A few Mauser C96 examples
 

I posted these before at the old Mauser 1896 forum but I'm not even certain they are still there. So That in mind I thought I'd give it a go here. Hope you find them interesting.

Jerry

Yes indeed, I find them interesting! I also find them to be a generator of considerable envy. Those are beautiful examples. Thanks for sharing. (Got some more?)

Yummy!!

Whow!
Really a nice set, congratulation.
Mauro

Conehammers, large rings, small rings, a 6-shot...Very nice!!! :)

Really beautiful Brooms. I too am envious. My favorite type of pistol, have a specail aura about them.

very cool !!!

simply beautiful

thanks for contributing to the forum fun factor

Bill

I love the 6 shot, to me that is THE Broomhandle!

Steve

Wow! Those are really beautiful! :thumbup:

Conehammer, glad you also made it here. It is a real pity that the C96 forum has turned into an unmanaged cess pool with a missing site owner/moderator....

I made a backup of the main 1896-site many months ago, so if the site disappears, at least we will be able to reconstruct it. The forum must be considered lost, as no-one but the site owner has administrator rights there.

Hi Vlim, thanks. I've given up and conceded that the Mauser 1896
site will never recover or be recovered. I can only wonder what happened to Nemo. I've been a member here for some while but
have little to contribute to the greater topic which is this site's focus. I have but three Lugers in my collection, 1 Artillery with wrong grips, a sad .30 which was my very first pistol and a 9mm 'something' that was sold as a Russian WWII rework.

Since the early 1970s the C96 captured my imagination. I began with a mis matched WWII commercial, now long gone that I shot nearly every week end for years with my own hand loads. I number two shooters in all that I have and those rarely see ammo these days. I rust blued them myself after having Redman reline them.

I have not added anything new to my C96 collection in a while having delved whole hog into my 1/10 armor which I displayed here once a while back. But I visit from time to time to see what's going on.

I maintain my collection, realizing that I am fortunate to have them; as with many others I feel that the well being of a certain amount of history has been entrusted to me and it's my responsibility to see them taken care of.

Be well,

Jerry

About 5-6 years ago I purchased one of the original C96 Turkish contract conehammers. It was not in the greatest shape but I couldn't pass up the chance to have one of these rarities in my collection. I know the purists on the site will cringe (perhaps understandably so), but I just sent it off to be restored to as near original condition as possible. My reasoning is that I will most likely never part with this Broom and I just wanted to to look nice again. When I get it back I will share photos here on the Forum. In retrospect I wish I had taken some "before" photos for comparison.

Congratulations!
You have at least one nice example of most classic variations!
I wish my six-shot Connehammer would be so pristine as yours.

I'm also a C96 Forum orphan. It is a shame what happened as a lot of information was lost.

Thanks for sharing!

Off for a few days, and almost missed this post.

It's really hard to find a pre-war Bolo. Unbelievably hard. Back a few years ago, RIA had a 6-shot small ring Bolo coming from Switzerland, but no stock. I did not realize that thing was so rare even without a stock. So I missed it. After that, no, no pre-war Bolo for sale any more.

Jerry, you're a very lucky man.

Tim Mullin had an section on Schnellfeuer Mauser experience in his book "The Fighting Submachine Gun, Machine Pistol, and Shotgun, A Hands-On Evaluation". Though reading his book, I feel he's very professional on practical usage of guns, so I will copy his excellent summary here:

At first glance, the Mauser Broomhandle design appears rather awkward, but actual testing on the cinema range established that it is a very fast, handy weapon. The safety was easy to disengate quickly, the long barrel was quickly picked up in the low field of vision, it had great indexing ability, and repeat shots were quick. On the cienma range, the detachable-magazine verion was even better than its fixed-magazine cousin because it could be reloaded more quickly, and, more important, it permitted tactical reload, something not possible with the stripper-clip-loaded Mauser pistol. The magazine release button was easily used, and although I suppose some type of fence around it to avoid inadvertent dumping would be nice, in actual testing, it was not any more prone to dumping than a Colt Government Model release.

The stock fits nicely, and it can be attached and detached quickly..... Although the pistol without stock can be shot accurately with a Weaver stance under normal conditions, the stock does help less well-trained shooters or even well-trained shooters who are weak, cold, or frightened.

The cyclic rate on the German weapon is higher than is desirable, but then the weapon should always be used in semiautomatic mode, except at very close range. As with the Glock 18, it should be carried in full-auto mode because a quick emergency at short range is best handled with burst fire. Additionally, if longer ranges exist, there will be time to flip the selector, and it can be converted into a handy semiautomatic carbine. Viewed in this fashion, it is more effective than many open-bolt SMGs and obviously lighter. Bursts should be reserved for 5 yards and under, in my judgment, but at that range the machine pistol, in properly trained hands, becomes the deadliest hand-held weapon available.

I rather like Mauser Broomhandle-style pistols. They are surpringly fast, handy combat weapons, although they lack some target shooting features. Of course, they are not designed for the target range, but rather the battlefield, and in that place the selective-fire detachable magazine version is the best of the family. The Chinese warlord who armed his troops with them in the 1930s was supplying his troops with weapons that, in good hands, were far better than the weapons supplied to the armies of Europe or the United States at the same time.

===

Here is the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Subma.../dp/1581600402

I shoot a prewar commercial in a Cowboy Action Shooting club in the Turn-of-the-Centory class on a somewhat frequent basis. The gun works welll, but reloads are very slow compared to magazine changes on a 1911 or Luger. Otherwise, the gun runs very well, and target acquisition and recovery are fast in the 7.65mm caliber.

It is interesteing to experience the "combat" side of shooting this design, you see how much of an advantage removable magazines are.

H