| In 1894 the Mauser company employed the three Feederle brothers, one of whom had risen to be superintendent of the Oberndorf factory. They had been designing an
automatic pistol in their spare time and Paul Mauser himself asked them to perfect their gun for the good of the company. The first prototype was completed in March 1895,
patents immediately being sought in Mauser's name - a common commercial practice, as designs developed by employees were deemed to be company property.
The Mauser C/96, as this design was known, differed but slightly from later models - a testimony to the essential correctness of the original concept. Several minor changes
were made during the first few months of production as improvements suggested themselves, but none affected the basic design.
Loewe allowed Mauser to use the 7.65mm Borchardt cartridge but Mauser loaded the cartridge to give slightly higher velocity and it became universally known as `7.63mm
Mauser', though the calibre had not changed at all.
The C/96 had a rectangular bolt moving in a square-section barrel extension. Attached to the extension beneath the bolt was the locking piece, a lug on the upper surface of a
steel block engaging a slot in the underside of the bolt. When the barrel and extension were forward and the bolt closed, a ramp on the frame forced the underside of the
locking piece upward to secure the bolt. The bolt contained a long firing pin, which was struck by an external hammer. The charger-loaded magazine lay in front of the
trigger-guard. Barrel, extension and bolt all moved backward for about 2.5mm on firing, allowing the locking piece to slide down the ramp to release the bolt. The barrel
stopped, whereupon the bolt ran back to cock the hammer. A return spring inside the bolt-body then ran the bolt forward to drive a fresh cartridge out of the magazine and into
the chamber. Barrel and bolt moved forward, the locking piece rode up the ramp, and all was ready for the next shot.
Early C/96 pistols were made with a variety of magazines before the design finally settled on a ten-round pattern. Another important early change was the adoption of two lugs
on the locking piece instead of one, with two corresponding recesses in the bolt; not only did this spread the load more evenly, but it also allowed the bolt recesses to be
shallower.
The C/96 was strictly a handgun; it had fixed sights and did not accept a shoulder stock. A large cocking ring obscured the sights when the hammer was forward, a reminder
that the pistol had not been cocked. The rocking safety bar alongside the hammer on the right rear side of the frame could lock the hammer in its down position.
The pistol generally had a 140mm barrel and a ten-round magazine, though small numbers were made with 120mm barrels and six-round magazines in 1898-9. Even fewer
were made with twenty-round magazines.
The original cone-head hammer was replaced by a large ring in 1899, but this was itself substituted c.1903 by a small-ring pattern which did not obscure the sights. Most
butt-heels were grooved to take a wooden holster-stock, the back sight was an adjustable leaf graduated to 500 or 1,000 metres, and the rifling pitch was changed from a turn
in 26 calibres to one in 18 calibres to give the bullet better long-range stability. Behind all this lay a desire to produce a weapon combining the characteristics of pistol and light
carbine, but military authorities stubbornly resisted the lure. Indeed, the Mauser - even without the stock attachment - was never accepted by a major army prior to 1914, though
the Italian navy bought five thousand in 1899 and some were later sold to Turkey. Small batches were bought for evaluation and many officers purchased guns privately, but,
ultimately, success still proved elusive.
Early in the production life of the C/96, a change in frame construction changed the appearance of the pistol.
The frame-sides had been recessed over the trigger and above the grips, in a distinctive rectangular pattern, but these machining operations were unnecessary; the frame became flush-sided, with neither recessing nor ornamentation.
In some subtle way, this detracted from the pistol's appearance; Mauser must have thought so too, as a reversion was made to the recessed pattern for the remainder of production.
Further minor improvements were made to the design; the disconnector and the trigger pull were improved, and the firing pin became easier to remove.
Pistols with six-round magazines were offered until 1914, though it is likely that no production had taken place since c.1905.
These guns could be ontained with the standard tangent-leaf back sight, or with a simple notched standing block.
Almost all these guns have l0cm barrels and lack the holster-stock groove. One small run was made with gently curved grips, probably early in 1901 judged by serial numbers; it is sometimes identified (on no genuine grounds) as the "Staff Officer's Model".
It is probably no more than a short-lived factory experiment, but it must be remembered that many differing guns were tested by the German army over a period of several years.
About 1907, C/96 pistols began to be made for the 9mm Export cartridge-apparently to be sold with shoulder stocks for hunting in South America, a market devoid of large game.
They were not widely available in Europe. The guns were identical mechanically with the contemporaneous 7.63mm model and had 140mm barrels rifled with six grooves.
The next major change in the Military Model (as the C/96 and its successors are always known) came in 1912, when the 140mm barrel was rifled with six grooves instead of four and given a twist of one turn in 25 calibres.
More important, the operation of the safety catch was completely altered. This Neue Sicherung (`new safety') could only be set to safe if the hammer was pulled back out of contact with the firing pin. It can be identified by `NS' stamped into the hammer.
The outbreak of the First World War and mass mobilisation soon showed that stocks of Parabellum pistols were far from sufficient.
In 1915, therefore, the high command ordered 150,000 9mm Parabellum calibre C/96 pistols; about 138,000 were forthcoming by the end of the war.
Excepting calibre, they were identical to the pre-war 7.63mm model-thousands of which were also impressed for service, or purchased privately.
The 9mm Mausers were identified by a red-stained `9' carved into the wooden butt grips. Guns found with black numbers (or without them) had either been re-gripped or were assembled from spare parts after the war had ended.
The Treaty of Versailles forbade the production of 9mm-calibre pistols, except under stringent control for the German army, or of pistols with barrel lengths exceeding 100mm.
Mauser promptly reverted to 7.63mm calibre and a 99mm barrel. This model sold in considerable numbers to Soviet Russia, acquiring the nickname `Bolo' (contemporary slang for `Bolshevik').
The Bolo Mauser retained the 1,000-metre back sight and an attachment slot for the holster-stock.
Models 711 and 712
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VARIANTS OF THE SERIES
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Model 711
Model 712 [Nickl] - Aotmatic version with bar-type selector switch.
Model 712 - Automatic version with oval selector switch.
Reihenfeuerpistole Mauser, Kal. 7,63mm - MOdel 712 in service with the Waffen SS.
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GENERAL RECOGNITION POINTS
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