C96 question

[kurusu]

Originally Posted by Sky Zero

Thanks guys! I decided to pass up on the deal

Once question I still have is that were these all commercial produced and sold separately or were there actual military contracts for these?

I woudn't. If it was on sale my side of the pond provided it had a decent bore.

Major military contracts were something the C96 failed to secure.

But they sold 1000 to the Turkish Army in 1897. The numbers in the tangent sight are not Arabic. And they were numbered 1 to 1000.

They sold 5000 to the Italian Navy in 1899. They are from the slab sided variant (no milling in the frame). I find this variation somewhat ugly.

And a 1000 were sold to Persia in 1910 they are msrked with "The Lion And The Sun.


Of course during WWI and WWII Germans made contracts for anything that could shoot. the C96 was no exception. They would be of the 1912 pattern with 6 groove barrels instead of the original 4 and have the "New Safety" (you needed to pull the hammer back from the cocked position to engage the safety). And of course there was the 1916 Prussian contract for 150.000 9 Luger chambered C96s the infamous red nines. The WWII ones are of the 1930 variation with the step barrel.