Yet another C96??

[alvin]

Picked up this one today. It's in better condition than I expected -- NRA Fine condition, matching numbers, generally bright bore with some frost between grooves.

[alvin]

A few more pix.

[Tinplatejeff]

Beautiful.

[Sergio Natali]

alvin

I love your new acquisition, congrats for your beautiful pictures too.
Thanks for sharing.

[alvin]

Be honest, I was very nervous at the moment when I disassemble it to check internals -- quite a few otherwise outside good looking guns had come and was returned back due to numbering issues. So I disassembled it quickly down to parts mode, and checked. Everything looks correct on it, not only those numbered parts, even unnumbered minor parts are correct, except left grip panel was re-oiled in the past. What a relief...

Will test fire 10 or 20 rounds from it to see it works or not. That's the only unknown now.

[Curss]

Nice acquisition. Is it an early model with large ring hammer?

[alvin]

Originally Posted by Curss

Nice acquisition. Is it an early model with large ring hammer?

Due to its conch-like hammer, people coined a new word in English calling this "conehammer", a single word, no space between "cone" and "hammer". Some sellers still put a space in advertisements, that's actually wrong. Similarly, word "broomhandle" specifically describes a type of old German pistol and its copies. On the other hand, "broom handle" (with a space in the middle) has much more generic meaning and does not have to be gun related.

Just a joke. But that's the way most people calling this. There are other nick names for other variations, most famous one being "Bolo", it's not a new word, but new meaning was added into the word. For Large Ring Hammer, there is also new words such as "flatside" or "slabside", no space. But for Large Ring Hammer itself, there are still spaces.

Not many guns could create tiny impact on language. Some did. Broomhandle was one of those. Not only in English.

[abukafura]

This is truly a fine example of the cone hammer. Might I ask, if you do not mind, where you found such a beautiful gun.

[alvin]

Originally Posted by abukafura

This is truly a fine example of the cone hammer. Might I ask, if you do not mind, where you found such a beautiful gun.

I don't have any magic. Just spend time to monitor the market. It's from a seller in Mississippi. The seller's description was as simple as this: "Pistol, Early 1903, Deep Milled, Cone Hammer, 1 to 10 Sight"

That's equivalent of saying "I don't know. You take your chance".

Who would fly to Mississippi to check this?? So I took a chance. Sometimes, this works -- gun comes in fine finish and all matching. Sometime, this does not work -- gun comes with issues, usually matching issue. In most cases, I phase out refinished gun on pictures well, but mismatching usually cannot be told by pictures, and many sellers refuse to disassemble this type of gun worrying they could not put it back. That's the risk.

[abukafura]

Alvin: I wish to thank you for your reply. I am really envious of your acquisition. Jus t a few years ago I did something really stupid....I sold off my entire collection of BHs, mostly all stocked, including an Austrian proofed 1916 model, a bolo with matching stock, a Persian rig, etc. I am very sorry that I ever thought of doing this. The one BH I did not have was a cone hammer. Had a chance to buy a matching rig at a gun show here in Wisconsin at one point and foolishly passed on it. I still think the vintage BH is the best looking gun ever. I just picked up a stocked (non-matching stock) Austro-Hungarian BH dated 1916 and unit marked to the A-H air force. Now I am back up to one BH in my collection and looking for more. Well done on your acquisition.

[Diver6106]

With such a low number and in such excellent condition for age, it MUST have sat in the armory, not even holstered, for a very long time!!!

[alvin]

Originally Posted by Diver6106

With such a low number and in such excellent condition for age, it MUST have sat in the armory, not even holstered, for a very long time!!!

Yeah,,, amazing. There are some collectors collect nothing except this particular variation of C96. From my observation on the market, 10-shot conehammer was roughly sub-divided into a few sub-variations, in rarity and desirable rank:

In 10-shot "Zehnlader" context:

1) System Mauser. This is the king in this variation.

2) Turkish. Turkey was not a rich country, gun falling into their hands ,,, its fate was not better than falling into Chinese warlords' hands. This is the queen in this variation.

3) Conehammer with thin receiver. Most of them were 3-digit s/n. A few of them had higher s/n but still under 2000. This is the prince in this variation.

4) Conehammer with 300 sight, conehammer with 303 Mauser cartridge sight, fix sight, etc.

5) Relatively early conehammer with 1-10 sight (this particular sample falls into this category).

6) Relatively late conehammer with 50-500 sight (more common).

1, 2, and 3 are rare in the US. British did not have them then, so US did not have many of them now (most conehammers in US came from British). 4, 5, and 6 shows up relatively more frequently from time to time, many of them were well preserved. English-speaking people preserved guns well.

[alvin]

Quite a few conehammers were sold in a week. Relatively speaking, this one #4212 was still on cheap side, cost me about $3,300. Poulin sold two yesterday -- a nice British dealer marked gun #1836 with matching stock sold $11,200. Another conehammer #6474 sold $3,450. A rare American eagle marked conehammer #2182 with matching stock has been listed on gunbroker.com for almost two years, also sold a few days ago at $5,500.