Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do? in German Military Handguns Forum

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Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?

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withergyld	Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?	Lead	[-]
Posts: 119 Sep 13 07 3:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : None I had a table at the Gun Show this past weekend. The guy at the table behind me was trying to sell a Broom Handle Mauser from a friends estate. It was by no means a collector. None of the parts matched. The finish was compltely gone and the metal was mostly patina with some light pitting. The barrel was pretty much gone. He was asking $450 for it with no takers. I told him I had always wanted a broomie but even at $450 it was out of my price range. By mid day Sunday he had sold all of the weapons from his friends estate except the Mauser pistol. He wanted to go home and offered to sell it to me for $300. I told him he had a deal. It also came with 20 rnds of .30 Mauser ammo on stripper clips. I brought it home Sunday and after searching a bit on the internet found instructions on how to take it apart and clean it. The internals still had a thick coat of cosmoline. I cleaned it all up and put it back together. Everything looked servicable and seemed to function properly. I took it out yesterday and test fired it. It was keyholing at 15 feet but otherwise functioned properly and was pretty accurate even though it was keyholing Here are a couple of pics: Here is some info about it The serial number on the frame is 506,xxx The barrel is 588,xxx The housing for the internals is 329,xxx It has a small import stamp of "KFS ATL GA" on the bottom of the barrel. It has the "new safety" When I cleaned it up after firing the rifling actually looks BETTER then it did before I fired it. I might try slugging the barrel and see if I can find some oversize bullets that won't keyhole. So was $300 a good deal?? Will it significantly hurt the value if I have it "restored" by having the barrel re-sleeved and possibly re-blued?? My Yugo SKS Pages have moved to yugosks.net Please update your bookmarks
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VIS35	Re: Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?	#1	[-]
Posts: 3571 Sep 13 07 5:21 PM Forum Site Moderator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	IMO, I beleive the price was quite reasonable. Condition and mixed serials takes it out of the realm as a valuable "collectable". Definitely a candidate for relining, although I would leave the finish alone. If mine and doing the relining I would stay with the 7.63 chambering. VIS "Even a Blind Hog sometimes finds an acorn"
withergyld	Re: Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?	#2	[-]
Posts: 119 Sep 13 07 8:02 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I planned on staying with .30 Mauser. I have read of headspace and feed issues with converting it to 9mm. I also plan on buying a complete spring set and a new bolt stop. My Yugo SKS Pages have moved to yugosks.net Please update your bookmarks
Colin	Re: Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?	#3	[-]
Posts: 2349 Sep 13 07 10:54 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Nice Bolo; 4 inch barrel (100mm), flat bottom grips. It was made in the 1920s, when Germany couldn't produce pistols with barrels longer than 100mm. The New Safety means that you have to rock back the hammer a little from full cock when you apply the safety; the older ones didn't have this feature and it led to some delicate tolerance issues. If the barrel is fairly good, try some more ammo in it before you decide to have it relined; perhaps a different brand won't keyhole. Also, the sights are calibrated for use with the shoulderstock holster. When fired one or two handed they have more flip and shoot 'way high, about a foot at 25 yds. I second Vis' recommendation to stay with 30 Mauser if you have it relined. 9mm produces more recoil and peens back the reciever extension behind the bolt stop. I like the idea of a set of Wollf sprongs, too. Remember that the recoiling parts are lighter than the standard Mauser and so they come back somewhat faster.
stantheman1986	Re: Picked up a C96 at the Gun Show, How did I do?	#4	[-]
Posts: 5590 Sep 14 07 12:35 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If it were mine, I would leave it alone totally. Try every kind of .30 Mauser you can find, -Fiocchi,Buffalo Arms, etc. If all else fails, again, if it were me I would just leave it. It is an original well-used Broom with lots of character, may have saw use in China or wherever. Not all of them are tackdrivers, some have just seen too many rounds. You can also download 7.62x25 if you have the right tools. As we know, the Russians used a number of contract-produced Mauser "Bolo" Broomhandles, hence the nickname "Bolo" - for Bolshevik..........anyway they wanted to stick with the 7.62 cartridge, but with more power, and so the 7.62x25 was born for use in Tokarev's pistol. If you want to drop 7.62 slugs into the X-ring, get yourself one of the nice Romanian Tokarevs that are coming in now. I love my Tok, dead accurate, reliable, same round (dimensionally) as the .30 Mauser.
wyowillys46		#5	[-]
Posts: 433 Sep 18 07 4:39 AM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Pretty good deal. Change the springs, and be careful of the rocker coupling when disassembling the pistol (DAMHIK). I'll recommend Redmans Rifling to reline the barrel. He did my Wartime Commercial and it came out great. Ran about $125. Worth every penny.
Colin		#6	[-]
Posts: 2349 Sep 18 07 11:36 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Wyowillie: How did you get your pistol apart with the upside-down rocker coupling problem? A friend of mine has a large ring hammer (!!!), he can't get apart and thinks he has the coupling in wrong.
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wyowillys46		#7	[-]
Posts: 433 Sep 20 07 10:11 PM Veteran member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If I remember correctly I held the pistol upside down and pushed the lower frame towards the muzzle while pushing in hard (up towards the bolt) on the trigger. The pistol had been locked up for a few months and I had tried on and off to unlock it during that time. When the rocker coupling is inserted incorrectly the lock frame won't slide into the lower frame all the way. It'll stick out about 1/8" to 1/4". After unlocking it I did one heck of a happy dance! Supposedly there is a way to make a special tool that can be inserted and used to pry the coupling back up.
billwwilly		#8	[-]
Posts: 3 Oct 25 08 4:00 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just mailed my barrel assembly to the Gun Rack to have it relined to 30 cal. I've had the gun since about 1980, a gift from an uncle that got it in Brazil in the late 50's. I had a stripper with a few factory rounds and an empty case and "handloaded" a few cast bullet rounds and fired it, just had to shoot the gun. The lands were faint such that they couldn't be seen. S# is 298XX. It has some pitting at the front sight and some under the grip panels. Does anyone have any load data for other than the 93 gr bullet? I have two moulds, both at 115-120 gr and wonder if such could be loaded.
Budop		#9	[-]
Posts: 352 Oct 26 08 10:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Chances are it is from one of the boatloads of Chinese purchase pistols imported in the 80s. You kind of paid top dollar for it. Mismatch, import marked, NRA fair to poor condition. Nothing you will do will hurt this piece. I would not put anymore money into it. A stock only steadies the piece and makes it somewhat more accurate. Sights are as they are. These pistols are kind of unwieldy offhand at any range.
billwwilly	C-96 answer to Budop 10/26 reply	#10	[-]
Posts: 3 Nov 2 08 3:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Budop, I got the pistol as a gift, did not pay for it and it was picked up in the early 1950's in Brazil by an uncle in the oil business (long story as he brought home a duffle bag full of guns from WWII Europe including a beautiful Martini SS in 8.15 caliber). All numbers match, no import marks and condition is very good, short of extra fine, except for some pitting at the front sight and under the wood grips. The holster/shoulder stock is hand made in Brazil, not original and does fit the gun. I should be getting the barrel assembly back from the Gun Rack in a few days. I have some load data for the C-96 and some mil spec ammo for the 7.62X25--the other handgun-- that I will not shoot in this pistol. The load data is for heavier cast bullets in the 7.62X25 pistol as I have no 77-93 gr bullet moulds. I understand that Lee has dies for the 7.62X25 that will work for 7.63X25. I will Cerrosafe cast the chamber, throat, bore and groove before I chose a bullet mould to make sure I can use what I have in diameters and length for the bullets to fit the chamber. Of course, the loaded rounds must function from the magazine. If anyone has load data for these old guns, let me know.
little john	C-96 Loading Data for billwwilly	#11	[-]
Posts: 1 Nov 17 08 10:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I have a chart of loading data for the C-96 broomhandle put together from many sources. If you will send me your e-mail address, I will send it to you.
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