Mauser C96 - Gun Wiki - Fandom

Mauser C96

Production information

Country of origin

Germany

Manufacturer(s)

Waffenfabrik MauserGebrüder Feederle

Designer(s)

Fidel FeederleFriedrich FeederleJosef Feederle

Production began

1896

Production ended

1937

Technical specifications

Weapon type

Pistol

Caliber

7.63×25mm Mauser9×19mm Parabellum9×25mm Mauser8.15mm Mauser (experimental)8mm Gasser

Action

Short recoil, single action

Length

140mm Barrel: 312mm (12.28 in)

Barrel length

Various; 99mm (3.89 in) and 140mm (5.5 in) most common

Weight

1,250 g (2.75 lbs)

Feed system

6-, 10-, and 20-round detachable/non-detachable box magazine

Cyclic rate

Semi-automatic Fully-automatic, 900-1,000 RPM (M712)

Maximum effective range

150 - 200 meters

Usage

Notable users

China Soviet Union Spain Ottoman Empire Italy Persia Austria-Hungary France Brazil

Other information

Other name(s)

Broomhandle Broomhandle Mauser (colloquial)Red 9 (M1916, colloquial)Box Cannon (China, colloquial) Peter the Painter [Source] • [Talk] The Mauser C96 (Construktion 96), nicknamed the "Broomhandle", was one of the first semi-automatic pistols to see widespread use. It was manufactured from 1896 to 1937 in Germany, as well as being manufactured in direct or modified - and often unlicensed - form in other countries, such as Spain, and especially China.

Contents

• 1 Design Details
• 2 Variants
  • 2.1 Contractual
• 3 Overview
• 4 Videos
• 5 References

Design Details

The C96 is a single-action, short recoil pistol. Its placement of the internal magazine in front of the trigger was a typical configuration seen in most other German self-loading pistols of the era, except for the toggle-locked Borchardt C93, which placed the magazine in the grip.

The holster for the weapon could also be attached to the pistol's grip, where it would act as a stock.

The nickname "Broomhandle" comes from the shape of its grip, which resembled the handle of a broom. It was also nicknamed "Peter the Painter" after Peter Piaktow, a contemporary Latvian gangster in London who was believed to have used one, along with the weapon's grip resembling the handle of a paintbrush.

The sighting system is a V-notch rear tangent sight adjustable up to 1,000 meters (or 1,100 yards) with a front inverted V sight.

The C96 is interesting in that it is entirely held together through the fit of the parts: there are no pins and only one screw in the entire gun, the latter being used to attach the grip panels.

Variants

Contractual

• 1897 Turkish Army contract - Mauser's first military contract for the C96 was with the Ottoman government in 1897. 1,000 pistols were ordered for the royal palace guards, with serial numbers ranging from 1 to 1000. These Turkish Mausers differ in that they use Farsi numbering for the tangent sight and serial numbers, and is designated in the Muslim calendar year number system as "1314", rather than the Gregorian calendar year "1896/1897".
• 1899 Italian Navy contract - Mauser's first major military contract for the C96, of 5,000 units, ordered by the Italian government for the Navy. They differ in lacking the milling on the sides typical of the commercial pistols, giving them a "slab-sided" appearance, in addition to a "ring hammer" (a spurless hammer with a hole through its head) rather than the early "cone hammer". The guns are serial numbered 1 to 5000.
• 1910 Persian contract - The Persian government ordered 1,000 guns, which are serial numbered 15400 to 154999. They are distinguished by having the government's "Lion & Sun" insignia on the rectangular milled panel on the left-hand side of the weapon. It is often confused for the older 1897 Turkish C96.
• M1916 Austrian contract - Austria-Hungary ordered 50,000 pistols chambered in the standard 7.63mm cartridge. A small number of these guns were re-barreled for the 8mm Gasser (8.11×27mm) cartridge for reasons unknown.
• M1916 Prussian contract "Red 9" - During World War I, the Imperial German Army issued Mauser a contract for 150,000 C96 pistols that are chambered in the 9mm Parabellum cartridge to offset the slow production of the Luger P08. They use the same clip-loaded internal magazine as the 7.63mm Mauser and also holds 10 rounds. It is nicknamed "Red 9" because of the large number 9 burned onto the grip panels and painted red, which was done to warn users against incorrectly loading the weapon with 7.63mm rounds. Due to the branding having been delegated to unit armorers, not all of the 9mm C96s carried the red number 9. Original 9mm pistols could be told apart from the 7.63mm caliber weapons by their sighting systems. The Red 9's sights are rated for the 9mm cartridge at marked ranges from 50 to 500 meters, rather than the 7.63mm-rated sights, which were ranged at 50 to 800 meters.
• M1920 French police contract - The French government made an order for 2,000 pistols with 99 millimeter (3.9 inches) barrels for use by the Gendarmerie Nationale. They have black ebonite grip panels rather than wooden ones.
• WWII Luftwaffe contract - In 1940, the German government purchased 7,800 commercial M1930 pistols to be used by the Luftwaffe. They feature Wehrmacht proof marks and the Mauser serial numbers came from the early- to mid-1930s. The weapon had ceased production in 1937, but the order was filled from remaining stocks. According to Kersten, Moll and Schmid, they were likely purchased by the high command of the armed forces and issued to motorcycle and flak crews of the Luftwaffe.

Overview

The development of the C96 began sometime in 1893 or 1894. Most of the work had been done by the Federle brothers, who worked for the Mauser company. The final design appeared early in 1895 and had been patented by Paul Mauser, and production began in 1896. The C96 was offered to the German military, but it was rejected. However, C96 has a long and successful story on the civilian market - being offered as a pistol-carbine, it outperformed in effective range most of contemporary pistols and revolvers, being especially popular with travelers and hunters in the areas where big game animals are rare or absent at all.

The C96 first saw military action during the Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902). During World War I, the C96 had been acquired by the German Army due to the lack of the standard issue Luger P08 pistols. Many German officers preferred it to the Luger and used them as personnel sidearms. It was also been used during the World War II, usually by second line troops of the Reichswehr (German Army).

While serving as a correspondent for the Daily Mail and The Morning Post, and an embedded civilian, a young Winston Churchill had brought a C96 with him from England, and lost it when he was captured by the Boers in December 1899.

The C96 has also been widely exported - in the 1920s, Soviet Russia purchased large quantities of the short-barreled (99mm barrels) C96s in 7.63mm, giving the name "Bolo-Mauser" (from Bolsheviks' Mauser) to all short-barreled C96s.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, China also purchased large quantities of C96s in 7.63mm, and had also manufactured copies of the C96 that are chambered for .45 ACP, 7.63mm, and 7.62×25mm Tokarev. These Chinese-made copies came in varying levels of quality.

Many C96 clones were manufactured in Spain, mostly unlicensed, and mainly by Astra. In the early 1930s, Mauser engineers developed a select-fire version of the C96, the Model 712 "Schnellfeuer", which had been used in limited numbers during World War II.

The C96's barrel is difficult to charge due to the barrel and upper frame being a single forging; As a result, many vintage C96s originally chambered for 7.63×25mm Mauser have had their "shot out" barrels re-bored for 9mm rounds.

Videos

Mauser C96 semi-automatic pistol

References

• Modern Firearms - Mauser C-96
• Wikipedia article