I've been visiting this old guy in a local shop.



The other side looks the same. It has some chinese characters on the left side of the mag well, and a faint import mark under the barrel. I'm sure its one of the gazillion that were imported back in the 80s and could be had for 89 bucks.

The grips are repros, the finish is non-existent and it has more pockmarks than I did back in '75, which is saying something.

The owner is a good guy and says it shoots fine. The bore is good. The price is negotiable, but I don't think it would go for under six bills.

Gunbroker closed auctions are all over the place. I haven't seen one in a store for so long I don't have a feel for the price.

I've wanted one of these for a long time, and the fact I'm a huge "Penny Dreadful" fan has my blood up for one so I can play Timothy Dalton. (Check it out.)



I know I should wait for a better one, but that hasn't worked for the last 40 years or so.

Whaddya think?

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Wal-Mart nor Bass Pro Shop carries ammo for it, and Lobo just retired so you won't get a holster easily.

But I always wanted one of those myself. Have it nickeled and search the inter-web for some ivory stocks.

Could it be one of the repro's made by the Chinese ?

I like shooter grade guns with some wear and rust on them.
I would defiantly pass on that one.
A little too far gone.

+1 That would be my guess as well.

Rich

This website has some good info on the C96.

Mauser C-96

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Release the Kraken

Its got all the appropriate German marks for one of the many thousand C96s that Mauser sold to the Chinese.

I think its legit, its just lived a hard life.

I'm just not sure the condition justifies the price.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

a stepped barrel is Not a Mauser feature.

The stepped barrel and the lack of lightening grooves on the part of the barrel extension that encloses the frame grooves are the mark of the Model 1930. It also had a slightly different design of safety. The three Chinese marks translate as 'Made in Germany".

The weak part of the Mauser design is that part of the barrel extension just behind the cross piece that retains the bolt. The bolt is light and slams back hard against the crosspiece which is tempered quite hard (it is, or was, heat blued). This, in turn, slams back against that part of the barrel extension behind it. The barrel extension is relatively soft and after repeated firing, usually of SMG ammo, begins to peen. Yours looks unpeened, so it has been fired little. Most of the former Chinese guns show extreme damage here.

Several firms, Fiocci among them, make the ammo. You need a stripper clip, or something to hold the bolt open when you load it. I'm pretty lenient about condition, but the condition of this one would turn me off, you may feel differently. As you can see, I like Mauser pistols.

You'll pay through the nose, $1500 - 2500, for one with a nice finish and good bore. Rare ones a lot more.

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That's a great site, thanks.

As Cyrano noted, this one appears to be a beaten up M30. Here is a poached image of a nicer one for comparison:



I think I'll visit the old guy again.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Seems like they should let it go for about $350. Then what would you do?

Here's mine. It's in a little better condition. If the bore on that one is OK it should make a good shooter. Wolf sells replacement recoil springs (the one that goes around the firing pin). Probably a good idea to replace it for shooting. Probably needs to be stripped, cleaned and oiled, too.

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I've wanted one of the little beasties for years, but could never find one that was affordable. One day, one of my shooting buddies called to brag that he had just bought a pristine, genuine Broomhandled Mauser, and he wanted me to look at it. I looked at the piece for a few moments and told him that while I was no expert on Mauser Broomhandles, I was pretty confident that he had bought a fake or reproduction Mauser. My friend became unglued thinking that I was giving him a bad time because I was jealous that he had obtained his Mauser before I had. When he asked me to prove my claim, I showed him the manufacturer's name stamped on the piece. Rather than showing "Mauser", his was stamped "Wauser". Boy, was he an unhappy camper!

Regards,

Dave

I ALWAYS wanted one every since I was a little kid. I missed the boat on them in the late 90s when you could find one in good condition at a decent price. Now anything old is automatically a collectable and expansive. I've run into a few here and there but there was always something that kept me from buying it

Pacific Canvas and Awning has a Mauser Holster, as well as a presentation box/case.

You can load 7.65 Russian cases (NOTE: THE AMMO IS WAY TOO HOT!). Easy round to load.

That old guy is calling your name. You hear him, or you wouldn't keep going back. The same thing has happened to me several times. Don't agonize or waffle over it any more. If you have the money (negotiated price or not) and it won't put you in a bind to spend it, take him home. Clean him up (no refinish), and enjoy his company.

I have a C96 that came home with me from Germany on an ATF Form 6 Part II in the mid Seventies. At the time 7.63 Mauser ammo was not plentiful in the US, nor was reloadable Tokarev brass. Shooting them is great fun. Replacing the recoil spring and staying far far away from 7.62x25 Combloc ammo is good advice.

Oh my!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Might make a good anchor for a canoe

Now that I'm 60ish , I have come to the realization that if you have been looking for something , especially for 40 years, and you find one....buy it. They aren't going to become more plentiful or cheaper in the next 40 years....It's now or never !
I wished I had gotten one when they were available, but didn't and regret it.....Bring cold hard Cash and dicker , deal and haggle with the owner until he's tired of looking at you. Go For It !
Gary

Mine is one of the Chinese imports and has been re-blued. It also has at least on groove of rifling the whole length of the barrel, just not the same groove. That being said, when I bought it in the mid 90's I paid around $200 and it came with a Chinese built shoulder stock. These were leagle to own but not shoot with stock on it back then, but now the ATF (ect) allow these stocks to be used for firing also.

A M-16 stripper will work for loading, just use 8 rounds instead of 10, or pay outrageous prices for reproduction Mauser strippers.

Lastly; I used FL sized and prepped mixed military 223 brass. Cut the neck and shoulder of with a band saw, them sized again in a 7.63x25 FL die. Trimmed to length and reamed inside to .308" (I used a Forrester trimmer with a .308 ream as the guide and powered it with a cordless drill). Working as fast as I could (I did ruin about 6 pieces of brass in my haste), I produced 200 30 Mauser boxer primed Brass in ONE HOUR. I loaded that from the Lyman cast bullet handbook, for plinking rounds. I have a bunch of the Chinese ammo too, it shoots 4" groups at 200 meters using the shoulder stock, sand bags and good eyes (which mine are no longer). I hope this info might be of some use.

Ivan

No the condition does not justify the price, not even if the price was $200.00 less, but how often does common sense come into play with something like this?

Sig, look at it this way, you spent many years earning the right to enjoy your retirement, so if buying a well used copy of a C96 makes you happy go for it.

As long as you can afford it, and I assume you can, go buy the damn thing. Then shoot the wheels of it.

Put a scope on it, equip it with a flash hider and Ta-Da, you got the pistol Hans Solo used in Star Wars ! COOL!
I have no idea who Penny Dreadful is.....must be after my time.
Post a photo or 10.
Gary

"Whaddya think of this raggedy Broomhandle C96?"

Not much, next question please!

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I've found with younger dealers with a house full of curtain climbers to feed, a cash layout of hundred dollar bills tends to get them to lean your way on a transaction like this.

However, with an Ole' Grizzled dealer whose lived a long life, and has all the toys he wants, he'll figure, "It ain't costing me nothing to let it sit here and gather dust, I'll pass".

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NULLI SECUNDUS

I see decent ones between $2k to $5k

I made many cases from 223 brass. It doesn't do well in Mausers but will work in Tokarevs and PPSh 41s. The problem is that the extraction groove isn't as long (front to rear) as that on the 30 Mauser case. When fired, the case sets back, the front of the extraction groove hits the extractor and causes it to hump in the middle. Not good for leaf spring extractors.

While I didn't notice a problem from my reformed brass, I can see what Cyrano is talking about. I'll look at the extractor groove and pick longer/deeper ones or come up with a quick and easy way to enlarge it. I've got SAMMI drawings for both rounds, I'll do a quick comparison. Since I stuck with the lightest load that would cycle the action with the reformed brass, that may be what saved my extractor. Ivan

Double-O-Dave: While your friend doens't have a Mauser, he has a very interesting pistol in its own right. In the 1980s, with a gun friendly administration wanting to do business with China, several American businesses got import licenses coveing all the Mauser pistols in China. The quantity and variety were astounding. China had been the major importer of Mauser pistols for the first half of the century. Most had stood guard in the monsoon for many years, had been shot with corrosive SMG ammo and were complete strangers to both gun oil and bore cleaner. The enterprising Chinese realized that the Yankee Devils would pay good American dollars for any Mauser pistol, so they set about making a bunch of new ones and snuck them in with the real Mausers. His pistol is one of these. They were usually in like new condition. The design and mechanism was copied exactly, bu they didn't get the markings right. I have one (photo 1), it's not marked "wowser' but the spelling is wrong (Photos 2 and 3) and the proof marks on the bolt look more like a lotus blossom than crown over crown over U (photo 4). I've shot it some, with no problem and he should shoot his. They're a lot easier to load if you have a stripper clip. In this period the Chinese also made reproductions of the Shanxi Mauser copy in 45 ACP. Unlike the copies of the genuine Mauser, these copy the markings exactly and are very difficult to tell from an original Shanxi.

Just to complicate matters, from about 1920 to 1945, several Chinese arsenals produced copies of the Mauser for the Chinese Army. These exist in a bewildering mix of markings (photo 5) and even Bin Shih's excellent book on Chinese military weapons doesn't sort them out. Like the Mausers, they have usually seen heavy use.

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Good condition C96 Mauser pistols are exceedingly hard to find today. I lusted after one for many years before I lucked into this one at a reasonable price at a gun show quite some time ago. I estimate its date of manufacture as 1914. It was complete with a shoulder stock holster, which saved me some additional scrounging to find one.

Today, the best tactic might be to acquire what you can find, even in less desirable shape, and hope to upgrade it when you come across one that's in better condition. We always regret the one that got away for whatever reason.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Pretty gun, Paladin. Does the serial number on the stock iron match the gun? If the barrel has 4 groove rifling, it's prior to about 1910, if 6 groove, after that date. It's a 'pre-war (WW I) commercial'.

I'd buy one marked "Wauser" in a heart beat. What a conversation piece.

Peter Zobian
NRA Life Member

There is no serial number on the stock iron, which may indicate that it's a replacement part - it appears to be cast rather than forged. The barrel does in fact have 4 groove rifling; the serial number is 25977X. All numbers match on the gun. I recognized it as a pre-WWI commercial when I bought it. Apparently the Mauser records were deliberately destroyed by the Americans following WWII, so I could only guess at the date of manufacture. Where did you hear about the rifling being a determining factor in dating these guns?

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Breathed & Schroeder: System Mauser has a lot of this information. Other good source books are by Jon Speed: The Mauser Archives, and Mauser Pistolen. Apparently the records were hidden and only fairly recently found. The photos in Speed's books came from glass plates hidden in an old sewer in the Mauser plant before the French took over Oberndorf. Incidently, your pre war commercial has only a five digit serial number. Mine is 80276, so yours is probably a lot earlier than 1910.

Colin, AKA Cyrano

I would at least be tempted. Enjoy owning a classic.

Wow! Maybe you'd be interested in my collection of Warlins and Minchester lever action rifles. Or, if you're really lucky, I might sell you one of my Smith & Messon revolvers.

By the way, welcome to the Forum.

Regards,

Dave

I passed on two of these for $300 each with shot out barrels. Numeric was relining the barrels at one time.

Always wanted one with the large mag.

One was in Clint Eastwood s movie.

It would be one heck of a before & after restoration project gun.

I'd guess the price is high for the present condition, but I haven't kept up on the C96's lately.
I'd be tempted if the price was closer to $400/450. I'd probably cut the bbl right off and re-bbl w/a Luger 9mm bbl as was done to some of the C96's. Maybe make a the short mag, fixed sight version out of it too.
Always thinking of a project....!


I did buy a 1/2 dozen of the imports when they were $99e. Still have one left. Looks about like this one IIRC. Haven't looked at it lately. It's in a cigar box all apart. It did get a reline job (30cal) back then. Another work trade,,I think I checkered a M12 forend for that.

I have a nice condition 1930(?) that came in a trade for some work a few years ago. It came w/ a couple boxes of Rem 30Mauser ammo. I shot a little of that thru it. That has to be some of the whimpiest (is that a real word?) ammo I ever shot!

The one I should'a kept (we all have some of those) was a WW2 bring back w/ capture papers from the Pacific , a late model Bolo type. No finish to speak of, but all matching.
It went to a salivating collector about 20 years ago.

The Broomhandles are kind of like Lugers and Colt SAAs,,for some reason, it seems like you should have at least one.

As a friend of mine used to say,,

"They'll be good for somethin' even if you never use 'em"

Actually, this one has a six digit serial number; in the number I quoted, the last digit is represented by an "X." Do your sources give a clue as to the date of manufacture on this one?

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

Thread drift.
Paladin: I was wrong. Your pistol is a pre-war commercial. Breathed and Schroeder: System Mauser. 1967, note one numbered 273339.

The four groove rifling is a puzzle. Breathed and Schroeder don't mention the change from four to six groove rifling. Belford and Dunlap: The Mauser Self-Loading Pistol. 1969, state that it occured between 1910 and 1912, at around serial number 150000. Erickson and Pate: The Broomhandle Pistol, state "It is commonly believed that as serials reached 150,000 the four groove rifling was changed to six groove (1910). Neither source is too definite on the subject. I will put a query out in the on-line forum of the National Automatic Pistol Collectors' Association and if I find anything, I will post in this string.

Regarding ammo: Some collector/shooters mistakenly think you can shoot 7.62X25 Tokarev ammo through the 7.63X25 German Broom Handle. DON'T DO IT Even though either round will chamber and fire from a Tokarev or Broom Handle, the 7.63X25 will not damage the Tokarev; but the Tokarev round is loaded to much higher pressure and could cause a "ka-boom" in a Broom Handle. So even though 7.62X25 is always available, as far as locating reliable 7.63X25 ammo ? Pretty tough

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John

I thought I'd update for anyone interested.

I took one more look and passed. I had money in my pocket, but the crusty old counter guy who handed me the gun snapped at me "don't take it apart!" when I locked the bolt back. I told him I wouldn't know where to start, set the old Mauser down, thanked him for his time, and left.

Don't get me wrong - I've bought guns from buttcranks before and will again. But if it's a so-so deal that I'm trying to talk myself into, then aggravated buttcrankery will end the process.

I wandered across town to a friendly place where they know my name and made a good deal on an early Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless, another gun I've wanted but never owned. That will be a different thread.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Can't blame you there. I'd have done the same thing. I have no patience for stuff like that (any more!)

We await the '03 Colt presentation..

Dang it Dave.............
You telling me that my collection of Wolt Pythons
are not correct now ????

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

Guess my Sith & Wossen Combat Blasterpiece is a fake, too.

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What would Jim Cirillo do?