Most of the cranked slide lies along the top of the barrel, with a short section projecting down behind the chamber to serve as the breech block.

The breech block is confined within a flat-sided frame with a bridge to carry the back sight and arrest the upper section of the slide.

The Dreyse pistol is fired by a striker whose tail protrudes back through the rear of the breech block when the chamber is loaded.

Nonetheless, the overall shape is the same, as is the grip angle and surface design, the magazine release, the positioning of the manual safety and the breech blocks.

Another wartime change involved a recess cut in the top front of the slide to facilitate removal of the recoil-spring retaining bush.

The pistol was also marketed commercially for police forces, including the Royal Saxon Gendarmerie, examples of which are marked as "K. Sachs.

Large numbers of these were brought back to the United States by returning servicemen, which accounts for their availability in the country today.

Quite a few of these pistols have, alongside home-made Sten-guns and illegal radios, been found hidden within the house-walls of Norwegian resistance members and sympathisers.

An unconfirmed civilian incident happened in the 1980s, where the shooter pierced his foot with the 7.65 mm as a result of the latch coming loose.

The Dreyse M1907 was never imported officially by contract into the United States, but significant numbers of them were brought back by GIs following World War II.

The "Dreyse 1906" is depicted in Fritz Lang's 1933 film The Testament of Dr. Mabuse by former detective Hofmeister, and is the favorite weapon of the assassin Hardy, to kill Dr. Kramm.