Broomhandle Mauser, need info.

G

Greg Bell

New member
I just came across a Broomhandle Mauser serial number 129xxx. All serial numbers match. According to the owner, it came back with an American Soldier from Australia (although I wonder if it was really Austria). The Trigger does not work and the hammer is in the cocked position. It has some wear from being stored in the shoulder stock. The shoulder stock has no buttcap (actually, the hinge and a portion of the butcap is broken). It has a little surface rust and pitting hear and there. The proofs look like little Ms and crowns.

What have I got here? Is it worth anything. How do I get it fixed?

P.S. I just noticed the butt-stock has a matching number.

GHB
 
Also, does anybody have an idea of how I can brush off the surface rust without hurting the gun's collectability? I just want to stop it from forming serious rust. This gun has the kind of rust that a gun that gets handled every one and a while but never gets oiled. Looks like standard 100 year old gun that was cared for, but not worshipped.

GHB
 
For rust, hit it with Break-Free and then scrape at rust with a pre-83 penny (it's copper and won't scratch the blue). It'll remove the rust and after you clean it, preserve it with Rennaisance Wax (if you don't intend to shoot it) but if it's a shooter, use RIG gun grease and buff it in. Now, as to the cocked & locked problem, I'd send it to WildIcanfixitforpartsandshippingAlaska.
 
And let me tell ya, fixing one of those with the hammer in the locked position is gnarly!

WildwhereismypaperclipAlaska
 
Actually I got the hammer down. I was fidgeting with it and pointed the gun downward and pulled the hammer back further, and that released whatever. I reproduced it by re-cocking it and doing it again. I think something is definitely broken inside. Plus, the trigger still doesn't work.

Right now it is soaking in oil. As soon as I can I'll box it up and send it to WA for a looking through. I will never shoot it, but I want it to be in functional condition. This may be a gift for my son if I ever have one.


GHB
 
It could very well have come back from Australia.

C96 Mausers were quite popular with British and Commonwealth troops at various times.

Winston Churchill carried a C96 at the Battle of Omdurman and spoke highly of it
 
Cool!

ChurchillMauser.jpg
 
Here's a picture of a British soldier using a C96 in the trenches in WW I. I can't read Thai, but IIRC (I've seen the pic before) he was a communications specialist running wired phones in forward trenches.

C96_Capture.jpg
 
I wonder if Churchill's family had to dewat that pistol?

BTW, Churchill's mother came from Jerome, a mining town in Arizona. Some sort of silver-baroness (or whatever they dug out of the mines there).
 
Hi, 4V50 Gary,

Not really on topic, but Jeanette (Jennie) Jerome was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1854. Her father, Leonard Jerome, was a lawyer, newspaper owner, and businessman; his father and brothers were farmers in New York state, not silver miners. Most of his first fortune came from marrying an heiress, but he also made money in speculation and in war contracts. He was American Consul in Trieste from 1851-1853.

I can find nothing that says Jennie, her father, or anyone in the family was ever anywhere near Arizona; apparently the town name is a coincidence.

Jim
 
No to change the subject, but I have read that Churchill favored a Colt .45 automatic later when they became available, as did Burnham, the scout. It would certainly be interesting to hear what became of Churchill's old pistols. An interesting point about the Mauser C96, at least in .30 Mauser (really about the cartridge and not the pistol) is how popular it was around the world with people who might have actually been engaged in shooting people and how feared it was, too, because of the wounds it produced. All that notwithstanding, other calibers were often chosen in preference, notably the .45 ACP.

One of my first handguns was a C96 but I was in the army then and it spent practically all its time in the arms room (but I had a saber in my locker), so I didn't get to play with it much.
 
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