Gussied up C96

Status
Not open for further replies.
Desert Rat

Desert Rat

Active Member
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
307
After I got over how ridiculous this thing looked, and after I wiped some drool off the glass and took a picture, I thought of how you guys would like it.

3056509811_8d52484cd8_b.jpg


It's actually a Spanish copy of the Mauser C96. called an Astra M900. Looks and works the same, except when you cover it in gold plating and engrave it. The guy was selling it for a "modest price" of "$22,000."
 
Bas.B said:
Cool, isn't that the Axis Rocket secondary gun?
Click to expand...

Technically it's a Spanish copy of what's used as the Axis Rocket secondary gun, but close enough!

I ended up making a purchase at this particular gun show. I wanted to buy an M1 Garand, but so does everyone else and the price was too rich for my blood.

I ended up picking up a Lee Enfield MkIII that's dated 1915 but had consistent use (with little variation) through past WWII in the UK and Commonwealth. Think Rifleman gun from CoD2 or the UK maps (glider, kraftstoff) of the original DoD.
 
Well, then the axis rocket gun has to be a modded one. Since it has full auto fire and a wooden shoulder support.
 
DrDynomite said:
Well, then the axis rocket gun has to be a modded one. Since it has full auto fire and a wooden shoulder support.
Click to expand...

The C96 wooden shoulder support, or stock, was a real item that also doubled as a case. I saw quite a few of those paired with matching guns at the show, but I think by and large most surviving ones do not in fact have the wooden stock/case anymore. I bet the one for that engraved Astra would be crazy to see.

As for the automatic fire, that is a variant to the C96 known as the M712 "Schnellfeuer," or "rapid fire." That was made in 1936 and is totally historically accurate to DoD:s. All the ones I saw at the show had the 10 round internal box mag, but I guess they had up to 40 round detachable magazines as well. I don't rightly know how many rounds are in the Rocket class mag, because it all goes so fast..
 
Okay, I'd say around 30 or 40 in the Panzershreck class.. You didn't happen to see any MG42 or such at the show? And do you know if the Norwegian Army still uses the 42? I've heard that somewhere..
 
DrDynomite said:
Okay, I'd say around 30 or 40 in the Panzershreck class.. You didn't happen to see any MG42 or such at the show? And do you know if the Norwegian Army still uses the 42? I've heard that somewhere..
Click to expand...

I saw a semi-auto MG 42 on an AA mount that was priced at something like $8,000 or so. I've seen others at more local shows than this Reno one, too. I think you can get a semi-auto MG42 online for about the same price, ? $1000.. In my search for WWII reenactor gear, I've run into a website that sells semi-auto restored MG42s and MG34s.

I don't know if the Norwegians are using the MG42 or not, but I know that the same design was down-chambered for NATO ammunition (from 8mm Mauser to 7.62) and renamed, and is still in use in Germany (MG3) and Switzerland (MG51, and later as the MG 710) to this day.

It's pretty badass to see in pictures, Bundeswehr soldiers with their high-tech G3s and SiGs, and then a primordial dinosaur beast of an MG that hasn't changed all that much since 1942 on sandbags or mounted on some weird spaceship APC. It's almost anachronistic, but realistically you can't really improve on a design that is so perfect in that way.

The MG42's heritage isn't only in Germany and Switzerland (and who knows where else in N. Europe), it's in the M60 machine gun that we used up until the 1980's or so. i don't know for sure, but I think the M240 series of SAWs are also derivative of the same design. (Correction: 240 is of FN make and design, Belgian in origin.)

In Germany, they're phasing the MG3 out of squad-level operation (and possibly further areas) in favor of the H&K MG4.

Edit: In further ponderance and wandering through the interwebs, I found out that yes, indeed, the Norwegian Army does use the MG3. This is almost identical to the MG42.
 
Last edited:
Oh, and I might as well post a pic of the gun that I did buy, and will be getting in a couple weeks:

3056510611_2699c0ca8a.jpg


Lee-Enfield MkIII. As far as I know, that gun is the only legal 10-round magazine in California.

George Lucas took one of the same guns, cut the stock and barrel down, and put a big muffler piece or something on the end to make the Jawa Blaster for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
 
Desert Rat said:
Oh, and I might as well post a pic of the gun that I did buy, and will be getting in a couple weeks:

3056510611_2699c0ca8a.jpg


Lee-Enfield MkIII. As far as I know, that gun is the only legal 10-round magazine in California.

George Lucas took one of the same guns, cut the stock and barrel down, and put a big muffler piece or something on the end to make the Jawa Blaster for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
Click to expand...


Cool one, I guess your rifle wont meet the same destiny as the Star Wars one?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top