Posted 10 years ago
Chrisnp
(310 items)
The C-96 Mauser, for obvious reasons nicknamed the “Broomhandle” was never officially any army’s sidearm; yet thousands of them were used by the Germans in WWI, the Bolsheviks in the 1917 revolution, and the Chinese and Spanish during their civil wars. Many of them were privately purchased by British officers, including a young Winston Churchill, who used it effectively at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.
The optimistic seeming rear sights are graduated to 1000 yards, as the weapon could be fitted with a shoulder stock.
My broomhandle is still a work in progress. I purchased a near-relic broomhandle that came out of China in the 1980s, determined that I could restore it. I have probably spent more money on it over the years than I would have buying a fair to good working condition C-96.
A very visible barrel bulge (indicating the weapon was fired with an obstruction in the barrel) meant the barrel had to be re-formed and the horribly pitted bore was relined. The badly deteriorated wooden grips were unsalvageable, and replaced with reproductions until a set of original grips are found. I got ahead of myself and had the frame and barrel rust-blued, only to find out that the Chinese made frame did not mesh well with the barrel, causing cycling problems. I bought an original German manufactured frame, but now the upper part has a like-new finish, but the lower part looks like the old veteran it is.
To this day, the weapon often fails to chamber a round, and sometimes the hammer fails to cock on second and subsequent rounds. I’ll probably continue to throw time and money into it until I get it working right. After all, that’s part of the “fun”, right?
The holster shown with the pistol is also Chinese, the strap crosses over the shoulder and the holster has a belt loop. The weapon feeds from a ten-round stripper clip, and the clip shown is original German DWM manufacture.
Ammo: The Broomhandle fires the .30 Mauser Pistol round, and the original German issue round was an 85 grain full metal jacketed round nose bullet with a velocity of 1400 feet per second. Due to the mechanical problems I’ve had with this pistol, I haven’t created a satisfactory round.
"that's part of the fun,right?" Been there, - done that!. Sometimes, you just have to know when to quit! Hang it on the wall. My worst example was a 1928 MP28 II that I converted to handle a box mag. because the snail-drums were so hard to find & so very expensive. What a nightmare! Would jam after 4-5 rds & that is not a weapon you want to have in combat. Orig. housing with a Luger mag worked great, but (what was it) 8 rds.? Only gun that ever defeated me. Had smgs that I made from scratch work fine. Sometimes you "just aren't holding your mouth right" and they won't work.
Had these before with shoulder stocks & are probably more preferable to a smg, as you can control where every round goes. Never really felt all that comfortable with that bolt coming right back at your eye though.
Thanks for the love Uxbridgeite, petey, geo26e, racer4four, and blunder.
One of my favorites just based on the archaic look of this pistol. They were indeed optimistic about the sights even with a stock. Love the holster too.
Hope you are actually enjoying the restoration, they do tend to cost a bit in time and money.
Strangely archaic and futuristic too - it was Hans Solo's gun in Star Wars!
I actually do enjoy the restoration, but I wonder how many parts from the original will remain once I get done.
Thanks for the love SEAN68, michellerduBois and fortapache,