Talk:Mauser C96

A Question

'Is the Mauser C96 a good gun?'

Answer

Yes and no. The engineering is fascinating. There is only one screw in the entire pistol and that's for the wooden grip panels. Everything else fits together. It's akin to a fine watch which isn't a surprise considering it was designed in the late 19th century. It's also a reliable design, but becasue of the complex engineering the Mauser C96 has alwasy been an expensive pistol. I've seen ads from the 1920's where they were charging $100.00 for one. That was alot of money in the twenties.

Now if you are talking ergonomics it's a different story. I've actually had the privlige of firing one. The grip is small and the balance is odd. The 30 Mauser is a hot little load and there is some pretty fierce recoil. Because of the way it's designed the bolt slams back and forth and drives the grip into the webbing of your hand. If any model needed a redesigned grip this would be it.

However the C96 was intended to be used as a carbine instead of a pistol. So when you attach the rifle stock it transforms into a nice little plinker and it's surprisingly accurate as well.

The C96 was one of the first manufactured semi-automatic and full automatic pistols. It wasn't perfect, it was expensive to make, time consuming to manufacture and expensive for the consumer. But it was reliable and the first one. In many ways it was a dead end when talking about pistol (semi-auto handgun)technology, but by god it's just so damm cool. There are many designs that are more practical and superior, but they'll never equal the C96 Broomhandle whne it comes to charisma. --Jcordell 13:45, 9 November 2009 (UTC)