Need help with finishes on C96

[Olle]

I just started working on one of my Broomhandles, the plan is to reline it and make it a looker/shooter. Some parts are obviously fire blued, but I don't know if all variations were done the same way. This one doesn't have the new safety, which I believe makes it a pre-WWI model. The parts I'm planning to fire blue are:

Rear sight assembly
Safety lever
Bolt stop
Extractor

The parts I'm unsure about are the hammer and the trigger, and there could possibly be some other small parts that should be fire blued as well (like the floor plate release button). Also seems like all C96 firing pins are strawed, but it would be good to confirm that.

[Sergio Natali]

Olle,

FWIK I can't recall having seen a C96 firing pin strawed, I think all C96 had their firing pin blued.
I could be wrong.


Regards


Sergio

[Olle]

Originally Posted by luger.parabellum

Olle,

FWIK I can't recall having seen a C96 firing pin strawed, I think all C96 had their firing pin blued.
I could be wrong.


Regards


Sergio

This is quite possible (I guess it would be a fire blue?), so I might better correct myself: The ones I have seen that still had any finish on them were strawed. The problem is that I just haven't seen many Broomhandles with a good, all original finish, so I don't have a good reference. Most of them just have an even, grey and brown patina all over, and it's almost impossible to tell what kind of finish they had to begin with.

I know there's several knowledgeable collectors here, so I'm hoping that this will be easy to figure out. If not, I'll just wing it. It will be a refinished shooter anyway, so the main objective is to make it look good.

[Olle]

Originally Posted by sheepherder

I would be interested in reading your plans to reline it.

I only have two Mausers, one a C96 but pretty much all patina, the other an M30 which is all 'blued' (black actually) so no help there.

I'm sure Alvin has your information.

Yeah, I'm sure all the secrets will be revealed once Alvin finds this thread.

I'm actually planning to take the coward's way out and let somebody else do the liner. I was thinking about doing it myself, but I won't be doing many .30 cal barrels (this might be the only one) so buying materials and the tools to do it would be cost prohibitive. The rest of the restoration will be enough work anyway. The grip frame is the worst part, it's pretty darn rough. I'm having it welded up right now and there will be many hours of filing, sanding and cussing just to do that part of the restoration.

[Jim Solomon]

I had Randall Redman to reline my C96 two years ago......he did a good job.
Jim

[Thor]

All fire blued as well as the trigger. A couple of my restorations to illustrate. Be care removing the rear sight blade you can shear off the two side nubs if you dont know how to remove it.

[Olle]

Thanks, that helps a lot! It actually appears like the hammer is in the white, would that be correct for my pistol?

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by Olle

Thanks, that helps a lot! It actually appears like the hammer is in the white, would that be correct for my pistol?

Olle,

Yes all hammers that I've seen are in the white (well at least all my C96 have got hammers in the white) I enclose some pictures of them.

Best


Sergio

[alvin]

You can use this one as reference.

http://www.gunauction.com/buy/13529540

I just sent it out yesterday. Not in my hand anymore. Mauser finish could be confusing. But this one can be used as a reference.

Hammer is supposed to be grey. Trigger finish depends on s/n. Rough rule of thumb -- if it has 4 rifling lines, strawed trigger. 6 rifling lines, fire blued trigger.

[Olle]

Great pictures, thanks! I don't know if it's just a trick of the light, but is the whole bolt in the white, even the rear part?

[alvin]

Yes. The bolt is silver white, including the rear end.

[Sergio Natali]

Originally Posted by alvin

Yes. The bolt is silver white, including the rear end.

Yes absolutely.

Sergio

[Thor]

yep

[Olle]

Outstanding! Thanks to everybody who have posted, time for me to go back to the dungeon and roll up my sleeves!

[Olle]

Update: Got it done this evening, just in time for the gun show tomorrow. I'll be selling guns together with a friend of mine, so I hope it will make people stop and look at our stuff.

This gun was pretty rough to begin with, and needed quite a bit of welding, filing, shaping etc. The grip frame was severely rusted, so the only thing I could do was to weld up the edges and call it a day. There's still pitting under the grips, but it should hopefully be in a more stable form now after being boiled and soaked in oil. The grips are repros from somewhere overseas, they needed a lot of massaging to fit and they are still not perfect, but at least they look decent.

I would like to thank Paladinpainter for his role in the project, he was gracious enough to send me his special bluing formula, and he also did some of the nitre bluing. The barrel was relined by Redman's, and all that's left now is to install a new recoil spring and it will be ready to test fire. I should have ordered that spring before I even started working on it, but....

Anyway, here she is:

[Paladinpainter]

Nice work, Olle. I suspect there is a lot of elbow grease on this one.
John

[alvin]

Looks good.

Standard C96 with shorter chamber (like this one) usually has slightly brighter finish. Those with long chamber has dull military style finish -- because WWI was approaching, many long chambers were sold to that direction. So, strictly speaking, the finish is not 100% correct, but it's good enough.

[Sergio Natali]

Olle

Let me congratulate with you from the picture it looks like a nice work indeed!

[DonVoigt]

Very nice job.

[ithacaartist]

Olle, nice work! A silk purse created from the proverbial sow's ear!