There are few people who have not heard of the legendary Mauser pistol. Thanks to literary works and films about the Civil War and Revolution, in our country, this gun, along with a leather jacket, has become an everywhere recognizable visiting card of commissars and Chekists and was proudly called "Comrade Mauser."
Foreign directors did not ignore this type of weapon, showing the Mauser in many foreign films.
The gun was so much liked by filmmakers and science fiction writers that its forms are clearly visible in the outlines of an intergalactic weapon - a blaster.
Mauser prevalence
This model was quite popular as a civilian weapon almost until the fortieth year of the twentieth century. Researchers, hunters, gangsters, travelers - all those who needed a compact and also powerful weapon, widely used the Mauser for their own purposes.
At the same time, the Mauser S-96 pistol was not able to receive such widespread official use in the regular military forces of any power, but some countries purchased and used this type of weapon in relatively small quantities for certain categories of military.
Also, this type of weaponry was quite informally used in many military conflicts in countries of different parts of the world. The high rate of fire of the automatic model put the Mauser a notch higher than other similar firearms.
The fact that the gun of this brand was not widely used is explained by the fact that it was expensive, heavy and relatively large. In addition, the Mauser was easily and heavily clogged with dirt, and it was difficult to clean due to the complex process of disassembling and assembling the mechanism.
Another reason for the not very popular was the design of the fuse: the weapons put on it could not be quickly unlocked with one finger in case of an unexpected threat, which made the owner of this weapon risk.
Creating a Mauser
The development of a pistol of this model was carried out by the German company Mauser in the city of Obendorf, which was headed by the talented Mauser brothers: the elder Wilhelm and the younger Paul.
Workers of the company, the Federle brothers, began creating a pistol in 1893, approved by Kaiser Wilhelm II in March, and the owner of the company, Paul, patented the Mauser S-96 (K-96) in September 1895, and the first samples were already produced in 1896.
Serial production of pistols began in 1897 and ended in 1939, during which time about a million units were produced, including more than a hundred modifications.
Design Features
The reason for the popularity of this type of pistol among certain circles of society is its unprecedented power at that time - the lethal force of the Mauser K-96 was declared at a distance of up to a kilometer of a bullet. True, one did not even have to think about aiming firing at such a distance: the expansion of bullets on it could be up to several meters, even when the weapon was motionlessly fixed.
In fact, a pistol with such characteristics was like a carbine. Mauser was distinguished by the presence of a long barrel, a fixed magazine, which was located in front of the trigger, a specific form of the handle in the form of a broom. The volume of the magazine was 6 - 20 rounds depending on the modification.
In accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, after the First World War ended, Germany stopped developing and producing firearms with a barrel length of more than 10 cm. Spain took this baton, not only copying the Mauser S-96 model, but also creating its own modifications who later switched to German models.
From the twentieth to the early thirties of the twentieth century, German Mausers are made with somewhat short 99-millimeter barrels.
A new round in development
After the Nazi party came to power in Germany, the creation of new army weapons began on an expanded scale. During this period, new innovative modifications of the Mauser K-96 were developed.
Modifications mainly affected the triggers - they became smaller, the types of fuses and the length of the barrel changed several times. In addition, the beginning of the thirties of the twentieth century was marked by the creation of a pistol with a removable box-magazine that could hold twenty to forty rounds, and the possibility of automatic firing through a special on / off switch.
For example, the 712 showed a rate of fire of up to a thousand rounds per minute. True, to increase the stability and accuracy of the shot in short bursts, it was required that the butt holster for the Mauser be required, since the powerful cartridge and light pistol barrel gave a large spread of bullets.
Appearance in Russia
In the Russian Empire, the Mauser K-96 was seen in the same year 1896 and it was recommended for officers to equip officers with personal weapons in 1908. But the revolver was more actively used by this category of military than the Mauser: the price of this gun was quite high and then amounted to about forty gold rubles.
In addition, since 1909, pistols of this model began to equip pilots-aviators, and since 1915 the Mauser fell into the gear of some specialized units and automobile units and went on sale as a civilian weapon.
Also, the Mauser carbine rifle was widely used by the Red Army during the Civil War, mainly these were models of the 12th year caliber 7.63. After the war ended, almost thirty thousand of these pistols were ordered for the military, the army command staff used them until the Second World War began.
With the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish war, in addition to the three-line rifle, the Mausers became the weapons of army reconnaissance ski groups, and during the World War II these guns were at the disposal of partisan units.
Since Germany had been producing weapons with shorter trunks since 1920, it was in this modification that the Mauser was delivered to Soviet Russia during this period: its caliber was 7.63, and the barrel length was 99 mm. The pistol was distinguished by walnut cheeks and a swaying horizontal swivel on a short handle with twenty-two grooves and a branded trigger. This model was called "Bolo", which meant short from "Bolshevik".
Later in Russia, the Mauser K-96 model, on which the image of the Order of the Red Banner was printed, was used as an award weapon for special services to the country.
The principle of operation of the pistol mechanism
When the weapon uses automation that works on the principle of stem recoil, the locking takes place behind the supporting platforms located on the bolt.
After the shot is fired, the barrel, which is movable, travels a short distance, being locked. After this, the underbarrel larva rests on the ledge of the pistol frame, rotates perpendicular to the axis of the barrel and unlocks it, thereby allowing the bolt to move away.
The larva in the mechanism of the gun is connected to a movable box, in front of which the barrel of the weapon is screwed, and in the internal part there is a movement of a rectangular shutter shape. Two carved cloves on the upper plane, the larva catches the shutter. When the mechanism begins to reverse movement, the larva drops, the shutter is released and the trunk stops. At the same time, the spent sleeve is thrown up by the shutter, an open trigger is cocked and a new cartridge is sent to the barrel.
Characteristic Mauser Features
The layout and design of the Mauser K-96 is called a revolver, its box-store is located slightly in front and located in front of the trigger guard, the weapon belongs to the category of self-loading pistols.
Mauser is the most powerful model of all known models of automatic pistols of that time, the principle of automation of which is based on the use of its recoil energy on a short course of the barrel.
A wooden holster for a Mauser made of walnut served simultaneously as a butt. On its front slice was an insert of steel, on which a protrusion and a mechanism for fixing the joining of the handle and the butt of the gun were arranged. The hinged lid of the butt-holster at the same time rested on the shoulder of the shooter. A holster was worn over her shoulder on a sword belt. The more expensive samples were lined with leather on the outside and could be equipped with pockets in which they carried a spare cartridge holder and devices for cleaning and disassembling the gun.
The dimensions of the butt-holster were 355 mm long, 45 mm wide in the front and 105 mm in the back.
The effective firing range was one hundred meters, provided that the stock was used.
Structurally, the pistol contained box-magazines at first non-removable, mainly with a capacity of ten rounds, but there were variations with the content of six or twenty units of the warhead. All modifications of the box-stores had a two-row arrangement of the ammunition, which was filled from above. At the same time, the shutter should have been opened, and the assembly itself was carried out either with a special military clip with the number of cartridges of ten pieces, or one cartridge each.
If there was a need for discharging the Mauser, then it was necessary to manually work out the full reload cycle in order to remove each cartridge from the magazine. This was a significant disadvantage of this design, as it required effort and time. However, it was possible to get rid of this drawback when removable stores appeared in the new modifications.
The Mauser pistol was equipped with sights of two types: fully adjustable or fixed to a range of up to a kilometer. And if we couldn’t talk about accurate long-range shooting, then at a range of up to two hundred meters and using the standard Mauser K-96 stock holster, it showed very good results of carcass and accuracy.
The safety lever was located to the left of the trigger on the rear surface of the frame. Depending on the modification of the gun, he would lock the trigger mechanism with absolutely any trigger position, which was typical for earlier models, or the lock would have taken place after the trigger was retracted manually slightly back to the position where it was disconnected from the fuse.
Technical and tactical qualities of the Mauser
It should be noted the technical characteristics of the K-96 Mauser pistol:
- Removable or non-removable magazine, charged with a clip.
- Has a trigger mechanism with a single action.
- The caliber of the pistol is 7.63, 9.
- Cartridges of calibres 7.63 * 25 Mauser, 9.0 Parabellum, 9 * 19, 9 * 25 Mauser, cartridge 0.45 ACP are used.
- The weight of the Mauser without cartridges is 1 kg 250 g.
- The total length of the pistol with a conventional barrel is 312 mm.
- The length of a conventional barrel is 140 mm, and that of a shortened one is 99 mm.
- The number of cartridges in the store ranges from 6 to 40, depending on version.
- The principle of action is short-stroke stem recoil.
- The initial speed of the bullet from the barrel is 425 m / s.
- The aiming range of accurate shooting without a butt is 200 m, with a butt-holster - 300 m.
- The maximum range is 500 m.
Pneumatic counterpart
The company Umarex at the Shot-Show arms exhibition presented its new product; it launched the Mauser C-96 pistol.
Pneumatic "Mauser S-96" is distinguished by such technical qualities:
- The energy source is a 12 g CO 2 cylinder.
- Smooth barrel with a caliber of 4.5 mm and a length of 14 cm.
- As ammunition are balls of steel in the amount of 20-30 pcs.
- The outer part of the analogue is made of plastic, and the inner and the barrel are made of an alloy of metals.
- Single action trigger mechanism.
- The velocity of the ammunition is 116 m / s.
- The device for sight is a blade-shaped front sight without adjustment and a vertically adjustable sector rear sight.
- There is a marking for a distance of up to a kilometer.
- The pneumatic Mauser is equipped with a non-automatic fuse.
- The total length of the gun is 29 cm.
- The model has a weight of 795 g.
- It is possible to switch single or automatic firing.
- The weight of the model is 1100 g.
- The energy power of the shot is about 1 J.
- The price on the date of publication is, on average, from 4,500 to 7,000 rubles.
The principle of operation of the pneumatic analog
With the help of a clamping screw, a cylinder is punctured, which contains carbon dioxide. When equipped, the screw is located behind the cover of the magazine.
On the back side of the handle there are decorative slots by analogy with military weapons, in which a holster-butt was fixed with their help.
By the same analogy, the air gun is equipped with a simulated shutter recoil.
When the carbon dioxide cylinder is inserted into the gun, you need to pull the shutter and then cock the trigger in order to start shooting.
This pneumatic weapon is economical in the use of consumables - gas: using only one cylinder, the shooter has the ability to produce up to one hundred and twenty volleys.
Like a real Mauser, the fire switch in the pneumatic analogue is on the left, but does not perform its function by analogy with the combat model, as it is rigidly attached to the body and serves as a decorative part for greater similarity to a real gun.
Many companies today have tried to start producing similar weapons, but so far these attempts have not been crowned with success and such a model has not appeared. So while only the manufacturing company Umarex is the sole owner of the produced exact copy, the most appropriate type of this Mauser.