Mauser Museum: Colonial Period Rifles, Carbines, Pistols & Revolvers

[Silent Invader]

Last week I visited the 'Mauser Museum' in Obendorf, Bavaria, Germany.

Actually, its the local civil collection but Mauser (and its subsequent incarnations and connections) is so closely associated with the town that its firearms dominate the museum.

I had visited for a bit of research in relation to my Second Boer War project:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=63436.0

So, with that in mind, no pictures of modern MP5s, etc, just rifles, carbines and broomhandle pistols associated with the 2BW and thereabouts.

(And with apologies for the variable quality - glass cabinets and lighting, etc)

A display of Mauser rifles and carbines manufactured for the Export market (and I was particularly interested in the Spanish and Swedish variants):



Spanish rifle top, Swedish carbine bottom:









The Spanish description (note also that the cleaning rod is missing from beneath the barrel, which I understand was quite common during 2BW):



The Swedish description:



A close up of the Swedish; notice the raised vertical 'flag-like' projection above the rear of the bolt which I believe is the safety catch (I believe it is shown in the safe position as if you compare against the Spanish, it is then rotated horizontal to the left where it seems not to obscure sighting for when live):



The Swedish carbine also has a metal buttplate whereas the Spanish rifle does not:



Some general info:



And showing how the rifle was loaded from a stripper clip:



Broomhandle pistols:



The picture is of Winston Churchill and references the Sudan (unfortunately I failed to photo the description);



A few more close ups:





The description of the 1898 C96 that is uppermost in the previous photos:



And some close ups:







The C96 model 1902 in close up (and again I forgot to photo the description):





Some general info about the C96:



How the C96 was loaded from a stripper clip:



A skeleton view of the working parts:



And the C96 fully disassembled:



A collection of revolvers:





 

[Plynkes]

All those different C96s are great. Thanks for posting. 

[Bugsda]

Excellent! Love those C96s but they just haven't got the stopping power of the Colt 1911,well, on xbox anyway 

[Malamute]

Great stuff, that C96 is such an iconic weapon.

[Silent Invader]

There were another two cabinets of C96, for broadly WW1 and WW2 IIRC. 

[mysteriousbill]

My god!!!

That C96 carbine? with the long magazine. What a pulp weapon. What caliber was that?

By the way I know the Chinese made C96's in .45 ACP, I wonder if Mauser did to?

[Silent Invader]

All the variants shown are I believe  chambered for 7.63x25mm Mauser.  Later variants (from WW1 IIRC) were chambered for 9x19mm Parabellum and while the Chinese did a copy in .45ACP I don't think Mauser did (but will bow to the knowledge of the better informed!  ).

I believe the carbine was developed for cavalry and limited sales mean they are now rare but I have no other info about the long mag. Sorry  

[Stu]

Excellent photos of the C96! a long time favourite of mine. Hopefully some one will make some figures armed with them.

[Silent Invader]

I'll be making some on foot and mounted for my 2nd Boer War project but there's also this by Lead Adventure Miniatures of The Prof:

http://www.lead-adventure.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=41

[northtroll]

While there is no denying how awesome looking the C-96 is, it is refreshing that you got some pictures of the revolvers as well. Thank you!

[Hobbit]

There's a really nice example of a Mauser carbine in the Shrewsbury Castle museum (regimental museum for the Shrops Light Infantry and the Shrops Yeomanry) with a very heavily carved stock. Apparently it was quite common for the Boers to carve them to commemorate the battles that they'd taken part in. IIRC this one includes Elandslaagte.

[Silent Invader]

That's good to know and if I'm up that way I'll take a look.

[smirnoff]

Top stuff
Must go to Bavaria ASAP