The Long Barrel Bolo rare variant of the Mauser C/96 Broomhandle Pistol
Note: This item sold in our shop in March 2017 to a private collector.
In a previous post, we examined a very interesting and rare C/96 long barrel Bolo made in the immediate Post WWI era. In this post, we’ll be looking at an even more rare variant of the Broomhandle Long Barrel Bolo, one that was built from the start as a long barrel Bolo, without any hash marks on the barrel, and with a standard front sight.
This gun is standard in all respects, except that it’s a full size upper matched with a Bolo sized lower. Mauser made a very small run of these in a tight serial number range, and very few have survived to appear on the market today. When contemplating purchase of one of these, be mindful that a full size upper assembly will fit on a Bolo frame, so be on the lookout for mismatched or renumbered parts!
These long barrel Bolos will have standard Mauser markings on the right side of the frame and top of chamber, the standard 50-1000 rear tangent sight, be rust blued, and have fire blued small parts. Standard Broomhandle wood Bolo grips were used on these guns, and they should be numbered to the gun with at least the last 3 digits of the serial number. Unfortunately none of the guns we have examined has had an original, matched shoulder stock, but it stands to reason that they were shipped with one.
Like its hash barreled sister, the reason why Mauser made these guns seems vague. At least with this version, it was just a matter of putting a standard upper on a Bolo lower – no machining required. The other difference with these guns vs the hash barrel C/96 is that the front sight on this version is just a standard C/96 sight, not the sleeved and pinned front sight found on the hash barrel.
The specific example shown here is in the 476,000 serial range, retains well over 98% of its original rust blue finish, and has perfect manual mechanics. In all aspects, this is a rare and unusual gun, and no doubt one of the rarest of the Post WW1 Mauser variants produced.
When contemplating the purchase of one of these Broomhandles, remember that some degree of variance is possible – a tangent sight marked for 50-500 instead of 50-1000 for example. The warning flags you should be mindful of would be any mismatched or renumbered major parts such as the upper barrel assembly or lower frame, a gun with any finish other than standard Mauser rust blue, or grips other than standard Bolo wood grips. Collecting C/96s is fascinating, and remember that all rules are a guide, with very few ever being set in stone, but if something deviates from what’s expected, it’s a good idea to examine it closer and ensure it’s original to the gun!
From the “Germany” export marking on the left side of the frame, it’s clear that this was a commercial gun, intended for export. We have not examined any of these guns that had military or police markings, so perhaps this was just a short lived commercial experiment.
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