Well I had to buy a set of repro 'Red 9 Bolo' stocks for $22 shipped. I bought this Broom from a long time friend at a local gun show MANY years ago. It was a post war total refurb; cut down and re-bored from .30 to 9mm. Refinished 'Bolo' made up of non-matching parts.

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Bill - SWCA #2327

I hate you in the nicest possible way.

Make up a holster for that beast, carry it around and be the coolest kid at the range.

The flood of C96 imports from China.
Wasn't that a great time.
$99 each and up.
I think that was right after the Brazilian 1937's came in.

Great looking example, nice refinishing work.

I'll give you $400.

Nice shooter Broomhandle.

Thanks for sharing it.

For $300 you must have bought it a loooooooong time ago.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Yeah, I bought it sooo long ago (30+) that I thought I was getting screwed back then! Ten years later the original owner wanted to buy it back... by then it became a 'family member' that even my daughter (now 46!!) wanted to shoot.
While I didn't buy a proper AZ BBQ holster for it I did pick up a cheapie ChiCom repro holster for it a couple decades ago...

A fine tooled Western rig would be GREAT though.

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Bill - SWCA #2327

Get someone to make you a repro wooden stock/holster out of mesquite. Now THERE’s a BBQ setup!

I would love to see the reaction on taking that to a self defense class.

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Front sight and squeeze

Read what Sir Winston Churchill said about them, LOL.
Nice looking set up.

For $300, I'd sure buy that!

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GOA FL Dir. & Nat. Spokesman

If you were ever going to OC this would be the rig to do it with.

I bought one just like it in the early 90’s. Don’t remember what I paid but they were going cheap back then. I even found an original wooden holster / stock for it. It was a lot of fun to shoot for sure.

My uncle in the mid60’s had a full auto version I think was Spanish. I don’t think he had any papers on it but it’s been 60 years and he and the gun are long gone.

I seem to remember in the early 90’s there was an ad inShotgun News for Chinese imports in 45 caliber. Am I correct or just imagining that?

Don’t we wish the days of plentiful nice quality and cheap imports would return. I took advantage of it and filled my safes with nice vintage arms. I sold them ten years ago and made a lot on them but have wished I’d kept some.

I remember ads for the .45s.

.38Superman you are 100% correct!

"During the Chinese civil war in the 1920s and 30s, international arms embargoes made rifles difficult to acquire – which led to a lot of popularity for pistols with shoulder stocks. The C96 “broomhandle” Mauser in particular was popular, and it was copied by a number of Spanish firms for sale in China as well (in fact, the fully automatic Schnellfeuer version was initially made by Mauser specifically for Chinese sale). The .45 ACP cartridge also became popular with Thompson submachine guns in some areas, and the natural result was a Chinese arsenal designing and producing a C96 Mauser pistol scaled up to use .45 ACP. A few thousand of these were originally made in Shansei from 1928-1931, and then another batch was made for export in the 1980s. They are actually the same basic size as the C96 (and retain the 10-round capacity), but are much wider and heavier."

I wanted the .45 Shansei back in the 90's, but never even saw one in person.

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Bill - SWCA #2327

That was probably the Astra 903, a little over 3K made if I'm remembering correctly.

I've still got one of the $99 imports from China. Still in parts in a cigar box.
It's been relined back to it's orig caliber. Wish it'd been done up in 9mm, but the prior owner had his own ideas.
Should get that one up and running. Needs a TD lever as I recall also.

I bought several of them when they became available. Can't remember where they all went.

I did have a WW2 bring back with the paperwork. A Bolo-model.
that was an unregistered pistol and turned in to a local PD by the widow of the Vet.
It was saved from the torch and I was able to buy it after it was cleared NCIC.
That's gone too to another owner.

A very nice condition '1930' Model all matching still sits in the safe. It gets shot once in a while. That was payment for an engraving job about 25yrs ago.
It came with a couple boxes of Remington 30 Mauser ammo in the Green boxes.
That stuff is really whimpy to shoot in the C96. Maybe they loaded it that way on purpose?
I guess it's better than wrecking the pistol w/Tokarev ammo.

I remember the newer production 45acp Chinese Broomhandles. They used to be around for sale at the shows for a time. Then disappeared it seems.
There was an entire industry for a few yrs after the C96 pistols came in from China.
Rebore, reline, refinish, new grips, new spring kits, replacement parts,,,
Renewed interest in the pistols overall.

Bill Ruger used the Luger as a model for his Mark I .22 pistol, and George Lucas used the Broomhandle as a model for Han Solo's blaster in Star Wars.

I remember seeing a picture of a cowboy from back around the turn of the 20th century carrying one.

Update:


I did a little research and the picture I remember was actually of a Luger carrying cowboy. However, I did find one of an Okie sheriff from 1902-04 that had a broomhandle, with stock.

Attached Images

-Sheriff-and-Deputies-broomhandle mauser.jpg (77.8 KB, 54 views)

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

With the stripper clips you could do a pretty quick reload.

And when covered in gold paint Broomhandle Mausers were used as prop ray guns for the astronauts in the movie "Queen of Outer Space" starring Zsa Zsa Gabor.

A broom handle for $300...you really cleaned up.

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

I have one of those. I remember loaning it to a theater company because it was so futuristic looking.

I think one of the bad guys in a Clint Eastwood western
packed one of these.

Wanna' double your money?

But seriously, beautiful pistol not often seen these days, and good on you for keeping it this long!

In Joe Kidd the bad guy, Simms, had the C96/stock until Clint got it from him (Don Stroud).

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Bill - SWCA #2327