Mauser c96

[Crazybuldr]

Not yet
Ordered some stripper clips and am waiting for them

[ralph]

By Serial Number

Classification by serial number doesn't work all that well either. Although the Mauser serial number system is simple in theory - start at 1 and go up to whatever - it was violated in practice. Mauser skipped some sizeable blocks of numbers in the early days, sometimes filling them in subsequently with later-production pistols. And some contract guns had their own serial numbers, starting again at 1. The Schnellfeuer had its own series, also starting at 1. So Mauser actually made at least four C-96s with the serial number 4095 (to pick a number more-or-less at random). Low serial number guns with later production features turn up, implying smaller and otherwise unknown contract runs with their own serial ranges, so exactly how many guns with a particular serial number were actually made can be hard to determine. Higher serial numbers are unique, though, as the highest serial contract gun would be about 139000, from the 1916 Prussian Contract, and the highest serial Schnellfeuer was somewhere around 95000. So a high number like 881837, as seen on one of my M-30s, is a number unique among C-96s.

It remains difficult to account for "flyers" - guns with serials substantially separated from their sisters with identical production features. A good example is 232232, by all appearances a Wartime Commercial. But the immediately previous version, the Prewar Commercial, is found with serials well into the 270000 range. Nearly all surviving Wartime Commercials have serials above the 290000 range. So what exactly was going on at Mauser between the times the 232000 and 290000 ranges were made? Was 232232 actually made at the same time as the 290000-range pistols, but given a lower number to fill in a previously-skipped number block? At this late date it is generally impossible to say.
To finish up the mysterious case of number 232232: The best theory is that 232232 started life as an ordinary Prewar Commercial, but was returned to the factory for a defective safety. She was then retrofitted with the New Safety hammer and safety lever. Since the only differences between the Prewar and Wartime commercial guns were those two parts, 232232 was magically transformed from a Prewar to a Wartime Commercial. Perhaps that's how it happened, but absent a paper trail, we can't say for sure.

And that's the problem, as almost all of Mauser's documents were destroyed during the war, that's why for example, no service manuals exist for Mauser rifles, and most likely not for pistols either. You'll probably never know for sure exactly what happened,or what it's past history is.. God only knows where it's been. If these things could only talk..

[Crazybuldr]

So true

[HCM]

Not yet
Ordered some stripper clips and am waiting for them

They are a lot of fun.

[Jeep]

They are a lot of fun.

I have always wanted a Mauser 96. But they cost a lot, parts can be a problem, and ammo isn't cheap.

So I shoot a Tokarev as kind of the Chevy version of the real thing.

[UNM1136]

I have wanted one forever, too....but I would not be kind to it, most likely. I would likely modify it to be a Han Solo blaster.

pat

[morgandollar21]

Hey chatters.
Sorry to barge in on your tape, but i just wanted to ask the specialists here about markings on Mauser C96 series number in 423XXX series. I got one with a Star of David on the underbarrel and was wondering if anyone knows what this marking might be about, or other markings in the picture . see the picture.