Finally got a Mauser Broomhandle. Just a few decades late.

J

Jeff #111

New member
The Mauser C/96 Broomhandle 'Bolo' pistol has been one of my Grail guns for decades. Yesterday I went to an estate auction. There were three Broomhandles up for auction. I checked them out. The Red 9 (WWI make in 9mm for the German Army. Literally has a 9 carved into the grips and painted red so the user know to use 9mm and not 30 Mauser which was the normal caliber for the Broomhandle) was a parts gun. In good shape, but probably an arsenal rebuild. The Model 30 commercial looked as if it had been refinished in the last couple decades and the safety didn't work. The Bolo has all matching serial number parts and is in good mechanical condition. More of the finish is gone and the grips are aftermarket, but it is a genuine Mauser Bolo. I bid on it and got it. As I stated the grips are aftermarket. I'm not a wealthy man so I buy what I can afford. This one set me back about $800.00 which is a lot for me. It isn't pretty , but the pistol is in good mechanical condition. I took it apart last night (wow the engineering that went into this pistol is incredible) and everything is solid. The safety works like it's supposed to. The magazine spring is a little worn out and I'm going to replace the recoil spring and main spring as well, but I believe there will be no trouble firing it. The serial number is 55XXXX putting it in the late 1920's or early 30's at the end of the Bolo manufacturing life. I've have wanted a Mauser Broomhandle ,especially the Bolo variant, since I was literally in sixth grade (1979). It alongside the Webley Mk VI and the S&W Model 27 with the 3.5" barrel are my Grail Guns (I know I should have a Python in that list). I now have the Webley and the Mauser. Yes I plan on taking it to the range. It's a very solid and well made pistol. After all it's a Mauser.






 
Wow, congratulations sir. I have always adored these and always wanted one, but are out of my price range. Enjoy the excellent german engineering, and let us know how it shoots!
 
Not my personal cup-o-tea,,,

Not my personal cup-o-tea,,,
But any time someone finds a grail gun,,,
I wanna pat him/her on the back and say congrats.

Good on ya my friend,,,
Now go shoot it like ya stole it. :D

Aarond

.
 
That appears to be the model collectors call the Late Postwar Bolo (following Breathed and Schroeder's system). The original grips would have had 22 grooves, and were it mine I would replace the grips with good repros of the original type, but do nothing else. (Original grips might be found, but only at an exorbitant price, and the gun is not worth shelling out that kind of money for grips.)

You have a good gun, and one that fits your budget. If it is any consolation on the "Red 9", a very large percent of those on the market today are fakes, made by reaming and re-rifling Chinese 7.63mm junk, so unless you know your Mausers, you may have done the right thing by avoiding that Red 9.

Jim
 
What a terrific gun!!! You must be really excited having wanted one and finally catching up with one. The good news is that you will be able to fire it. I have heard of people buying absolute museum piece guns, and then they are afraid to fire them lest they damage some matching part.

Please give us all a range report. Keep in mind, many of us would like one, so we will experience it thru your report.

Congratulations and good luck

Rich
 
The last time I looked at one of these, I didn't know much about guns or their design. It occurs to me now how this pistol truly does seem like a rifle, scaled down.

By the way, does that rear sight actually say it adjusts to 800 meters? :eek: I thought Mosin sights were optimistic
 
Congrats.
Looks and sounds like a win.

I'm jealous.

Though not one of my 'grail' guns, a good broomhandle is very high on the 'lust' list.
 
Congratulations!

I had a Bolo in 9mm for about a decade or so. Pretty gun, finish was about 95%, so I assumed it had been refinished at some point,, ser# indicated late 20s production. Had the stock/holster for it too, until ATF changed their minds, and I sold them, separately, about a year apart.

Neat gun with the stock on, without it, one of the most if not THE most painful 9mm I ever shot. Get some CORRECT stripper clips, and have at it, but, wear a glove.

The slot in the back the grip bites! Recoil force wasn't unpleasant, but the small grip and the slot made it painful. At least for me.

Enjoy your piece of history!
 
JUST a month ago we were shooting a Broom Mauser '96 custom by KING gunsight. I mean to tell you that gun shot like a million bucks, like a little rifle, out to 100 meters or so, and all but NEVER missed any of the pigs at 50 meters. GREAT trigger, GREAT sights.....whoooeeeee....be still my heart !!!
And so it goes...
 
Dakota.Potts

The last time I looked at one of these, I didn't know much about guns or their design. It occurs to me now how this pistol truly does seem like a rifle, scaled down.

By the way, does that rear sight actually say it adjusts to 800 meters? I thought Mosin sights were optimistic
Click to expand...

The sights adjust to 1,000 meters. I don't think I'll be shooting at targets that far out. More like 20 yards. And then just once in a blue moon, but I do intend to fire it.
 
I've never been a huge Broomhandle fan, but a shooting buddy was showing off a Chinese-made .45 at the range, and I developed a serious case of covet.
I love the turn-of-the-century auto pistols, for all the variety in action types, lock-up, etc.
Cool pistol.
 
$800 is a good price for a matching Bolo in good condition, don't fret about that. You'll make it all back and then some when it's time to sell.

Congratulations, these are the coolest pistols out there.

As mentioned above, DO NOT use Tokarev ammo, use only .30 MAUSER ammo.

If you reload, get some dies and roll your own, knock a little off the load and add some life to your pistol.
 
How's the bore? I got a nice Bolo a few years ago, but the bore was toast. A quality reline was a shade under $100. I was pleased.
These are ok to shoot with a stock, as long as it's not a repro.......I believe.
 
At another point I might argue that the Russians shot 7.62 Tokarev in their .30 Mausers since they considered the rounds the same thing, but if it makes anyone feel better about firing an antique pistol, no problem in sticking to ammo marked .30 Mauser or 7.63mm Mauser. Believe me, it will be quite "hot" enough to impress the kiddies.

Jim
 
I found loads for one that wouldn't reliably operate the gun .If you reload , increase the load until it operates ,then STOP.
It's history is that of the first RELIABLE auto ! It's design makes us engineers swoon ! :). We called it 'like a Chinese puzzle ' , it's why the Chinese liked it I guess. A milestone in gun development !
 
The C-96 does belong in the forefront of early auto pistols that actually worked, but it is really not a very good design. Fidel Feederle produced a pistol that was acceptable for the time, but he was working against himself in insisting that no screws or pins be used in its manufacture, and in his objections to any attempt to upgrade the gun. But the success of the Mauser rifle ensured the pistol had a future; the factory sales staff "pushed" the pistol on buyers of the rifles as part of what we now would call "bundling", long after the C-96 was considered obsolete.

Mauser, for all its well-deserved reputation as a rifle builder, never was very good at designing and manufacturing pistols. The early small pistols were fragile and complex. The later HSc was a visually attractive gun, but it was unnecessarily complex and would probably would not have been a success had it not been for the Nazis and World War II with the ensuing demand for handguns of every kind to arm a huge army and political police establishment.

Jim
 
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