Mauser C96
The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.
The distinctive characteristics of the C96 are the integral box magazine in front of the trigger, the long barrel, the wooden shoulder stock, which gives it the stability of a short-barreled rifle and doubles as a holster or carrying case, and a grip shaped like the handle of a broom. The grip earned the gun the nickname "broomhandle" in the English-speaking world, and in China the C96 was nicknamed the "box cannon" because of its rectangular internal magazine and because it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock.
With its long barrel and high-velocity cartridge, the Mauser C96 had superior range and better penetration than most other weapons of its era; the 7.63×25mm Mauser cartridge was the highest-velocity commercially manufactured pistol cartridge until the advent of the.357 Magnum cartridge in 1935.
Mauser manufactured approximately one million C96 pistols, while the number produced in Spain and China is large but unknown due to poor production records.
History
Within a year of its introduction in 1896, the C96 had been sold to governments and commercially to civilians and individual military officers. The Mauser C96 pistol was popular with British officers around the turn of the 20th century. Mauser supplied the C96 to Westley Richards in the UK for resale. By the onset of World War I, however, the C96's popularity with the British military had waned.As a military sidearm, the pistols saw service in various wars including the Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence, as well as World War I and the Irish Civil War, when the gun was nicknamed "Peter the Painter", after the contemporary Latvian anarchist of the same name who was believed to use this gun, and because the pistol grip looked like a brush handle, the Estonian War of Independence, the Spanish Civil War, the Chinese Civil War, and World War II. During the Warlord Era in China, European embargoes on exporting rifles to Chinese warlords meant that the C96 became a mainstay of the period's armies, and the basic form of the pistol was extensively copied. The C96 also became a staple of Bolshevik commissars from one side and various warlords and gang leaders from another in the Russian Civil War, known simply as "the Mauser". Communist revolutionaries Yakov Yurovsky and Peter Ermakov used Mausers to execute the Russian imperial family in July 1918.
Winston Churchill was fond of the Mauser C96 and used one at the 1898 Battle of Omdurman and during the Second Boer War; Lawrence of Arabia carried a Mauser C96 for a period, during his time in the Middle East. Indian revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil and his partymen used these Mauser pistols in the historic Kakori train robbery in August 1925. Chinese communist general, Zhu De, carried a Mauser C96 during his Nanchang Uprising and later conflicts; his gun is in the Beijing war museum.
Three Mauser C96s were used in the killing of Spanish prime minister Eduardo Dato in 1921, and a Mauser C96 was used in the assassination of the King of Yugoslavia, Alexander I of Yugoslavia, in 1934.
Imported and domestic copies of the C96 were used extensively by the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, as well as by the Spanish during the Spanish Civil War and the Germans in World War II.
Besides the standard 7.63×25mm chambering, C96 pistols were also commonly chambered for 9×19mm Parabellum, with a small number also being produced in 9mm Mauser Export. In 1940, Mauser officials proposed using the C-96 as the vehicle for an upgrade to the 9×25mm Mauser Export cartridge to match the ballistics of the.357 Magnum. Lastly, there was a Chinese-manufactured model chambered for.45 ACP. Despite the pistol's worldwide popularity and fame, China was the only nation to use the C96 as the primary service pistol of its military and police.
Contract variants
1897 Turkish Army Mauser
Mauser's first military contract was with the Ottoman government in 1897. They ordered 1,000 pistols for the royal palace guards. They had their own range of serial numbers, running from 1 to 1000. They differ in that they use a Farsi number system on the tangent sight and serial number, and the weapon is designated in the Muslim calendar year number system "1314" in place of the year of the Gregorian calendar "1896/1897". Markings include a six-pointed star on both sides of the chamber and the crest of Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Muslim year "1314" on the square left rear frame panel. Under the sultan's rule, there was great concern about potential military coups, and most weapons were locked away in armories, including many of the C96 pistols. After the Young Turk Revolution of 1908-1909, these pistols were issued to the army and police for service use. Some were used in combat in World War I, and after the war they were considered obsolete, being put up for sale cheaply to army or police officers. All of this meant that they saw a lot of use, much of in quite harsh conditions, and as a result few specimens survive today.1899 Italian Navy Mauser
In 1899, the Italian government ordered Mauser's first major military contract; an order for 5,000 C96 pistols for the Italian Royal Navy. They differ in that their receivers are "slab-sided". They also have a "ring hammer" instead of the early "cone hammer". These guns had their own serial number range, running from 1 to 5000.1910 Persian contract Mauser
The Persian government ordered 1,000 pistols. They have the Persian government's "Lion and Sun" insignia on the rectangular milled panel on the left side of the receiver and the serial numbers range from 154000 to 154999. It is often confused with the Turkish contract Mauser.M1916 Austrian contract
ordered 50,000 Mausers in the standard 7.63×25mm. A small number were rebarreled to 8mm Gasser for an unknown reason.M1916 Prussian "Red 9"
During World War I, the Imperial German Army contracted with Mauser for 150,000 C96 pistols chambered in 9mm Parabellum to offset the slow production of the standard-issue DWM P.08 pistol. They use the same clip-loaded internal box magazines as the 7.63mm Mauser and also hold ten rounds. This variant of the C96 was named the "Red 9" after a large number 9 burned into the grip panels and painted in red. Because the army delegated the branding to unit armourers, not all 9mm pistols carry the nine. Of the 150,000 pistols commissioned, approximately 137,000 were delivered before the war ended. Original 9mm pistols can be told from 7.63mm-to-9mm conversions because they have 9mm-rated sights rather than 7.63mm-rated sights.M1920 French police contract
The French government set up an order for 2,000 pistols with barrels for the Gendarmerie Nationale. The pistol has black ebonite grips rather than wooden ones.WW2 Luftwaffe contract
The German government purchased 7,800 commercial M1930 pistols in 1940 for use by the Luftwaffe. They have Wehrmacht proof marks and the Mauser serial numbers come 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, these were likely purchased by the high command of the armed forces and issued to motorcycle and flak crews of the Luftwaffe.Major variants
There were many variants of the C96 besides the standard commercial model; the most common are detailed below.M1896 ''Kavallerie Karabiner''
One of the experimental ideas was the creation of a pistol-carbine for use by light cavalry. They had "slab-sided" receivers, standard 10-round magazines, permanently affixed wooden stocks and forends, and lengthened or barrels. They were dropped from production after 1899 due to poor sales and little military interest.There was limited sporting interest in the carbine version and, due to small production numbers, it is a highly prized collectable priced at about twice the value of the pistol version. Recently, importers like Navy Arms imported replica Mauser carbines with 16-inch or longer barrels for sale in the US.