For long time, Chinese thought this type of pistol was Czech made. It was Czech surplus gun dealers moved lots of these into China in 1920s. Due to dealers being Czech, many Chinese naturally thought C96 was a Czech pistol. Including Chiang Kai-shek. Amazing.
It was not popular in prewar era, but became popular in 1920s,,, the gap was big. The factor filled in that gap must be price.. those Czech moved surplus C96s must be relatively cheap. After surplus supply dried out, Mauser could start sell some newly made expensive guns on established market... many via Japanese trading companies.
|