[Nightcrawler]

Okay, I have a question. Were any of the Broomhandle Mausers with the detachable box magazines made in 9mm Luger, or were they all in 7.63mm?

Is it true that all original Mausers were select-fire, or just some of them?

[Stephen Ewing]

Not an expert, I don't play one on TV, and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but:

My understanding is that the wartime contract for 9mm Broomhandles was about 150,000, with 135,000 delivered, and that none of them had detachable magazines.

I believe that the model 32 was the only selective-fire version, and that ~100,000 were made.

Hope this helps,

Steve

[BHP9]

There were so many variations of the Broomhandle that any statements made today may prove false tomorrow but here are some of my observations.

Most of the detachable clip 9mm models I have seen were modifications made to original Broomhandle 7.62 full auto guns and semi-auto guns. Some of these were done up by Federal Ordinance that used their own frames on original 96 uppers. REcently I have seen some brand new chinese imports that were 9mm's with detachable magazines.

All of the original 9mm's that I have seen were fixed magazines known as the Red Nines becuase of the large red nine number engraved on the grips. These were war time guns that were not up to the usual fit and finish one came to expect form Mauser. The one I owned was not that reliabable although others have posted that there red 9's gave them no jamming problems.

The original 7.62 guns were very reliable assuming the gun was in good condition with good strong springs. The gun must have a good strong magazine spring to function in either caliber.

The original 7.62 caliber can be a headache to reload for but a lot of fun to shoot because of its extremely high velocity and flat trajectory. Hits at 100 yards with the shoulder stock attached are easily accomplished.

The Broomhandle was also chambered for the very powerful 9mm export caliber that looked like a lengthened 9mm case. It had a strengthened barrel and chamber and they are very rare guns these days. They were of the fixed magazine style.

Some of the very early Mausers had detachable magazines but for some strange reason Mauser abandoned the detachable magazine in favor of the fixed magazine until late in the production life of the C96. In the 1930's it was ressurected and brought out in the full auto version with the detachable magazine in 7.62. One very famous picture that shows up quite often shows a WWII German soldier firing one of the full auto versions in combat.

The detachable shoulder stock makes for a light handy and accurate carbine and in the distant past both here in the U.S. and especially in Europe some very big game was hunted and killed with them. But that was in the days when people were real hunters and the idea was to stalk in as close as possible to prove your hunting skills not blast away at hundreds of yards not caring wether you wounded game or not.