Posted on 03/09/2015 4:36:39 PM PDT by marktwain
Sleek looking nonetheless.
Thanks for the info. I just saw an artillery Luger at the local gunstore, part of a collection being offered on consignment. Pretty darn big hunk of iron.
I have a 1896 Broomhandle Mauser pistol in terrible condition. It’s all beat to hell and several key parts had to be replaced. But, it’s functional and was captured by the Vietnamese Airborne Division in Tet of 68. I have the MACV paperwork to prove it. From what I know, it’s one of the models sold to the Nationalist Chinese.
It’s not worth much, but it’s priceless.
The “Mauser” stamp on the receiver looks way too pristine for a Chinese copy. I’m thinking Oberndorf, not Chungking. Just looks too well made.
The reproductions were made from original Mauser pistols.
I have one of the Mauser pistols that were sold to the Chinese, then exported as collector items to the U.S. in the late 80’s and early 90’s, before Clinton banned Chinese imports, then made a deal with them. No rifles or pistols from China, but they got most favored nation status.
The Chinese loved the Mauser pistols. They could not import semi-auto rifles because of a treaty - I think after the Boxer rebellion - but they could bring in pistols, so they brought in a lot of Mauser Broomhandles.
With that barrel, the round would probably pack about the same heat as a Russian ппщ (pay pay sha) submachine gun which uses a similar 7.62x25 cartridge.
When I was in Panama during the Noriega regime, I was offered a Mauser broomhandle. The price was sorta reasonable, as someone had likely fired the gun with a bullet stuck in the barrel. It had a heck of a barrel bulge. I believe it was in 9mm.
The person who had it had been on embassy duty down in one of the South American countries during a periodic economic crises. People were struggling to eat, and he was approached and offered the pistol for a very reasonable price. I turned it down; it is likely still in Panama.
Han Solo would smile.
The two cartridges are almost the same, dimensionally. People may quibble about them being interchangable, but I would not worry about it in guns of good condition. Much harder to find .30 Mauser ammo than it is 7.62x25.
It was the most powerful common pistol round in existence until the .357 Magnum showed up, as I recall. It was highly regarded in its time. The PPsH submachinegun of the Soviets in WWII (The Great Patriot War) did significant execution.
Your comment made me wish to say: Glad you and the Broomhandle both made it back.
Priceless in every way.
Mauser also made broomhandles in 9x25 export caliber.That caliber is close to .357 mag. in performance.
I had a chance to shoot one old C-96 .30 cal about 47 years ago. It was like squeezing a lemon, and somewhere in that squeeze the pistol would go off an shoot about 2 feet of flame out the barrel.
Even with the hammer back it was still like squeezing a lemon.
***Much harder to find .30 Mauser ammo than it is 7.62x25. ***
I believe the ATF tried to ban this ammo as “armor piercing”.
Winston Churchill had a Mauser that was state of the art when he had it. He used it to great effect in the Nile campaign, when the west had to contain an outbreak of militant Islam a century ago. He almost had a gunfight with it when he was captured in South Africa during the Boer War. That fight would have been interesting, as the future Prime Minister of the Transvall, Louis Botha, was the man who captured him. It is likely that at least one of them would not have survived.
Of the two pistol carbines issued by the Germans in WW1 to troops, the Mauser C96 and its holster stock was superior [my opinion] to the artillery Luger, the Luger's slab-side wood butt stock, and its awkward “snail” drum magazine.
I remember that. People were afraid it would be banned. I had an FFL and bought cases of it, really cheap, about 5.5 cents per round, as I recall. I have to say that the Chinese 7.62X25 was quality stuff, and very accurate.
I might have a box or two left.
I read Churchill’s story of that battle. The British drew swords, the Arabs charged with swords.
Churchill drew his, then in the charge placed it back in it’s sheath, and drew his Mauser and began to knock Arabs in the dust.
I often read of Southern Cavalry who, armed with double barrel shotguns and two handguns each, would charge Union cavalry armed with swords.
Guess who won.
Why are repos from China $1500? Seems the price should be half that, it even that high.
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