Was the Mauser C96 a full auto pistol?

For Christmas I got a book titled,,,
The World's Worst Weapons,,,
By Martin J. Dougherty.

Personally I don't think this book is very good at all,,,
The author simply took a variety of weapons,,,
And wrote a short paragraph about them.

Several things he wrote don't seem to jive with my experience,,,
And I believe that more than a few things he stated are simply incorrect

One thing he wrote:

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The downfall of this weapon was it's capability to fire on full automatic.
Even the impractical 20-round magazine provided an inadequate ammunition supply,
and the six- and ten-round version were invariably empty before the user could begin to correct his aim.

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I've handled several of these over my many years,,,
And while I'm certainly no expert on them,,,
I never saw one that was full auto.

Did I miss something?

Or is Mr. Dougherty in error?

Aarond

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There were variants which could shoot full auto, as mentioned the main ones had 20rd detachable box mags if I recall correctly.

Here you go aarondhgraham. :thup:
Slow Motion: Mauser Schnellfeuer - YouTube

There were indeed several full-auto variants, notably the M712 Schnellfeuer (rapid-fire) model, as well as full-auto C96 copies made in Spain and China in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s.

The Chinese were very fond the C96 (Which was known as the "Box Cannon" in Chinese) and I'm told one of the popular tactics for employing the full-auto Broomhandle variants during the Warlord/Chinese Civil War-era was to hold it sideways (not dissimilar to what's known as "Gangsta Style" nowadays) and then pull the trigger, letting the recoil right the gun as it sprayed bullets everywhere.

Bear in mind that the sub-machine gun was a relatively new concept at the time and there were only a couple of practical designs available - the Thompson M1928A1, the MP18 and the Suomi KP-31 were about it until pretty much right before World War II - so in that context, a full-auto Mauser Broomhandle wasn't nearly as silly or impractical as it appears to us today in hindsight.

On an unrelated note, what's with the ",,," thing? It's not a grammatical convention I have encountered before.

My P08 (Luger) once went `full auto´. Am very glad I wasn´t using the TM 33 round mag, as it flipped upwards, with the damage limited to the range ceiling. According to the relevant literature, the only known example of the `full auto´ LP08 (artillery Luger) was no better, as there was nothing to limit the rate of fire. The necessary `Reihenfeuer´ spare parts for the C96 quite often appear on the German eGun site (installation would be VERY illegal), and I don´t suppose it´d be much different. I´d say: give it a miss!

I guess Mr. Dougherty did know what he was talking about.

Difficult to believe that in all my reading,,,
I never came across this info before.

Thanks again.

Aarond

P.S.

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On an unrelated note, what's with the ",,," thing? It's not a grammatical convention I have encountered before.

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It's an old habit from the early 90's,,,
When messages didn't have any text formatting.

We used the three commas to show the end of a thought or phrase.

It just stuck with me is all.

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I happen to be the owner of a full auto capable Broomhandle. Unfortunately, it goes through a magazine of BB's in about a second. Also eats CO2 like mad. Yes it's a BB gun/C-96 replica.

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Originally Posted by aarondhgraham

It's an old habit from the early 90's,,,
When messages didn't have any text formatting.

We used the three commas to show the end of a thought or phrase.

It just stuck with me is all.

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Is that a military thing? I ask because I've been around computers since the late '80s and learned to type on an actual typewriter before that and I've never come across it. Personally I find it quite jarring to read and comes across to me almost as if English isn't your first language or you're still not entirely sure how this "internet thing" works (I know that's not the case, of course! :))

Not intended to be a personal criticism, though - we've all got our little quirks and ways of doing things which don't always match up with what everyone else things is "best", but in my line of work good, clear communication is vital and I'd get pulled up on it pretty quickly if I strayed too far from the commonly accepted usage and rules of English language & grammar. :)

On something closer to the original topic though, the quality of those "World's ____ Guns" books can be extremely variable in my experience. Well-meaning friends sometimes get them for me as presents and while I appreciate the thought, they're often pretty samey. I find they're good for people who are new to shooting or collecting as a jumping-off point, though - especially if they have good photos and are written by people who know what they're talking about.

So much for broomhandle Mauser pistols...just a bit OT...

I'll relegate this book to the "Interesting but not absolute truth" category.

Thanks for the replies.

Aarond

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https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...0schnell-1.jpg the one in the middle is full auto m712 9mm

Look at all those spare barrels. :madsmile:

Someone really should come up with a business manufacturing new uppers for C96s so people could shoot the worn out ones (which there are tons out there). I imagine you wouldn't even need a large shop to do it, just a couple guys with some lathes, and milling machines. If you really wanted to you could make it so the barrel threads off, and that way you don't have to even manufacture the barrel, just make it so it takes a common thread type.

In addition to the M712 posted by Henry B above, it should be noted that Spanish Astra MM31 is a full auto unlicensed copy of the C96 design. I would never have known about their existence had it not been for observing unusual markings on one of the dozen and a half "Broomhandles" held in the Calgary Museum. Some time spent on research revealed the whole Eibar Spain firearms industry copyright fraud, and the origin of pieces like the MM31.

The receiver side and FCS should look something like this:
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...razul_01-1.jpg

Other FA examples might be encountered from locally built Asian copies, but the only true full auto C96 Mauser should be the M712.

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Originally Posted by Eaglelord17

Someone really should come up with a business manufacturing new uppers for C96s so people could shoot the worn out ones (which there are tons out there). I imagine you wouldn't even need a large shop to do it, just a couple guys with some lathes, and milling machines. If you really wanted to you could make it so the barrel threads off, and that way you don't have to even manufacture the barrel, just make it so it takes a common thread type.

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I agree completely and have been saying something like this for years - the C96 is one of the most iconic pistols of all time but they haven't made any new ones since the 1930s and most of the surviving examples are either completely worn out, in a "weird" calibre, or both. It astounds me there's a market for modern reproductions of obscure mid-19th century percussion-cartridge transition model revolvers, but not the C96. As you say, making the uppers for them would suffice and mean people could put the worn out C96s back into commission and keep enjoying them.

The biggest part that sucks about the C96 was the barrel being made as part of the upper assembly. I am sure there is a market for new uppers, as most people who own C96s also tend to have a bit more money than the average person as well.

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Originally Posted by Eaglelord17

The biggest part that sucks about the C96 was the barrel being made as part of the upper assembly. I am sure there is a market for new uppers, as most people who own C96s also tend to have a bit more money than the average person as well.

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Period repair measures for the C96 was to cut the barrel off at the receiver and thread a new luger barrel in.

If you could screw a Luger barrel in, then by definition, you could make a new/repro C'96 barrel and screw that in. Not original but.........