I’ve been promising this range video for a while now, and here it is. We took all three configurations of the C96 Broomhandle Mauser – a pistol, a carbine, and a machine pistol – out to the range for some comparisons.
The Mauser pistol we used was a fairly standard model – a commercial variant with a 4″ barrel in 7.63 Mauser caliber.
The carbine was also a commercial piece, because the carbine versions ,of the Mauser pistol were never adopted by a military force. They were sold as commercial sporting weapons only.
The machine pistol, known as the Mauser 712 or Schnellfeuer, was issued to German reconnaissance and naval troops for a short time until it was replaced with full size submachine guns that were much more effective. The full auto pistols were also very popular in China in the 1920s and 30s, and that is where more Schnellfeuers were sold (where they were competing with automatic Astra pistols).
