What is the last gun you bought?

[richhodg66]

Full auto MP40...…..bb gun. Okay, not a real gun but very realistic in weight, looks, and fun to shoot. Got a bargain price on a refurb. It empties a 50 shot mag in 5 seconds or less. Everyone who shoots it has a smile on their face after emptying a mag.
Attachment 243071

When I was a kid, you saw ads for a BB sub machine gun in all the gun rags that used canned Freon for recharging car AC systems. Haven't seen one of the ads in years, I assume they are out of production now, but as a kid, I always wanted one and couldn't convince Dad I needed it bad enough.

Where does a guy get such a thing now? Sounds like it would be a lot of good, clean fun to blast soda cans with.

[GunGuy2756]

I remember those ads and like you, didn't have money to buy one. I didn't even ask Dad because I already knew the answer. I have no idea where you would get one today and I'm not sure the average guy can even buy Freon anymore.

There are a fair amount of select fire BB pistols and rifles available that run on Co2, Pyramid Air has a decent selection.

[Texas by God]

"The Anillhiator"!

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[Love Life]

They don't take up much room, they pack flat, haha!

Hahahahahahaha!!!

[jdfoxinc]

Winchester model 12 12 ga shotgun.

[james23]

auction buy

[Lefty SRH]

Yesterday Ruger Bisley Blackhawk 7 1/2” 45 colt, blued

[EMR]

My last one is a ~1916-1918 Mauser C96. Replacement spring set on backorder. All parts match except for the mag base plate. It’s in 9mm and slugs out to .360. As you can see it’s well worn.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Fine looking piece of history you've got there. Considering the bore wear and the lack of a red nine on the grips, I'd bet it may have come here by way of China.

[EMR]

Fine looking piece of history you've got there. Considering the bore wear and the lack of a red nine on the grips, I'd bet it may have come here by way of China.

It actually has German imperial proof markings on the barrel and I know not all of the Prussian contract pistols had the “Red 9”. While possible it may be Chinese, I’m leaning towards not since the barrel and frame both say Waffenfabrik Mauser Obendorf a Neckar.

[skeettx]

Or, like mine, it was a shot out 30 Mauser and I had it made into a 9MM
Mike

[Texas by God]

I think DG meant that the gun spent most of it's life in China after being born in Germany.

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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Oh...sorry...that is exactly what I meant, as stated by TbyG. What is your serial no. range? They were produced into the high 900,000s. I purchased two of the imports from China. Both had badly worn, but not pitted bores. One is pretty close to a smooth bore. But, for the sake of discussion, most of the Prussian contract did have a red 9, although you are correct that not all did, about the first 1/4 of them, and you can determine if your pistol falls into that contract from the serial number. As far as I know, the Chinese never did brand any of them with the red 9.
They were (are still) great copiers and imitators and even produced some of their own with fake Mauser markings. I just thought that without the red 9 and the overall external appearance of your specimen, that if it had a badly worn bore there would be a good chance it had spent many years in some warlord's arsenal. I'm not disparaging your pistol in any way...it has character, and every year they become more difficult to locate. Nice find.
Attachment 243546
Click to enlarge.

This is one of the Chinese imports that I purchased and reblued. I wouldn't have refinished it if it had looked as good as yours.

DG

[EMR]

Oh...sorry...that is exactly what I meant, as stated by TbyG. What is your serial no. range? They were produced into the high 900,000s. I purchased two of the imports from China. Both had badly worn, but not pitted bores. One is pretty close to a smooth bore. But, for the sake of discussion, most of the Prussian contract did have a red 9, although you are correct that not all did, about the first 1/4 of them, and you can determine if your pistol falls into that contract from the serial number. As far as I know, the Chinese never did brand any of them with the red 9.
They were (are still) great copiers and imitators and even produced some of their own with fake Mauser markings. I just thought that without the red 9 and the overall external appearance of your specimen, that if it had a badly worn bore there would be a good chance it had spent many years in some warlord's arsenal. I'm not disparaging your pistol in any way...it has character, and every year they become more difficult to locate. Nice find.
Attachment 243546
Click to enlarge.

This is one of the Chinese imports that I purchased and reblued. I wouldn't have refinished it if it had looked as good as yours.

DG

No offense taken at all. In fact I appreciate the insight. The full serial number reads “4081”.

[GunGuy2756]

I have always like the Broomhandle Mauser but never owned one. I did shoot a 9mm version with the big red 9 on the grips at the range one day and it was not pleasant at all. I was very surprised how bad my hand hurt after 10 shots. The broomhandle grip is unique and cool looking but does not suit my fairly large hands.
My Beretta 92 on the other hand can be shot all day without any discomfort at all.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

No offense taken at all. In fact I appreciate the insight. The full serial number reads “4081”.

I'm glad I didn't hurt your feelings! One of the fastest ways to alienate someone is to knock their gun. Given your low serial no., which it's quite unusual to find them that low any more, and the Imperial proof and acceptance markings which you didn't mention initially, there is little chance that your pistol is anything other than original German/Prussian issue.

Broomhandles, like Lugers, are a very specialized and fascinating area of collecting, and have become an expensive hobby.

[EMR]

I have always like the Broomhandle Mauser but never owned one. I did shoot a 9mm version with the big red 9 on the grips at the range one day and it was not pleasant at all. I was very surprised how bad my hand hurt after 10 shots. The broomhandle grip is unique and cool looking but does not suit my fairly large hands.
My Beretta 92 on the other hand can be shot all day without any discomfort at all.

I haven’t had a chance to shoot this yet, but it’s definitely awkward to hold. So I’m sure my impressions will be similar to yours. I agree with you that I can shoot my M9 all day.

I'm glad I didn't hurt your feelings! One of the fastest ways to alienate someone is to knock their gun. Given your low serial no., which it's quite unusual to find them that low any more, and the Imperial proof and acceptance markings which you didn't mention initially, there is little chance that your pistol is anything other than original German/Prussian issue.

Broomhandles, like Lugers, are a very specialized and fascinating area of collecting, and have become an expensive hobby.

So I’ve been doing more in depth research because of our initial conversation. Using the following website, here’s the observations I’ve made http://askmisterscience.com/1896mauserbackup/sights.htm :

New style small ring NS marked hammer, 50-500m sight leaf, sight pivot lug, solid safety, appear to be period correct.

Two things that caught my attention: magazine follower doesn’t have the notch (however not all Prussian guns did). Since the mag floor plate doesn’t match, there’s a good chance the follower doesn’t either. Also the sight ramp doesn’t have the medium curve the Prussian guns do. It has the 500m smooth ramp instead.

So according to the chart on the site, this may either be a “post war mutant” or a Chinese copy after all.

[tdoor4570]

Had a new addition to my collection last weekend. Got my fathers day and birthday present rolled in to one . 1884 Springfield trapdoor built in 1890 45-70 bore is great stock looks good with some dents and scrapes, after all its a 129 years old. now I have another rifle to go with my screen name.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

So I’ve been doing more in depth research because of our initial conversation. Using the following website, here’s the observations I’ve made http://askmisterscience.com/1896mauserbackup/sights.htm :

New style small ring NS marked hammer, 50-500m sight leaf, sight pivot lug, solid safety, appear to be period correct.

Two things that caught my attention: magazine follower doesn’t have the notch (however not all Prussian guns did). Since the mag floor plate doesn’t match, there’s a good chance the follower doesn’t either. Also the sight ramp doesn’t have the medium curve the Prussian guns do. It has the 500m smooth ramp instead.

So according to the chart on the site, this may either be a “post war mutant” or a Chinese copy after all.

The plot, as they say, continues to thicken. Let me say upfront that despite owning 3 of them and having owned others in the past, I'm not a broomhandle expert. I have a couple of books, and did benefit some by having at one time had a customer for whom I would occasionally order collector broomhandles. I would classify him as an advanced collector, and he was always coming in the shop with some broomhandle rarity which we would discuss at length. Back around 2000 (the year) he even came in and plunked down about 2,500 (dollars) for a "box cannon" -- the .45 ACP version, which when it arrived was like brand new. So, with that background in mind --

Without having the privilege of personally examining your specimen I can only speculate as to its history as I did previously. I will say that on the few Chinese copies that I've examined where they applied German markings, the markings were far from convincing and very easy to see that they were counterfeit. They made some copies that were marked only in Chinese, and some that had a little of both. So if your pistol's markings look exactly like those of most other broomhandles, then it is no doubt German in origin. The Chinese bought a very large quantity of these pistols, and it is not at all unusual to find added markings on a pistol of German manufacture.

Back around 1985 (+/- a year or two-- memories fade with time) when much of the Chinese broomhandle hoard was imported, I visited a warehouse in Sacramento, CA, operated by Pacific International Merchandising. The place was loaded with various surplus imports, but a memory that strongly stands out was that of a father/son duo who were there to buy broomhandles in quantity. There were two very large hogshead barrels just brimming with them in the center of the floor, and the dad would pick a pistol out of one of the barrels and attempt to pull the bolt to the rear. If it wouldn't readily retract he'd hit it with a rubber mallet. If it still wouldn't open he'd toss it into another barrel. I didn't stick around for the entire show, but it looked like they were going to buy a couple of hundred of them.

Way back in prehistoric times I had a friend in high school who's uncle had been sent to China by the US Army (he was a Col.) to evaluate the combat effectiveness of the Chinese Army. This was before WW II and the Nationalists were incorporating the private armies of the various Warlords into the National Army. He had written a report, complete with photos, of the various units including those who had been trained by the Germans and which had plenty of broomhandles. It was noted that the application of oil to these weapons was almost unheard of and that they were prone to seize up from lack of lubrication and love. The immediate solution was that they used Tiger Balm as a lube, which worked. It was a homemade balm carried as a first aid product by all Chinese soldiers. My friend had a copy of the report his uncle had written -- a fascinating bit of history. I believe some of this later appeared in LIFE Magazine. But, anyway, that's why the fellow at the warehouse was having difficulty in opening many of the pistols and why so many show such wear. The two that I bought were quite worn, and as I've stated one was almost a smooth bore, but with some TLC and refinishing they do function well. Also, as noted by another member, it has been quite common to have the original 7.63 mm specimens bored out and relined with a 9mm insert. This has been being done for years and a couple of the guys doing the work have gotten so good at it that it's almost impossible to detect the presence of the liner by casual observation.

As for your mismatched floor plate and possibly the follower, the broomhandles have become a lot like G.I. 1911s in that they've been around for so long and passed through so many hands that modifications are very common. Pristine examples are scarce, and are becoming very expensive, so in my opinion any broomhandle is certainly collectable and the number of variations can keep someone addicted to them searching for many years to try and complete a collection....and I don't know of any complete collections.

Concerning the comfort, or lack thereof, in actually shooting them---well, when they were first marketed there wasn't much else to choose from in the semi-auto pistol field. They really aren't that bad, and were often used with the shoulder stock. I'm sue that even young Winston would have preferred a Glock 17 at Omdurman, but the Mauser was a good choice for the time. When you hold, examine, and shoot one of these old broomhandles you're handling a lot of history, and I'll bet that less that 1 in 10 forum members have actually fired one. You'll definitely want to pick up one of the holster/stocks for your pistol. I've got two that are both Chinese, made only about 30-35 years ago, but see that SARCO is offering replicas that appear to be a little better made.

So--enjoy it for what it is. It's actual history is for speculation, and some questions may never be positively answered.

[charlie b]

I agree that shooting these as a pistol is not very comfortable. But, I love shooting it with the buttstock.

Father-in-law inherited a bunch of guns from a friend. The C96 and a Martini Henry were two of them. Traced back to the Boer Wars. We only fired the Martini Henry a few times, with the original Kynoch loads. Very unpleasant. Shooting these is a bit nostalgic, kinda like shooting his Garand.