"Broomhandle Mauser" redirects here. For the book by Jonathan Ferguson, see The 'Broomhandle' Mauser.
Mauser C96
A 7.63mm Mauser C96
Type
Semi-automatic pistol
Machine pistol/submachine gun (M712 Schnellfeuer)
Place of origin
German Empire
Service history
In service
1896–1961
Used by
See Users
Wars
List of wars
Mahdist War[1]
Spanish–American War
Second Boer War
Philippine American War
Boxer Rebellion
Russo-Japanese War[citation needed]
Italo-Turkish War
Xinhai Revolution
Mexican Revolution
Balkan Wars[2]
World War I
Jungle Movement of Gilan
German Revolution
Irish War of Independence
Irish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
Russian Civil War
Easter Rising[3]
Polish-Soviet War
Rif War
Constitutionalist Revolution[4]
Chaco War
Spanish Civil War
Second Sino-Japanese War
World War II
Indonesian National Revolution
Chinese Civil War
First Indochina War
1948 Palestine War
Malayan Emergency[5]
Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency
Korean War
Vietnam War
Araguaia Guerrilla War
Soviet-Afghan War[6]
Production history
Designer
Feederle brothers (Fidel, Friedrich, and Josef)
Paul Mauser
Designed
1895
Manufacturer
Mauser (Germany)
Taiyuan Arsenal, Taku Naval Arsenal[7] and Hanyang Arsenal (China)
Beistegui Hermanos and Astra-Unceta y Cia SA (Spain)
Produced
1896–1937
No. built
1,100,000+
Variants
See Variants
Specifications
Mass
1.13 kg (2 lb 8 oz)
Length
312 mm (12.3 in) (pre-Bolo)
271 mm (10.7 in) (post-Bolo)
Barrel length
140 mm (5.5 in) (pre-Bolo)
99 mm (3.9 in) (post-Bolo)
Cartridge
7.63×25mm Mauser
7.65×21 Parabellum
9×19mm Parabellum
.45 ACP
9mm Mauser export
8.15mm Mauser [8]
8mm Gasser
Action
Short recoil
Rate of fire
120 rounds per minute (semi-automatic) 900-1000 rounds per minute (M712 Schnellfeuer)[9]
Muzzle velocity
425 m/s (1,394 ft/s) 7.63×25mm
350 m/s (1,148 ft/s) 9×19mm
Effective firing range
150–200 m (160–220 yd)[10]
Feed system
10-round internal magazine fed by stripper clip
6-round internal magazine[11]
10- or 20-round detachable box magazine (M712 Schnellfeuer and detachable magazine variants)
20- or 40-round magazine (prototype M1917 trench carbine)
Sights
V-notch rear tangent sight adjustable up to 1,000 m (1,100 yd), inverted V front sight
The Mauser C96 (Construktion 96)[12] is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937.[13] Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.[13][14]
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" (Chinese: 盒子炮; pinyin: hézipào) because of its rectangular internal magazine and because it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock.[15]
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.[16]
Mauser manufactured approximately one million C96 pistols,[17] while the number produced in Spain and China is large but unknown due to poor production records.[13]
^Ferguson, Johnathan (2017). The ‘Broomhandle’ Mauser. Osprey Publishing. p. 28.
^Jowett, Philip (2012). Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13 : the priming charge for the Great War. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-299-58155-5. OCLC 842879929.
^Tales of the Gun: Automatic Pistols (Television Documentary). The History Channel. 1998.
^Douglas de Souza Aguiar Junior (25 June 2017). "O Museu de Polícia Militar de São Paulo". Armas On-Line (in Brazilian Portuguese).
^"Weapons of the Malay CTs 1948–1960". 17thdivision.tripod.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022.
^"A Look Back At The Mauser C96".
^"Chinese Broomhandles".
^Belford, James (1969). The Mauser Self Loading Pistol. Borden Publishing Company.
^"Mauser "Schnellfeuer", or Model 712 Machine Pistol". 19 May 2016.
^"Mauser C-96". Modern Firearms.net. 22 October 2010.
^"История появления пистолета Маузер К-96 (Mauser C96)".
^Skennerton, Ian (2005). Mauser Model 1896 Pistol. Labrador, Australia: Arms & Militaria Press. p. 5. ISBN 0-949749-77-X.
^ abcWilson, R. (January 2009). "Mauser C96 Broomhandle". Australian & New Zealand Handgun.
^"Spanish Guns". 1896mauser.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2009. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
^Wilson (2009), p. 100.
^Bishop, Chris, ed. (1998). Guns in Combat. Kent, UK: Grange Books. p. 93. ISBN 1-84013-083-0.
The MauserC96 (Construktion 96) is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed...
from Sportsmansvintagepress is a reprint of the W.H.B. Smith: Mauser Rifles and Pistols "C96 Broomhandle". mauserguns.com. Archived from the original on...
units. Irish Republican Army: In July 1921, a shipment of Gewehr 98s and MauserC96 pistols were smuggled in to Waterford by Charles McGuinness. Mexico:...
The Astra Model 900 is one of many Spanish copies of the German MauserC96 semi-automatic pistol. It shares the same caliber, magazine capacity, and holster...
mounting lugs for a shoulder stock, notably including the "Broomhandle" MauserC96, Luger P.08, and Browning Hi-Power. In the case of the first two, the...
and reliable than competing designs such as the Mannlicher M1901 and MauserC96. 20 examples of the Borchardt-Luger were sent to Switzerland in 1899,...
used in the Rast-Gasser M1898 revolver and a small number of converted MauserC96 pistols. Its bullet is cylindro-ogival and is of the jacketed type. 8mm...
internal, to fire each chamber in sequence. In 1896, Paul Mauser introduced the MauserC96, the first mass-produced and commercially successful semi-automatic...
Among them was the MauserC96, which was influential in the production of the Nambu, as it uses the same locking mechanism as the C96. The Nambu was designed...
Schmeisser and sold by Theodor Bergmann's company. A contemporary of the MauserC96 and Borchardt C-93 pistols, the Bergmann failed to achieve the same widespread...
on the request of the Aviation Corps who wanted a replacement for the MauserC96 as a personal defence weapon for aviators. The OVP was little more than...
can fire .38 caliber bullets. The grip of the weapon is based on the MauserC96 and the fact that the weapon fires from the bottom barrel is based on...
close combat situations. As a result, during the First World War, the MauserC96 and artillery versions of the Luger pistol were issued with attachable...
Kriminalpolizei in 1943. MauserC96Mauser-Werke 7.63×25mm Mauser 9×19mm Parabellum Wehrmacht Waffen-SS Luftwaffe The MauserC96 was adopted in 1942 and...
factory (adapted from 8 mm calibre to standard Czechoslovak munition 7,92 Mauser). When Czechoslovakia started building fortifications against Nazi Germany...
machine-pistol which inspired the German Army to develop submachine guns. The MauserC96 was introduced in 1896, it being one of the first commercially successful...
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