Heh, I didn't expect to see my BF1 C96 Carbine video show up in this @ 4:48 - an excellently entertaining and informative video on the pistol and its history. Thanks!

The C96 is commonplace in Kungfu movies since it (as well as various domestic copies) were used by gangsters and warlords in the 1920's. Sometimes with interesting manufacturing marks such as "Wauser" and so on.

I love the Mauser C96! I own a rare bolo variant that was my grandfather’s! It was re-chambered to 9 millimeter during WW2.

Always loved that the two famous german early semi automatic pistols, the Luger and Mauser C96, ended up as the base for the blasters used by Leia and Han solo, who were fated to become lovers. Guess they have similar tastes in distant galaxy weaponry.

Churchill did not carry a Mauser in WWII. His Police Bodyguard was issued a Colt 1911 at the beginning of the War but preferred the .38 Webley he had always carried. He complained about this to Churchill who produced his own Webley and handed ii to the PC and said "give it here" about the Colt. He carried it throughout the War and many years after. Winston was fond of automatics. Very correctly in the clip from Young Winston (superb film BTW) he is shown wearing the issue .455 Webley on his belt but produces the C96 from his own kit.

When I take my C96 out to the range I get two types of comments. Old people (like me)" Wow that's a Broomhandle Mauser." Young people. That's a Star War's gun."

Fun fact: Peter O’Toole, while most famous in his titular role in Lawrence of Arabia, would go on to star in a few media, such as President Hindenburg in Hitler: Rise of Evil (2003) and, more recently, as the voice of Anton Ego in Ratatouille (2007).

As a kid in 1966 I had a cap firing C96 in a kit with a Walther P38 with a removable silencer from the TV series "The Man From UNCLE" with Robert Vaughn and David McCullum.

I recently received a Mauser C96 that was used by my Great Great Uncle he used it in the Easter Rising and then again in the Irish war of Independence and Civil War

There was once a story during the warlord eras in China where a group of escaping soldiers were getting chased by enemy warlord soldiers. One of them turned to confront the enemy, pulled out his C96 and shot two birds at the same time as he fired horizontally instead of vertically. This scared the enemy and retreated.

The C96 is my all time favorite firearm in history and I love to see it get the recognition it deserves

There was a scene in The Unknown Soldiers where an old Finnish officer was carrying a Mauser C96 while rallying his men to move before getting shot. Interestingly enough, if a Finnish officer was carrying a Mauser, he was most likely a civil war veteran officer who fought for the White side.

I have a 1936 Chinese contract broomhandle that I used in bowling pin shoots inspite it's only an 86 grain bulletit still keeps up there with the knocking power of 45

I have some fun facts about the C96. When the C96 was made, no one understands the semi-automatic concept and as Hugo Borschart did his pistol, it was very intriguing but still, it was clunky at the rear due to the toggling mechanism at the rear, upsetting the balance quite alot. Paul Mauser at that time wanted to show off his incredible stripper clip mechanism soon made the "Boombox" Mauser C96. When he trialed it to the German military, they were somewhat skeptical and thus they didn't really adopt it and out of fear of bankruptcy, Paul Mauser decided to push it to civilian markets as the hype was building. So when Paul released it to the civilian markets, it was one of the 1st smokeless cartridge pistol that's also semi-auto that gained popularity with the masses and the British soon found themselves signing contracts thru Westley Richards & Co to resell it in the UK and at that point of time, British officers in the army were required to use their own pay to purchase a pistol on their own and soon, bulks of British officers soon got hands on it and loved it but no one pushed the gun to huge fame that soon enticed major armies to adopt it more so than ever was down to none other than Winston Churchill. Churchill at that time wasn't a pretty big shot in politics but his reputation precedes him and he bought one while being a military journalist and was sent to the Boer War. While there, he used his Mauser C96 to great effect and upon his escape from the Boer POW camp and made his way home from the war, he kept praising the pistol for it's high rates of fire and multiple round counts instead of the standard 6 shot from a normal revolver and the Mauser had enough firepower to keep him fighting till dozens of enemies lay dead and if it wasn't without his Mauser, he wouldn't be back in Britain. That sent quite a huuuge shockwaves across the world and soon quite a few major military adopted it like the Austria in small quantities, the Germans bought quite a lot of them for policing and naval or rear guard units and Turkey also bought quite alot to rearm their officer corp. Why those Kung Fu movies had soo many Mauser C96s was because that's the most popular sidearm of all time during the entire history of 1900s China. When the Qing was coup'ed out of power by the Kuomintang/Tongmenhui during the Xinhai Rebellion back in 1911, the weapon that almost all of the rebels used where Chinese broadswords, stolen arsenal Mauser rifles and most importantly, tons and tons of C96s. Even at the end of the war, the pistol was soo loved that many bootlegged arsenals started to rise up and manufacture unlicensed copies of it in various form and calibers be it in it's original caliber, the 7.63x25mm or the bigger, .45 ACP rounds. The Mauser was also the most saw weapon to be used during the entire internal conflict China had witnessed before the Japanese invasion which was the Warlord Era where every factions were armed with tons and tons of Mauser thus it's not surprising that they saw use by Chinese gangsters too throughout the 1920s-40s. It was soo popular that even during the Second Sino-Japanese War, most guerilla fighters and even general government troops would see tons of their units being armed with nothing but Mauser C96s in various forms be it the Astra models, locally made or actual German copies and use these troops as shock troops to dislodge Japanese positions who are firing back at them with rifles and machine guns.

The C96 was a pet project of mausers brothers. The 7.65x25 was a powerful and straight shooting cartridge with a high velocity. These cartridges can accurately shoot out to 200m or even 300m with hot loads or using the carbine varient. Its one of the few cartridges that if loaded hot can pass soft pistol body armour without needing a steel core. Later iterations and Spanish knockoffs had large detachable magazines and some had a fully auto selector that usually had a crazy rate of fire. In the west it was known as the broom handle but in China it was known as the box cannon. If you had Western clothing a box cannon and a pocket watch you where a wealthy man in the warlord era. Some arsenal's in China made copy's nearly as good as mauser made, one warlord who imported a load of Thompson SMGs had C96s made in .45 acp and it was very large. For a long time before domestic 8mm mauser rifle production took off it was a main infantry weapon due to inbargos. The first weapon to use the mauser 7.65x39 was the borchart pistol that then became miniutuised into the luger, the first lugers had been chambered in 7.65 luger a smaller round but people wanted a bigger round so he pretty much made the world's most popular handgun cartridge the 9mm luger as a stopgap. The Russians used the 7.65x25 apart from they used steel cases and hotter loads and called it the 7.62x25 for tokerver and PPSH SMG a tokarev pistol using surplus ammo will reliably puncture soft body armour. It also made the PPSH have much more range. Never use 7.62x25 in a c96 For all you star wars fans in the US please don't modify working mauser pistols into prop guns, it's very wasteful and its kind of dangerous to have a prop gun that can fire live ammo. Everytime I have ever seen a real C96 made into a blaster it makes me cringe as its destroying history. Also in the later parts of the wild west C96 and bolt action mausers where used by people who could afford them. Having the most powerful pistol round in semi auto with 10 rounds or 2 gives an advantage over revolvers. Plus the fact you can add the stock and use it as a carbine. If you find a good C96 I would always recommend the 7.65x25 as you can't rebarrel 9mm. You don't need a NFA short barreled rifle paperwork as they are exempt so you can use the wooden holster / stock with no NFA paperwork.

The gun only features one screw. The rest is clock work. The gun also can’t be topped off like a bolt action rifle and is extremely comfortable to shoot if you don’t like the web of your hand however with the stock attached it turns into quite the handy little package

This was a very futuristic design for that age, it's logical that has became such an icon in in historical (& others) movies, also if you aren't a weapons' expert you probabilly will recognize it

Thirty years ago I acquired, through Century Arms, a well-used 4-inch barreled "Bolo" model, so called because large numbers were sold to Bolsheviks in Russia in the early 30's. It is a marvel of precision machining and a hoot to shoot. The weight-forward design minimizes barrel rise during firing. Churchill may have used his Mauser in WWI, when he spent some time as a front-line officer.

Some of the Chinese warlord c96 clones are known to be very rare and highly collectable such as ones chambered in 45 acp which are extremely rare if they are in the U.S. going for tens of thousands of dollars sometimes

Interesting fact: The 7.63 mauser cartridge is identical in size to the 7.65 borchardt cartridge in the c-93, the first commercially sucessful automatic, which was refined into the luger pistol. The difference was the mauser had a 30% higher pressure to it and would damage the toggle of a borchardt. Ammo manufactures started making a lighter pressure load and american gunstores would sell it, with the box labeled "for use in borchardt and mauser pistols." The downside to this is if you were a mauser shooter you were sacrificing velocity and power if you used this loading.

Glad you mentioned Young Winston the C96 is mentioned in his autobiography.

After watching the luger video this was the first thing I was thinking about! My uncle had a toy mauser from the 70s, proper metal, and I loved playing with it as a kid

You managed to include Clint Eastwood, Archer, Resident Evil 4, Star Wars and Lawrence of Arabia. You are a genius !!! Well done !!

Your narration is getting so much better as you put these out. Keep it up, Johnny!

The C96 that became Han Solo's blaster was used as the primary weapon in the film _The Naked Runner (1967)_ and the scope assembly came off another C96 in the film _Sitting Target (1972)._

I know for some bizarre reason In 1917 an Austro-Hungarian aircraft gunner used a weird mashed up anti-aircraft gun made out from Mausers C-96, it had 10 barrels up and over each other. Each pistol held a clip of ten bullets and the device attached to them fired them in unison, giving the gunner the ability to rapidly fire 100 rounds in volleys of 10

you explanation's make me go back and watch so many movies again.

Dayum, you covered a lot of info, nicely done! Last thing I saw one in was when I recently rewatched "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot."

I think Winston Churchill used it as his side arm during the Bour war

This is a gun I've always wanted to own, but given their prices, unless I hit a lottery it's going to have remain a want.

Getting it out of its Holster was a nightmare,

I wait for this one since several months, thank you Johnny :-)

Since you ask, I could add “Sitting Target” (1972), a great British crime thriller, where the Mauser C96 is wielded by Oliver Reed. It is also seen in “Shout at the Devil” (1976) and “King Solomon’s Mines” (1985), just two adventure movies that come to mind.

Love it .Always reffered to it as the broom handle. I have a replica with stock.

In MGS 3 snake eater, it was EVA's favourite pistol.

Thank you for listing each movie.

This pistol is one of my favorite guns from the and I love it so much,thank you for making this video

Really cool gun with so many movies that feature this iconic gun

I have been waiting for this video topic.

Fun Facts: The C96 uses only two screws, which keep the handle panels on. The shorter barrel variants were imported into Russia in such a mass that its use by the bolsheviks spawned the nickname "Bolo Mauser" for the short barrel models. Yan Xishan (the Warloard of Shenxi) was equpping his trooped with locally produce Thompson Submachine Gun, he commissioned a variant of the C.96 chambered in .45ACP designated the Type 17. The Type 17 was featured in the video game Fallout 3, however chambered in 10mm. Unfun facts: Not a fun pistol to disassemble. Due to the National Firearms Act of 1934, the use of the stock on the pistol makes it a "Short Barrel Rifle" by law, and therefore have to be registered with the ATF as such or a Relic.

Another great video Johnny!! And your eye for detail is top notch!! I have a pair of C96 Broomhandles. (OK, they're .177 CO2 powered KWC, but they look quite good in the display case.) Cheers from Ontario.

The C96 also appears in the movie "the great silence" (with klaus kinski) MUST WATCH

This is the most widely used handgun from the warlord period of 1920s to the Civil War in 1950s. It appeared in numerous black and white films and is a crowd favorite. Lucky to obtain one particular made in 1914 model chambered in original 7.63X25mm Mauser rds. (similar to Tokarev)

My husband is going nuts his Uncle past away 2 years ago and now his personel boxes are coming from South Africa to the USA. Box number 5 has a fully functional C96 Mauser captured during the Rhodesian bush war. My husband’s heritage has many firearms last year his great grandfather’s Martini Henry entered our collection and after that a webley.

finally my favorite pistol of all time, so much so that made 3 cardboard versions. also thanks Johnny was waiting for this for a long time.

C96 is also been seen the final season of AoT.

I love the Mauser C96 One of my favorite firearms

So, fun fact about the chinese clones of the c96. They were often chambered in .45, which made them a lot stronger and a lot less controllable than their German counterpart. It worked in its favour, however. The Chinese warlords of the era developed a technique called "bandit shooting" where they would hold the gun sideways gangsta-style and spray, letting the recoil carry the gun horizontally instead of vertically. This technique is seen in MGS 3 when Eva shoots her C96 from her bike.

Very well done and accurate video. Kudos.

Thanks! Great job.

It shows up in a lot of my favorite Spaghetti Westerns - my favorite being The Great Silence! Also makes a great appearance in the opening scene of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot!!

Great episode

this is literally my dreamgun if i could add any one gun to my collection its this one for sure, such a neat design

I remember in Medal Of Honor Airborne where there is a Safe if you shoot it there is a M712 that you can use and obtain in the Mission Operation: Varsity

The Mauser is hardly the only early 20th century firearm used as a basis in Star Wars. The stormtrooper's E-11 blaster rifle was based heavily on a Sterling submachine gun, for example, and Jyn Erso's blaster pistol in Rogue One was built around a Luger P08 pistol. Can never really go wrong with an old classic.

The army commander in butvh Cassady carried a c96 Winston Churchill had one in the 1890s He said he used one it was a gift from his mother

I love my C96. I'm pretty sure mine is a commercial 1930s model. Works pretty well for its age. I love how it all fits together like clockwork, I find it both fun to shoot and to clean. I am that weirdo who actually enjoys cleaning guns so... I really want to get my hands on one of those Chinese Type 17s in .45 ACP, but cash is a little tight right now.

The Bolo name of the c96 came from the Russian Bolsheviks. They had ordered a large number of them in the 7,63x25 caliber. That caliber is the father of the 7,62x25 (7,62 Tok). The two cartridges are very similar. However in this case, they are not interchangeable. The Chinese were not lost to the advantages of the thunder maker. The effective range varies a little and can be 300+ meters with the stock on the weapon. I have both an M1920 in 7,63x25 and a Norwegian contract in 9mm. Ammunition is still available for the 7,63 (30 Mauser) through S&B. Reloading is straight forward. Although all parts are hand fitted it not really finicky about what it eats. Stripper clips can be had for a couple of bucks each. All in all, 100+ years in and they are great weapons still.

1:41 the Sherlock Holms Films had a few firearms that wouldn't be around until after the turn of the 20th century such as submachine guns which the first one wouldn't be invented until 1920 which was the Thompson Submachine Gun. I believe the gun Watson uses while escaping the arms factory in Germany was a submachine gun. 3:37 Jackie had his eyes pointing in two different directions just then.

My father had a Mauser chambered for 45cal with detachable magazine during the war!!! It was a complicated piece of machinery.

This was my great-grandfather's sidearm in WWI. Two more movies for the list: In Thomas Vinterberg's "Dear Wendy" from 2005 Mark Webber makes use of the C96's excellent long range performance to take out a sniper. And in Milcho Manchevski's "Dust" from 2001 both antagonists use C96s - as a contrast to the protaginist's six-shooter.

Thats not Mad Max , that's Mad Max 3 : Beyond the Thunderdome .

Many Mauser C96s appear in Japanese comic and animation "Attack on Titan".

Jin Roh is a good movie glad to see it shown here

Wonderful Video

One of my most Favorite Guns that Were Conceived before World War 1, I like it mainly Out of Aesthetic and Design, but because of that Design, and its Complexity is what Brought it out of Favour, regardless I Love this Gun as Much as I Love the M1911, Luger and Revolvers. This Gun is Just a Masterpiece! And I LOVE it with a Burning Passion! Great Video as Always Johnny! Keep it Up, my Friend Also just to Share... Because of your Videos... I Have Found a LOT of Movies to Watch! Thanks for that! Its quite Boring in these Trying Times... Now I Have a Bunch of Movie to Kill Time! Thanks Again! For your Awesome Content and Hard Work!

Lots of titles going on my to-watch list here

A local gun shop had a Red 9 in a few months ago and I still kick myself for not getting it.

The Fiochi 7.63mm ammunition gave *huge* whitish, lightning-colored fireballs when fired out the one I once had. They’re nowhere near as awkward to handles as they look to be - they’re a bit muzzle-heavy, which can help a less-steady aim. They have a good long sight radius, which also helps.

I remember that this handgun is also in Attack on Titan by the Suvery Corps and the Marleyan Army

I love this channel cuz it show great movies I’ve never seen but now need to!!! I wish he would tell people where to find the film (If possible). I think it would help people scratch the itch you started!!!

As soon as I saw the thumbnail I said to myself "I hope he goes all Han Solo on this one".

I hope you one day do a video on the Smith and Weston model 76. p.s. I am glad I found this channel, keep up the good work.

Please do the Fn Fal It'll be a great idea and I'd love to see it!!! Love your videos ❤

This my favorite pistol just because of the style

Sitting Target 1972 starring Oliver Reed, had a Mauser M712 , like a C96 but had a box magazine , stock and scope.

The C-96 had an almost starring role in a 1965 spy spoof entitled "The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World." The protagonist carried the weapon in a small of the back holster suspended by a shoulder harness. As a 14 year old I fell in love with it, which is why I remember that inauspicious movie to this day.

Great video. My C-96 is chambered in 9mm, but no Red-9 stocks. Note that the 4-inch barrel version was sold to Russia in large numbers, where it was called the "Bolo," short (ha ha) for Bolshevik. My personal C-96 cost almost 4 grand in 2015 (?) from Simpson's, but it is worth it; the tempered parts are still heat-blued, the innards are pristine, and the exterior is very good. The excellent bore makes it an accurate shooter. It is not as cumbersome as you would think, a .357 mag. revolver is more front-heavy. --Old Guy

Insanely prolific weapon

I still have that C96 toy I had since I was in kindegarten but now it's broken obviously, also this gun is in mafia II =)

I remember seeing this in atleast 2 Finnish war movies, one called "Täällä pohjantähden alla 2/Here beneath the northern star 2" and "Raja/The Border" Here beneath the northern star, if i recall right, tells about a farmer and his family, after the Finnish civil war and till after WW2, one of the sons is seen using the pistol to shoot an russian soldier, during a scene depicting the Winter War, it's a brief appearance. The Border is set right after the civil war, by the border of the new countries of Finland and early Soviet Union, i can not remember much, except that plot revolves around a romance between a finnish army officer, a civilian woman and a red being hidden by the woman, C96 was popular in Finland at the time, and often used by officers, so it is seen in numerous scenes, i recall there being an execution of red rebels, in which the pistol is seen.

Escape from Athena - long time not seen fun movie

Great video, but you missed Zeppelin 1971? Right on Center stage in raid scene, along with the mustard gas. Even used to shoot at the high flying SE5s. You might see where Lucas got his idea for tunnel shotouts.

A Clint Eastwood Western I didn't know about!

Some weapons with insane range adjustment never cease to amaze me I understand for the rifle rounds given they can travel over 1000m and still be effective at killing someone but I cannot imagine a pistol fired at over 1000+ meter away I recall Browning Hi-Power has it and also M1928 Thompson with it, now I'm not in a country where Firearm is free to buy and own but certainly questionable that you would ever fire a pistol caliber over 1000+ meter is beyond me.

This gun is so cool

Excellent!

There was a variant of the C96 that could be easily switched between auto-fire and single-shot. However, auto-fire mode made it impossible to aim after the first 3-4 rounds as the recoil inevitably pushed the weapon up. It could only be fired effectively in auto-fire mode with the wooden stock attached.

I have always wanted one for my collection to plink with and display. So much history.

The Mauser has a very unique mechanism, which is surprisingly complex, but compact (compared to Borchard and Luger). AFAIK, the barrel moves a bit forward (!) during firing, which unlocks the breach. I've heard that it had a brutal felt recoil for the calibre and that it didn't like dust and mud. (The same goes for the colt and pretty much every revolver, but the Luger and many later automatic pistols got far better at dealing with dirt).

I’d love to get one…but I probably couldn’t afford it. Ammo would be hard to come by as well. PPU of Serbia makes 7.63x25mm Mauser, but availability is spotty.

I´m surprised you didn´t use a clip from Corbucci´s "The Great Silence" ( Il Grande Silenzio), where it´s featured very prominently.

Missed opportunity not showing a clip of Eva using it MGS: Snake Eater. That scene was badass.

It was widely used as far as the Philippines during its war against Spain and the US

If you ever watch that classic WW2 film "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" look for the C96 Mauser pistol with shoulder stock holster carried by Charlie the Chinese guerilla chief. Great attention to detail by the film-makers! I've handled (but not shot) C96's. An interesting firearm but totally outclassed by what came after such as the Luger and the M1911 Colt. In my opinion it's like a lot of German products, just a bit over-engineered. Still, it was an important stage in auto pistol evolution.

The Mauser plays a central role in the movie "The Second Best Secret Agent," in which agent Vine has an unforgettable Mauser duel with a blind assassin.

Gear work JJ. Nice gun. Full auto versions were utterly uncontrollable. Like……totally off the map!

video idea: b52 in the movies :)

In the movie "There Be Dragons" Wes Bentley's character Manolo uses a Mauser C96 Red 9 throughout several scenes taking place during the Spanish Civil War.

My sis still has Dad's toy Buck Roger's laser pistol that shot sparks. Broom Handel appeared in "Joe Kidd" & "Empire Of The Sun".