Why did Germany use a C96 Carbine during the WWI? With firearms and weapon expert Jonathan Ferguson

[@NRJenzenJones]

Thank you for giving Armax a shout-out! The Kickstarter for the Armax reprints is live now.

[@TheArmourersBench]

I do recall Jonathan wrote a rather good book about these Mausers.

[@orbtastic]

My grandad was a flight lt in the RAF during the war but wasn't allowed to fly due to his eyesight (he wanted to be a pilot and volunteered). He ended up doing desk based duties like flight control and also dealt with the returning flights and dead crew etc. He was mentioned in dispatches for the latter. He had a broomhandled Mauser and I never understood how/why but I guess one of the RAF crew traded it or picked it up from a crew maybe but still not sure how ground crew weapons got back to the UK cos nobody would be flying with this as a sidearm in WW2. He still had it decades after WW2 and belonged to a gun club, my uncle says he remembers him shooting it in the garage after drinking at the club, which is pretty gnarly as it wasn't a huge garage and made mostly of brick.

[@454FatJack]

Sir W Churchill had private 1896 prior WW1. Many officer’s around the 🌏 had too. Semi-a 10 shot vs revolver 6.

[@alefmagnum207]

Oh, right. The legendary Mauser at the hands of support and tank/airplane classes...

[@matthayward7889]

I love C96 carbines, there’s just something about them that looks gorgeous

[@kradikt666]

Such a cool job you have sir

[@robertlinke2666]

i just realised a villa perosa would probably be a decent WW1 weapon for close range air-to-air engagements

[@luisgimenez8660]

That's the original purpose of that gun.

[@robertlinke2666]

@@luisgimenez8660 well then

[@taff1538]

Always a joy to see one of John's videos. Although, I always enjoy looking behind him, there is always something interesting to see on the racks... Thanks for the share, much appreciated.

[@DB-yj3qc]

My "dream gun or wish to own" is a "Broomhandle". A friend of mine has one in almost perfect condition slightly fired in 7.65. He loads the ammo for it and let me shoot it at a range. It's his special occasion range gun.

[@jon9021]

Ian from Forgotten Weapons showed something “similar” to this, but it was a very well made Chinese warlord weapon.

[@anonplayer8529]

Well, he mentioned that "comissions" of those "Tsausers" had always been high ranking party leaders an officials, so no action in battlefield more commemorative pieces, but Ian also said that the workmanship of chinese Armory did not really pale out compared to original Mausers. On the same note I meant to ask who is green of envy now? Ian for missing the low numbers Mauser, or Jonathan for not being able fiddle with the wonder of the east ?😅😅😅

[@jon9021]

@@anonplayer8529 😄

[@davidwallwork3623]

Mate of mine bought a C96 from Fultons of Bisley in the mid 60's. I read somewhere that it was "the most powerful handgun in the world" until 1935 when the 357 Magnum was launched.

[@chaimafaghet7343]

It objectively wasn't, that'd be the Mars Automatic. All of the Mars cartridges were utterly ridiculous.

[@brittakriep2938]

@@chaimafaghet7343 : Was an obscure cartridge then, but 7,63 Mauser saw combat in two worldwars , Chinas warlord era , russian civil war and Lots of smaller conflicts.

[@chaimafaghet7343]

@@brittakriep2938 That has absolutely nothing to do with the (extremely divergent) relative power of the cartridges.

[@brittakriep2938]

@@chaimafaghet7343 : My comment was not about power of cartridges, the Mars pistols and cartridges had not been very popular, so military quality of Mars weapons is unknown.

[@chaimafaghet7343]

@@brittakriep2938 Then you are very stupid. Popularity does not increase the power of a handgun, having a more powerful cartridge does.

[@allanburt5250]

Another cracking one Jonathan 👌

[@FelixstoweFoamForge]

Beautiful little carbine. I love stuff like this, and have a real soft spot for the detachable mag trench-carbine version.

[@enscroggs]

Of all the German-made firearms, including the STG-44, this is the one I'd like to own more than any other. The C96 carbine was first promoted as the ideal hunting weapon for chamois. Being light and easily broken down into two very compact pieces and just as easily reassembled, the hunter could carry the gun fully protected in a backpack while he made his way high onto the rocky mountainsides where the chamois like to feed. The flat-shooting 7.63x25 could take those little goat antelopes at range and the bullet didn't severely damage the valuable hide.

[@derekp2674]

Thanks Jonathan and team. It was nice to see those early C96's. It always nice to see a firearm that I have been lucky enough to fire, back when ordinary UK folk could own them as Section 1 firearms.

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

I used to have Euan Rabagliati's Bentley Speed Six Special made for him in 1934 from an original 1927 saloon, known by its registration number BXB8. I researched his life to a considerable degree together with his nephew. I also found out to my surprise that Rabagliati's wife was a colleague's godmother but sadly it was too late to contact the great man who had died in Monaco. Supposedly he used his own hunting rifle to shoot the German pilot in the mentioned incident and I would have loved to find out what exactly it was. It has been suggested to me that it was either an H&H 0.375 Magnum or an H&H 0.375R from a double rifle but no confirmation. Being hit by a .375 bullet would probably spoil your whole day.

[@sleepCircle]

Dang, serial number 225. That's wild. I wonder how much smaller you can get before you get down to things which never made it out of the factory for one reason or another.

[@oldesertguy9616]

Those may seem impractical, but they sure were beautiful. Add in they were cool and unusual, and yeah, I would have wanted one.

[@cosmo9882]

Very cool. Thank you

[@adamskinner5868]

Second vid I've watched by you and both have been very interesting n informative, but I really love the tear-downs and detailed explanations of how things work as done by your friend and competitor at Forgotten Weapons n would love it if you added that feature to your content. Still, I'm grateful that you go to the effort of showing us these interesting old guns so please keep it up however you do it. I don't know why I find guns so interesting but it's something to do with them being such clever little machines, with everything accounted for with their cool little solutions to the problems involved in getting it all to work well. I love seeing how its done n hearing about the ideas behind it. Thanks again.

[@robertlewis8295]

Check out C&Rsenal, Othias is another coconspirator with Ian and Jonathan.

[@Cheshire9k]

C96, 40 round detachable magazine, full auto. Easily top 10 coolest guns to ever exist.

[@seanmalloy7249]

If I remember correctly, the full-auto model was the M712, for all that it looks like a standard C96 at a casual glance.

[@Mere-Lachaiselongue]

The full auto version wasn't made until a few years before ww2.

[@Horgler]

@@Mere-LachaiselongueThe Spanish were making them since the late 20s, while the German version was in 1932.

[@Gamer_1745]

Great video thanks!

[@Wildwest89]

Very cool I never knew they made these!

[@darrenwright9619]

That my friend is a Broomhandle Mauser…

[@molochi]

I've always wondered what velocity of 30mauser was like out of these carbines. It was a pretty zippy round for the time.

[@davidingham2216]

C96 - worlds sexiest gun

[@stebo-pv2hq]

Kaiser Wilhelm II had a few of these,ornately engraved of course.Due to his damaged arm,he found these manageable during hunts for hare.

[@jett3459]

Winston Churchill bought a C96 Mauser when it was this year's model of automatic pistol in 1896. He talked about the fact that he hurt his right arm when he was getting off a boat in India for his first assignment as a young cavalry lieutenant and he quickly found out that swinging a saber would dislocate his arm. He decided that his best bet would be to buy the best pistol he could and use that instead of a saber when he actually had to fight. Later, when he saw combat in Egypt, he said that the fact that he had to use a pistol instead of a saber as his primary weapon saved his life. He killed a few men at close range after a cavalry charge with his C96 when using a saber would have left him vulnerable to attack by the other combatants. He said that a couple of shots on the torso of a man would do the job, and it was fast to reload.

[@HollowMan972]

"Whip out your broom handle and go to town" 😂😂

[@bebo4374]

Sometimes I whip out my broom handle in public parks.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

Had the C98 Carbine been select fire with a larger detachable magazine it would've probably been much more popular.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

I think there was such a weapon in the interwar years.

[@KnifeChatswithTobias]

@@comentedonakeyboard , thanks for the info.

[@TrooperClerk]

So Battlefield 1 was right, equipping this gun with the Pilot Class!

[@calvingreene90]

There was the lunatic that is a shame this machine gun through his propeller without an interrupter and brought down a couple enemy aircraft and shot his own propeller off several times so he armored his propeller.

[@TylerMcL3more]

Because it’s awesome- that’s why! Just look at it!

[@Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y]

"You whip out you broom handle and go to town." - That's what she said.

[@iskandartaib]

Looking at the thumbnail, I was thinking Kimber .22 - about the same size.

[@postmandnb]

Are there plans for more "Up In Arms" videos?

[@F1ghteR41]

Now I can boast that I've communicated with 1 Osprey author. 😁 Jokes aside, congratulations on your article, Jonathan, I bet it was a colossal amount of work to dig for any scrap of information. 4:00 Was it the first firearm to use a detachable stock like that? 5:12 Were there any versions of this design chambered for 9×25? It seems reasonable to use a more powerful round once you're not limited to the handgun form-factor. Oh, and by the way, wouldn't it make more sense for a WW1 German pilot to get his in 9×19, like the regular military C96, since, like you say, the guns were semi-custom anyway? 7:06 Why would you need such a large hammer?

[@sergecashman4822]

It looks much more ergonomic than a broomhandle, both the angle of the grip and the front grip make a big difference. All it needs is a detachable magazine. In a way it's kind of an ideal setup for this type of action, as it is oversized to begin with. You see tons of 9mm carabines and semi-automatic submachine conversions today. This one can't be any worse. Especially considering the options they had back then.

[@somefool4625]

Large ring hammer. Interesting.

[@PataPannu]

Wonder if you can attach a mauser bayonet on that pistolgrip rail...

[@j_taylor]

By the time you fix bayonets in air to air combat, something has gone badly wrong.

[@BobcatSchneidermann]

Gimme one in 9x25 Export, and I'll take it out for roe deer.

[@dreadnought8363]

A fellow enjoyer of 9x25 mauser export I see.

[@CatsT.M]

I do remember you talked about this in the Pay Day 2 GameSpot episode. Though, that one was slightly different as the buttstock was detachable...oh wait, that one is on the table in front of you.

[@Lankythepyro]

Every time I watch one of these videos I absolutely kick myself for not visiting the Royal Armouries Museum while I was in the UK

[@tomwinterfishing9065]

Come back!😝

[@kenibnanak5554]

I had never seen the 1917 trench carbine you flashed. Can you do a video about those? It looks like it has a replaceable magazine, but I thought Mauser only did that with the select fire version of the 1920s.

[@j.robertsergertson4513]

Isn't that a DL-44 heavy blaster carbine used by corellian sardukar death commandos at the battle of Uranus ?

[@tomhenry897]

Wonder how many were private purchases

[@abhishekduggal.2076]

" Ahh, a choice of an avid gun collector , its a nice gun stanger "

[@robertdeen8741]

Perhaps I should wait untill the end but what about it with Schnell fire? You sir must have the best job in the whole UK. Ever done a show about how you got your job. Its so damn cool....indead eh.

[@AWizardDidIt42]

I want to hear more about three autorevolver guy

[@kivsto8130]

think this is technically illegal in the states rn bc stock vs 50 round ps90

[@pgconley]

C96's are specifically named as an exemption to this rule, there are a decent amount of companies that make regular C96 stock/holster reproductions.

[@robertlinke2666]

only for weapons manufactured or imported after 1986, weird enough. it specifically exempts any weapon before that date. as well as those held by government agencies.

[@comentedonakeyboard]

Why? Because the Sturmgewehr wasnt available back then.

[@zuken4696]

Well, another utility of having a piece on a plane in WWI was to be able to shoot yourself if the plane's getting on fire

[@datadavis]

Ah, painly. The worst death.

[@BeingFireRetardant]

The worsy is getting hurted before the awful painly kicks in, because fire burnishes hottestly.

[@Chiller01]

Nine mm while flying around in a glorified kite is a bit comical but a beautiful looking firearm.

[@aestheticdemon3802]

It's NOT 9mm...

[@Chiller01]

@@aestheticdemon3802 SORRY!

[@arghjayem]

Because it’s Han Solo’s favourite weapon of course! 😂

[@keithmoore5306]

that would be a good option for a pilot forced down behind enemy lines!!

[@beachboy0505]

The amount of research computer 💻 games do.

[@pyeitme508]

RAD!

[@ScoutSniper3124]

Frankly, I'd rather have a slightly cut down Enfield rifle with .303 to down another aircraft than this. 9mm isn't going to do much damage to an opponent's engine or control surfaces, and has a pitiful range. But to each their own.

[@bvcxz47]

why would a German pilot use a British rifle? and the C96 carbine was chambered in .30 mauser

[@aestheticdemon3802]

These C-96's weren't chambered in 9mm parabellum, but in 7.63 Mauser, a bottle necked cartridge, with much better ballistics than 9mm, in the early 1920's the American importer for Mauser weapons advertised the standard C-96 as "The worlds most powerful handgun", the sighs on the pistol versions are calibrated out to several hundred meters when used with the holster attached as a butt stock.

[@michaelguerin56]

The 9mm Parabellum versions of the C96 appeared later and had the number 9 routed into the pistol grip sides.

[@mre7862]

I hate this gun so much in BF5 😂

[@couchbear6108]

A survival rifle perhaps?

[@RobertDecker417]

The only non-45 pistol worth its salt /s

[@codeman1009]

💜💜💜💜💜

[@wirehyperspace]

So is that how England was loosing the war so had to beg for America to help you , and still came up with ways to play everybody to get all the healthy top parts like a king David kosher meal tea tax

[@thejcquartet6943]

'You just whip out your broom handle'. Oo errr...

[@Viktor-j7m]

Где выдают??????!