Identifying Obscure Markings on Mauser C/96 Broomhandle Pistols, Part 1 One of the most fascinating aspects of dealing and collecting in antique firearms like we do daily here at Pony Express Firearms is tracing the history of a particular gun. It’s one thing to be able to generally identify the make and model of a pistol, it’s another to know exactly where it saw service, what units it served with, and sometimes to even trace a gun’s whole service history. That’s why being able to identify obscure unit and arsenal markings is a worthwhile endeavor. In the next two posts we’ll be examining two Mauser C/96 pistols, both of which vividly illustrate how markings trace a gun’s history and affect value. This first gun started out life as a standard C/96 pistol, made in a contract of 150,000 guns for the Imperial German Military in WWI. These guns were numbered in … Read More
