....

[@betonskiorah]

od - odbravljen, od(t)kočen - unlocked, za - zabravljen, zakočen - locked ... i guess

[@Ksilisab]

+betonskiorah jeste.

[@CKing180]

Cool gun and excellent story, thanks for always having a video uploaded in the morning, I always watch these before I start my shift

[@_1389_]

Was born in Serbia, Yugoslavia did not exist at the time.

[@_1389_]

+Jan Schlossar Where did you get that from? Unless he was born in modern day Croatia that is plain false.

[@_1389_]

Cousin Niko That's wrong again, Kingdom of Yugoslavia was only formed after WW1.

[@_1389_]

Liče Lazar Jovanović ne pištolj.

[@ridanann]

id go slavia they go slavia we all go slavia lol now go tell the Yugoslavian tourism board there new slogan lol

[@tonnymalero6316]

Tebe izbacili iz skole odmah na pocetku prvog razreda? Ha ha

[@galaxyscorpion6200]

It's funny because my great grand father had one of these and he gave it to me 3 months ago and that's one of the reasons why i love that i was born and raised in Macedonia

[@zlatkovujevic7348]

Markings on gun OD means fire ( odkočeno ) and ZA safe ( zakočeno ).

[@7.62x38mmR]

You know what's cool with this channel ? I can just click on a random video, on a topic i have no idea about, on an subject so specific this is the only video avalaible about it and yet i'll still find something interesting and entertaining. Love it mate

[@LadislavPlentaj]

Thank you, Ian!

[@frankrivard8995]

Very interesting. He lived in my house in Canada before going back to Yugoslavia. He let all is tools to my grand father. I have learn to work on lathe with the 2 machines he left to my grand father...Now i am a machinist...

[@SpeedRunningWarcrimes]

This has to be one of my favorite Forgotten Weapons videos.

[@djordjestojanovic6264]

thank you, ian, nice episode.

[@garetz2011]

Looks like a Sauer 1913. I had one many years ago, maybe made in the 20's, it had no dingus (yes! The Sauer was the first, as far as I know, gun to have a dingus); it had a striker inside the slide and a threaded cap to keep the breech on the slide.

[@HollerboyHellbilly]

Incredible story! Thanks for showing this pistol.

[@NERVNOTO]

o thank you Ian...it was about time to see and talk about some YUGOSLAVIAN firearms...and for my serbian RODJACI.give Ian some slack for misjudging some dates about serbia ,yugoslavia and THE KINGDOM OF SCS.....it was a beautiful presentacion....ZIVELI IAN

[@jackschwink]

Hey Ian, nice job on the video as always! Love your content and creative style. I was wondering if you ever do fan meet-ups? Specifically if you plan to do any of them out here on the west coast ( I live in San Diego) any way, keep up the amazing work! Love learning about history and firearms from you!

[@jackmcslay]

+Jack Schwinkendorf Would be interesting if some fans brought rare firearms so he can talk about it live (and tell him in advance so he can do research beforehand, of course)

[@azlanameer4912]

May be the most rare pistol in the world. Love the man.

[@jackmcslay]

Hope you eventually get to look at the one with the cartridge counter, that would be interesting to loox at

[@mo45327]

There is only one of those pistols, and it is in Belgrade in the collection of Branko Bogdanovic.

[@russbilzing5348]

The low height of the barrel above the hand, combined with the mild recoil of the 9mm Kurtz ,show clearly that this man knew his way around a pistol. Imagine his possible life if the rich had not insisted on becoming richer in such an ignoble manner and at his expense.

[@graham2631]

Thats a great story! I appreciate the 'those who can build something for themselves,those who can't get out your checkbook' side of it. Very good point about it may look simple/easy,it's not. But if you build it properly it will appear that way. The ignorant will look an think 'that's easy l could do that'

[@chrispbacon4519]

The guys who can design and manufacture their own automatics, AND get on an olympic team as a shooter? Very, VERY cool.

[@gewamser]

Ian, have you ever seen a Walther P4? It is a post war P38 with a 4" bbl. a heavier alloy frame, a bobbed hammer, a solid, wider, heavier steel slide with no dust cover, different rear sight, hammer drop only safety, no loaded chamber indicator. It was the last P38 type pistol made under German contract. About 10,000 were made at ULM and another 500 or so at Manurhin with a polished blue slide. I have a rare Manurhin. This is a great shooter, and the 4" holster is even more rare. It is estimated only about 250 P4M's were sold as surplus here in the U.S.

[@cipherthedemonlord8057]

Great story and nice looking gun.

[@sgairsoft9696]

Superb gun and story!!!!

[@MoneGetsIt]

Great story about the pistol and the engineer! I like the look of the weapon as well.

[@karmakittenz69]

The history behind this gun makes it worth every penny

[@EricsTechTalk]

This thing belongs in a museum

[@pkt1213]

I love history and guns...love your channel.

[@farmerboy916]

I really quite like the aesthetics of the gun, especially the grips. Story is great

[@TheYamatoSushi]

As also from Srbija, Beograd, Jovanović last name is how its writen in our language , and also Jovanović is the most common last name in Srbija , I am not a relative of his, so, we just share same last name and same city, but still its nice to see it in this channel.

[@mcpheonixx]

Really interesting story, I enjoyed listening. Thanks Ian

[@larrygriffin2899]

Enjoyed it. Ghent is a port city in northwest Belgium.

[@ForgottenWeapons]

+Larry Griffin Yes, I know. Misspoke.

[@larrygriffin2899]

+Forgotten Weapons Actually I had too look it up. Been there so long ago it only sounded familiar. I am going to be in Northern Italy this summer. Got any must see site related to firearms there?

[@smellysam]

+Forgotten Weapons Who is this Miss Spoke? I live in Ghent and never heard of her.

[@jimkey920]

Reminds me a bit of Frommer Stopp. Nicely finished interesting weapon.

[@martinmatamoros3893]

Sweet looking pistol.

[@larryashmore489]

Yet again, well done!

[@Robin6512]

really nice looking pistol.

[@dankdark974]

Such a character!

[@MrChainsawAardvark]

Any idea of what became of the pistols made by Anshutz? What were the coppies called?

[@zz3690]

Anschutz Model 210

[@shotforshot5983]

very sleek design

[@krowerQ]

Very cool piece. bet it will fetch a solid price!

[@dmurphy1578]

This thing is so cool

[@poppacross79]

Fixed barrel blow back with a striker tab in the rear of the action. Just like my Jennings. And yes fixed barrel blowbacks shoot straight

[@sheriefelsayad5578]

isn't Gent in Belgium? Not The Netherlands I believe.

[@bananapotpie3890]

wow you've been giving some really good insight on some remarkable men lately

[@bananapotpie3890]

I am work up to designing and building a blowback pistol.. I have made several single shots.. but I really wanna make a self loading pistol

[@Jesses001]

Better then anything I ever made in my shop that is for sure. A real shame the pistol never went anywhere, and having that company take that design of the .22 like that is rather underhanded even if it is legal. It would be neat to have MY pistol. Not one I own, but one that exists because I thought of it and I made it.

[@Martin-hk5vb]

Such a sad story.

[@timsmith1589]

That's very cool

[@KATORIDOJO]

interesting story that I did not know ...continue with the excellent work! Greetings from Serbia!

[@slaughterhound8793]

Just before you mentioned the pistol used the barrel from an FN Model 1910/22, I was thinking how much the pistol reminded me of my 1910/22.

[@d0j0w0]

Great story, cool pistol.

[@SuperLaplander]

Very nice video. Cool gun.

[@cashotpb]

wow awesome story Ian

[@theolang3566]

i can assure you that Gent in the NL doesnt have an engeneering school, and that he went to Gendt Be

[@kevanhubbard9673]

On a slight geographical note Ghent is in Belgium not the Netherlands.theres a Genk too also in Belgium.Ghent is west of Brussels and Genk east.

[@jeffreysargent9363]

A true gun guy.

[@vukans595]

Truly enjoyed !

[@NormanMatchem]

Haha it would be awesome if he marked on it "Made in Canada" :P

[@wastedangelematis]

I am starting to suspect that those 3 dislikes exist in many videos in youtube, I hope this glitch will be fixed soon, best regards, someone who just noticed.

[@brostelio]

It's beautiful!

[@scottmccrea1873]

Anschutz - "In bird culture this is considered a dick move."

[@briarus1000]

that looks like a dependable nice shooting pistol. awesome video thanks!

[@aljr357]

.380s are my favourite pistol caliber for non revolver pistols.

[@jamesmahonmac]

I know people often say this but really, who went out of their way to dislike this video?? What could they possibly have found fault with?

[@bitfreakazoid]

That is one cool story!

[@baneofbanes]

That just a sad story. Dude tried his best to market his creation, not only failed but got ripped off by an established company, had to suffer through the deadliest war in human history, make it to a free nation where he decides one last time to make an example of pistol for personal use, only to later be forced to sell it. Guess the universe just didn’t like him. Just, damn.

[@MrBenzin]

"Lazar Jovanovic"

[@ForgottenWeapons]

+Klasik Domace Sure, but "Yovanovitch" is what he wrote on the pistol.

[@MrBenzin]

i was just clarifying, wasn't correcting. love the channel;)

[@Meeko1010100112]

+Klasik Domace I thought you were joking about how the guys name was Lazar. If he was successful, we might look back and remember the ever popular Lazar Pistol. pewpewpewpewpewpewpew

[@Mitchery]

"Yovanovitch" is an Anglicized form of Jovanović.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Well yeah, that's pretty self-explanatory. Better just to go with what's on the pistol, because then if someone takes issue with it you can say "Well this is what it says on the pistol."

[@firebird_spleen4190]

Love the vids! Keep em up

[@DissidentB]

This reminds me of the DWM/Ortgies .32ACP pistol

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

It’s a neat looking gun. It reminds me of the South African Musgrave. I’ve got a one-off rifle that exists for no other reason than I could , but it would be commercially disastrous. This guy was a free thinker and it’s a shame he got ripped off with his earlier pistol.

[@holtz3943]

Ian, if I recall correctly your background is in bullseye shooting, right? You mentioned Yovanovitch used his pistol in actual target shooting competitions. Did you check the sights on that one? From handling it for the video, do you think it would be a comfortable and well-balanced shooter?

[@mo45327]

He didn't use this one in the competition. He used Model 1930 pistol (one with the cartridge counter).

[@holtz3943]

mihajlo olujic Sure. But presumably both pistols were of similar design, no?

[@mo45327]

They were both blowback .380 but not the same. Here's a great article by a famous Serbian author Branko Bogdanovic that will explain the difference. There are some great pictures of both M 1930 and M 1931 www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1589

[@austenslost]

someone could make a movie about that guys life.

[@mysss29]

Aww, that's so cool. And sad. Thanks for sharing this story with us! It really is something that he wanted to have /his/ gun again, and all that.

[@PaulP999]

Ghent is in Belgium, is there another same name town in Holland?

[@ianfarquharson3772]

U love the vid that have a really interesting provenance.ThankQ for all the time and effort onto all your content. TkEZ>UK