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Posted: 8/8/2026 12:49:00 PM EDT
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I have a Mauser C96 "Broomhandle" that I have had for some time. It is one of the perhaps dubious Federal Ordinance rebuilds. I picked it up at a low price many years ago. I have replaced all the springs, gone through all the parts of the lock work and inspected them visually, and replaced the bolt stop with a new CNC machined one from Luger Man. The pistol was re-barreled to 9x19 during Fed Ord's refurbishment, and is labeled as such. The question is, should I shoot the thing? I'd love to try it, as I have always thought the C96 was a cool pistol, in spite of it's ergonomic deficiencies. If I had access to a mechanical rest that would allow firing remotely I'd definitely try it. But should I risk my personal meat servo to do it? 
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A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence. Otto von Bismarck
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ZAF
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I have two. One is a bad referb in 9mm that keyholes but its still cool. The other is a BOLO export model in 9mm Mauser (9x25mm). Some asshat marked it 38 auto but it wont chamber that because of the rim. I shoot 9mm Largo out of it. Not that I want to find myself in a self defense situation but it would be kinda cool to whip out the Broomhandle and replay the cantina scene from Star Wars (remember it was Solo that shot first). YES shoot it otherwise its just an expensive piece of metal |
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Originally Posted By BlitzPig: So what about ammo, 115gr. or 124gr. ? The original cartridge was pretty hot in it's day, so to my mind any non +P stuff should work. I dont see the point of +P for anything, least of all in 100 year old guns. I shoot standard plinker grade 9mm 115gr |
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Well, I took it to the range this morning. The sights are difficult as the top of the rear leaf is very worn and the front is the typical old style tiny blade, but I still did ok for being very ummm, hesitant at first. I loaded only two rounds at first on the off chance it might go full auto, set it up in an X shaped foam bench rest, lined it up, ducked my head and pulled the trigger. It cycled fine and didn't double, and didn't send the bolt flying back into the wall. Fired the second round and the bolt locked back as it should. I then ran 15 more rounds (124gr. Federal red box fmj) through it 5 rounds at a time. The biggest issue I had was that under recoil I would bump the safety lever a tiny bit, and that is all it took to block the trigger. it really needs a replacement rear sight, but at the prices I have seen for them, It will probably not happen. 
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A conquering army on the border will not be stopped by eloquence. Otto von Bismarck
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Go here and buy a new correctly heat treated bolt some Keep the original and shoot the new one. Its a lot of piece of mind not to get a bolt in the mush.  Noticed our Astra 900 was bolt stop was broken before shooting a full mag after shooting 40 rounds. Never fount the piece that broke off It wasn't like that when we started. More than likely would have got a bolt to the face on the first shot or somewhere in the 10 rounds |
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Like another poster said, they're tougher than you think. A friend of a former neighbor had one and he put the locking block in wrong and locked the whole gun up. I got it apart and put a new set of springs in. A month or 2 later he said the bolt came out and hit him and he wanted me to fix it. He knew I reloaded and said he had a bunch of brass. The brass was all 9mm, 400 rounds or so and had severely flattened primers and looked WAY over pressure. I explained to him that it was a 7.62 bore he was trying to shove a 9mm bullet through. The idiot told me it shouldn't matter lol. I replaced the springs again and put a new bolt stop in. Last I heard him and the old neighbor were fighting over it. |
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