Shooting and Collecting the fabulous Mauser C96 Broom Handle Pistol
browningh...@yahoo.com
history, and tales of far off exotic places and people, it is
certainly tied in with the Mauser C96 pistol, often called simply "The
Broomhandle".
The pistol was the favorite of Chinese War lords, Chinese Red
Communits, Russians and Germans in WWI and WWII.
The pistol exotic looks are matched perhaps only by the German Luger
as both are recognized instantly all over the Globe even to this very
day. The C96 had no pins and no screws save for the screw that held
on the grips. Many morons who are to cheap to buy a manual on this
very fine weapon often do great damage to them by beating on them with
a pin punch thinking they can drive out what appears to be some of its
pins. The pins are actually a machined part that is integral with the
rest of the part. The pistol unlike most modern crudely made trash
has absolutely fabulous workmanship. One wonders how even back in
those days they could ever have made a profit on a pistol that had so
many complicated machining operations to make the intricate parts that
went into this work of art pistol.
The full size pistol with its 5 inch barrel is extremely accurate, has
a fine trigger pull and long range tangent sights. They were slotted
for a shoulder stock and many were shipped from the factory with a
matching numbered stock making them into a handy little carbine. The
super high velocity round makes a supersonic crack and despite its
small .30 caliber size is very deadly and has very great penetration.
A friend of mine found that the .30 Broom-handle was one of the few
pistols he could use to shoot into the water and kill sharks with as
most pistol bullets were slowed down too much after they hit the
water.
The accuracy of this pistol is superb and hits out to 100 yards on man
size targets with the shoulder stock attached are mere child's play.
The gun is full of tales of far off exotic places where desperate men
engaged in desperate battles. Perhaps the most famous was then the
Red Chinese Army's path of escape was blocked at a bridge by the
Chinese Nationalist Army. The Nationalist Army had then torn off most
of the horizontal wooden slates and then set the bridge on fire but
the Red Army soldiers crawled hand over hand across the guide cables
of the bridge with Mauser Broom Handle pistols stuffed in their belts
and then wiped out the Nationalist machine gun nests and saved the
bridge so the rest of the army could escape. The original bridge is
gone but another was built very close to it and the spot remains
something of a National shrine to this very day.
I might add the pistol came in other calibers like the 9x19 which
often does not feed as reliably due to its shorter overall length, the
pistol was really never designed for such a short cartridge or in my
opinion ever really perfected with this shorter cartridge. There was
also a slightly beefed up C96 that shot a long 9mm cartridge called
the "Export 9mm" , yes great grandpa had a 9mm magnum way before the
9mm Win. Magnum was ever even thought off. There was also a super
rare 8mm gun but your chances of finding one of these is about dead
zero.
There were many variations including new the new safety model, the
large ring model and the cone hammer model and even a detachable clip
fed model, fixed sight models, short magazine models, engraved models
for Kings, and the Russian favorite short model called the "Bolo
Mauser", enough to enchant die hard collectors for life. I once way
back in the 1970's saw a fabulous collection of Broom Handles that a
fellow had that must of numbered well over 100 pistols with about ever
variation imaginable. If that collection were still intact today it
would be worth a Kings Ransom. In the good old days of the 1950's you
could buy them for next to nothing.
W.D.M. Bell of Africa often carried one to scare the "H" out of the
local indigenous people with its rapid fire power. Winston Churchill
carried one as well and swore by it.
The C96 created an absolute sensation when first introduced and people
all over the world were privileged to use the first successful auto
loading pistol. John Boyes who made himself king of an African tribe
(the Wa - Kikuyu) once attempted to give one to an African Chief out
in the middle of nowhere when to Johs; shock and surprise the native
Chief pulled out not one but two brand new Broom handle pistols and
said they were nothing new as he already hand these two pistols for
quite some time. It shows you how fast the pistol came into use even
in the remotest parts of the world and remember this was back before
we had air planes and even locomotive train service in the remoter
parts of the world. I might add John's book is a real classic tale of
adventure and a must read.
HERE ARE SOME HAND LOADS FOR THE BROOM HANDLE PISTOL. I always
caution people never, ever to use Tokerev ammo or Tokerev loads in
this pistol as they are much hotter than the original .30 Cal. Mauser
loads. Also many of these pistols are now over 100 years old and the
bolts have taken a real beating over the years. The bolt in this
pistol was never very robust with its cut out located in the bolts
side so keep the loads down.
My cast bullet load with the Lyman cast lead bullet no. 313249 sized
to .314 and lubed with 50/50 alox lube. The powder charge was 4
grains of bullseye but due to the fact that I had new springs in mine
the bolt did not always fully cycle. Upping the charge .2 tenths of a
grain to 4.2 restored reliability. Velocity average was 1,212 with
the 4.2 load and 1,171 with the 4 grain load of Bullseye. Jacketed
loads traveled a little slower at 1,119 fps with 4.4 grains of
Bullseye but I think this was a little on the warm side with the
jacketed bullets.
I caution that the numb skulls that make dies for this pistol usually
sell them in only a two die set for loading only jacketed pills. If
you use cast bullets you will need to bell the case mouth a little to
seat the cast bullet without deforming it. The neck on this cartridge
is exceeding short and belling it just the right amount without over
doing it is sometimes somewhat of a challenge until you get the hang
of it.
Accuracy was absolutely outstanding putting many modern made plastic
and stamped sheet metal trash pistols to shame. Two inch 25 yard
groups and even smaller groups with a mint bore are not at all
unusual. This will happen only if the bore is in good shape as I
have seen many of these old pistols with little or no rifling left in
them due to the idiotic use of corrosive ammo.
I had thought that the Broom handle Mauser pistol would never be made
again as its quality and hand workmanship could never be done at
today's labor prices but surprise of surprises there were in the
recent past a few Broom Handles made up in China and imported here,
but as to be expected the workmanship was not as good as the
originals. Even so, I only wish that many more Chinese C96 pistols had
been imported.
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chasw
mouths?
Peter Prucker
<snip>
Good letter, really. Are you selling a stock of broomhandles? ;-))
I had a 9 mm (9x19, Luger) broomhandle with the red 9 in the grips, - I
never had problems with the funktion.
Both Kalibers were used duringn WW1 by the German troops. So sometimes
it happened, that a 9 mm luger was shot in the 7,63-pistol. Half a box
is notified to be no problem, but it will not ignit in each weapon. You
may find this violated weapons with ~ 8 mm barrels. I had one with a
barrel of 8,15 mm diameter. Funktion was ok., really. Accuracy? No
problem if you see the white of the eye.
I know the 9 mm Mauser-cartridge and have a small lot in my collection.
Own measurings of old types were a little over 400 m/s, weight 8.25
gramm. Some Books (Erlmeier/Brandt) write about 415 m/s (1361 ft. per
sec.)and bulletweight between 123 - 138,9 grains (barrel length 5.51").
Eo ist given as 522 ft. pounds.
They are not Magnums, but enough for most reasons.
The real Magnum in these days was the absolut rare 9 mm Mars, over 1600
ft. per sec., and Eo = 894 ft. pounds, developed around 1900, rejected
as miltary weapon and put on the market in small quantities.
You forgot the Broomhandle full auto! I have one, but I don´t shoot it
very often. A twenty-shot magazin is empty in one second, and the weapon
will remain vertically, if no shoulder stock is used.
A small warning al last:
There is a Czech ammunition on the market, Kal. 7,62. These are
principially the same as the Mausers, but much stronger. Mauser give a
Eo of 500 to 550 Nm (German measuring), the Chechs about 50 percent
more.
They were made for a Czech submachine gun. Even my Russian Spaghin
didn´t like them. Of course, your Mauser will eat them. But how long?
Greetings from Germany
(Erratas are for amusement. If you find one, you may keep it)
Peter Prucker
browningh...@yahoo.com
Thanks, BHP. Good post. What kind of die do you use to bell the
case
mouths?
Oh boy, I hope I can tell you and make it clear as this is a little
strange. I used a Dillon Powder measure and I put in a .30 caliber
powder tube to slightly flare the neck and I mean only slightly. I
did not load the ammo on a progressive press but just belled the
mouths on the Dillon Powder measure.
Now recently I did buy Lees new case expanding die that comes with a
ton of expanders. I have not used it yet but it should work on the .
30 mauser if extreme caution is used in belling the case mouth. At
least I hope it does as it would be more convenient than using the
Dillon powder measure to bell them.
I hope this helps as the lead bullets in my loads are very, very
accurate and cheap to shoot too.
browningh...@yahoo.com
Nice to hear from someone in Europa. I am glad to hear you had no
problems with your 9x19 Broomhandle but I have owned and shot several
and had more than one functioning problem with them. I have had stove
pip jams and even live rounds flying out of the magazine. As the
fired case was ejected it would eject along with the loaded round on
top of the magazine. I tried heavier springs with no luck and even
made a spacer for the magazine and tried it in front of and behind a
custom made follower that I also made. Still no luck. I have spoken
with others that had the same problems with their 9x19 chambered Broom
handles. I would love to look at your Broomhandle to see if Mauser
or a gunsmith made any modifications to your weapon that are different
from the guns I have worked with and have also shot. As you know this
gun was in production for a long time and went through many changes.
I think even the experts are still not aware of all of the changes.
But of course we live 7000 miles away from each other. I was in
Europe a number of years ago and would love to return there again some
time, a fascinating place with some of the best food and most
beautiful women in the world. I had a very, very, wonderful time
there. When I retire from work I may move there as both sets of my
Grandparents
Peter Prucker
> ...
Hallo,
May be, you got a "Amrican reworked" gun?
I heared, these are made from parts of different guns and sold for
earning money, not for reliability? Sometimes they have new barrels,
too.
You have a magazine, really? Magazines are used later, in the Mauser 712
and full-autos.
Ammunition is correct? Early 9x198 (Luger) ammunition was a lot weaker
than today. Vo should be at 320 m/s. The same problem happens for the
Luger-pistols. But a Mauser in good condition should habe no problems
with ist.
But I see a big problem for my postings: I need a special dictionary for
weapons, or I can´t answer correct. I dont´t know stove pipes (my
dictionary says, its the same as top-hat), spacer and follower...
I would like to speak about "Zuführrippen", but: no chances!
The 9 mm Luger was produced between 1916 to 1918, as much as known about
150000 pieces.There were no essential changes. So your prohblems are not
known in Germany and it would be necessary to compare the weapon to
others.
I called a friend, specialist for problems of all kinds, and he knew
nothing else (if interested: He builds new Lugers in 45 auto, no
conversion!). Look at
http://www.nedbal.at
Sorry, he doesn´t speak English, only Austrian (a kind of Germany) ...
:))
A happy Chrismas
from
Peter prucker
> ...