Quote:
Originally Posted by bubbapug1
My god that is a lot of info. I wish the allies had not destroyed the factory records. I think this thread has doubled my understanding of red nines. And also doubled my confusion!!
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As it turns out the Mauser factory records were not destroyed. It's a twisty tale but the Mauser factory records survived, albeit in a scattered form, and are slowly coming to light thanks to Jon Speed , et. al.
See:
"The Mauser Archive"
"Mauser: Original Oberndorf Sporting Rifles"
"Mauser Pistolen: Development and Production, 1877-1946"
"Mauser Smallbores: Sporting,Target & Training Rifles"
"Paul Mauser His Life, Company, and Handgun Development 1838-1914" (Mauro Baudino)
Great stuff all!
And don't feel like the Lone Ranger in your confusion - it's a common enough state in C96 collectors.
Lugers are fairly easy in comparison to C96s. With Lugers it's chambered for either the 9 mm Parabellum or the 7.65 Parabellum.
C96 factory chamberings include:
7.63 Mauser
9 mm parabellum
9 mm Mauser
8.15 mm
Post factory conversions include:
7.65 Parabellum
9x23 Largo
9x21
.22 Long Rifle
Various wildcat cartridges.
Plus the damn things keep showing up in use wherever people are still warring against someone - including in Afghanistan today.