Маузер C96: Немецкий Полуавтоматический Пистолет Тарихы

German semi automatic pistol

The Mauser C96 (Construktion 96) 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 pistols 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. 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 (so nicknamed by the Metropolitan Police) 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 (with his name printed on it) 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 7.63×25 mm 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.

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. (This was done to warn the pistols' users not to incorrectly load them with 7.63mm ammunition.) 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. The pistol has black ebonite grips rather than wooden ones.

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.

There were many variants of the C96 besides the standard commercial model; the most common are detailed below.

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 (early production) or (late production) 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.

A version of the Mauser pistol with a full sized grip, six shot internal magazine, and a barrel. Production was phased out by 1899.

This is the unofficial term for a variant compact Mauser with a curved wooden or hard rubber grip, like that of the Reichsrevolver. The name comes from the US Army designation of the Mauser pistol sent to participate in their self loading pistol trials.

This was the first model to come cut for a combination wooden stock holster. The stock doubles as a case or holster and attaches to a slot cut in the grip frame.

This model was the first to chamber the 9×25mm Mauser Export cartridge. It was designed to appeal to the arms markets in South America and China. Mauser C96 pistols in this caliber usually have an indentation milled into the upper surface of the magazine's follower to facilitate feeding of the straight cased 9×25mm cartridge cases. The rifling in the barrel has a unique 13:8 twist. In addition, the flat surfaces extending around the chamber are longer, to accommodate the higher pressures of the 9×25mm cartridge. Examples of Mauser C96s in this caliber are rare, but are still occasionally found on the private collector's market. The 9×25mm Mauser Export calibre receded from the market as the armaments industry reoriented itself towards military manufacture during World War I, but the round enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as a submachine gun calibre in the 1930s.

This model features an extended stock and barrel similar to the M1896 Kavallerie Karabiner. It also possesses a 40 round magazine and is chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum. The M1917 Mauser trench carbine was introduced during World War I and was intended to be a cheaper replacement for the expensive Lange Pistole 08 in close quarters combat. However, the Imperial German Army did not believe it was a cost effective substitute, and the project was shortly abandoned with only a few ever made.

The Treaty of Versailles (signed in 1919) imposed a number of restrictions on pistol barrel lengths and calibres on German arms manufacturers. Pistols for German government issue or domestic market sales could not have a barrel longer than 4 inches and could not be chambered for 9 mm cartridges. The Weimar Republic banned the private ownership of military issue or military style weapons in an attempt to recover valuable arms from returning soldiers. The confiscated weapons were then used to arm government forces, leaving them with a hodge podge of military and civilian arms. To meet the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, a major reworking project was begun that set about converting these weapons. To be compliant, pre war C.96 models belonging to the Weimar government had to have their barrels cut down to This meant that their tangent sights had to be replaced with fixed sights. They also had to be converted to the standard 7.63×25mm Mauser round, though a few hybrid Mausers were made with salvaged Navy Luger barrels that were chambered for 7.65mm Parabellum. Compliant confiscated government issue guns were marked M1920. This practice was continued on German service pistols even after the ban was ignored and the conversions had stopped.

Mauser began manufacturing a compliant version of the C96 for commercial sale from 1920 to 1921. It featured smaller grips, a shorter barrel, The distinctive pistol became associated with the Bolsheviks and was thus nicknamed the "Bolo". There was also a transitional version in 1930 that used the "Bolo" frame but with a longer barrel.

Also known as the M30 by collectors, it was a simplification and improvement of the M1921 Mauser. It simplified production by removing several fine machining details and reverted to the "pre war" large grip and long barrel. The early model M30s had a barrel, but later models had the traditional barrel. It was made from 1930 until 1937. Joseph Nickl designed a selective fire conversion in 1930. It tended to "cook off" (fire by spontaneous ignition of the propellant when overheated) when fired in long bursts. 4,000 of this model were made between 1930 and 1931. Small numbers of M1932s were supplied to the German Wehrmacht during World War II, who designated it the M712. or "semi automatic / automatic Mauser pistol") used the M1932 as its base but made a few alterations. The controls were the same as the standard model, except the markings were in Portuguese. The selector switch (found on the left side, above the trigger guard) was marked N for normal ("average", or semi automatic) and R for rápido ("rapid", or fully automatic). The safety control lever (found to the left of the hammer) was marked S for seguro ("safe") and F for fogo ("fire'). although they can also take the extended 20 and 40 round magazines. Hanyang alone produced around 13,000 copies.

During the Warlord era of Chinese history in the early 20th century, the province of Shanxi was ruled by warlord Yan Xishan, who had established a modern arms factory in his capital city of Taiyuan. Yan was equipping his troops with a locally produced copy of the Thompson submachine gun, chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, but was experiencing supply difficulties as his troops' sidearms were 7.63mm calibre C96 handguns. Yan's solution was to produce a .45 ACP caliber version of the C96, thus standardizing ammunition and making supply logistics easier. They are inscribed (in Chinese) "Type 17" on the left hand side of the gun, and "Republic Year Eighteen, Made in Shansi" on the right hand side. Besides being chambered for a larger cartridge, the Shanxi .45 pistols use a noticeably larger frame than their 7.63mm counterparts, with the 10 round magazine extending below the trigger guard and a 140 mm (5.5 in) barrel. It was loaded using two five round stripper clips rather than the single 10 round stripper clips of the standard 7.63mm Mauser. Because of the overall increase in size, Type 17 pistols share no interchangeable parts with any other C96 variant. Most of the Shanxi .45 pistols were melted down after the communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, largely due to their odd caliber for Chinese communist standards, but a few examples were exported overseas for sale on the commercial market.

Beistigui introduced an improved version of the Model H as the MM31 – the Modelo Military 1931. It included a number of improvements. A 20 round fixed magazine version was quickly introduced, followed by a detachable magazine version, to address the issues inherent to a gun with a 10 round magazine and a 900 rounds per minute rate of fire.

This was a much closer copy of the Mauser original than the ETAI/Royal model and variants, with the full separate lock frame. It is of much better quality than the earlier gun, though still not at Mauser level. The MM31 was manufactured until 1934. A total of about 10,000 were made, in perhaps four successive variants. These models came in semi auto and semi auto/full auto selective fire variants.

In the late 1980s to the early 1990s, the Federal Ordnance firearms company in South El Monte, California made reproductions of the Mauser 1917 trench carbine and C96 pistol, named the M713 and M714 respectively. The M713 came in a standard variant with a fixed stock and magazine, as well as a "deluxe" variant which has a detachable stock and detachable box magazines. The M714 supports detachable box magazines, unlike the original C96, and a "Bolo" variant, with the "Bolo" model having a shorter barrel and grip. All variants of the M713 and M714 were available in 7.63x25mm and 9x19mm ammunition.