C96 Questions

1
So I somehow suckered myself into buying a C96 Broomhandle Mauser frame and barrel some time ago before doing any significant research. It has trigger, trigger spring, mag follower, spring, and plate. The barrel has a complete tangent sight. Frame and barrel serial numbers are not matching, and the grip frame is pretty pitted, but otherwise solid, and the barrel doesn’t appear completely shot out. Missing the lock frame, hammer, safety, bolt, firing pin, etc etc. A few hundred $$ worth of parts. But the more I read online, the more I am convinced I made a bad decision. A lot of talk about different models and a lack of part interoperability. Numrich, Apex, Sarco, and others have bits and pieces, but there isn’t a lot of detail about what parts fit what years.

Is this a hopeless case? Any way to suss it out?

Re: C96 Questions

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from my reading, interchanging parts isn't too bad. the design worked, and continued to work for decades and there was no real need to tweak it except minor cosmetics like the hammer.
mine was a C&R, pretty much a parts gun, pitted and worn. surprisingly accurate considering there's no visible rifling. i've replaced nearly all the moving parts, but after i replaced the hammer it doubled so i put it away and haven't touched it since. .30 mauser is available.
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here are my 2 main resources on c96:
http://askmisterscience.com/1896mauserbackup/index.html
https://www.kbtacticalstar.com/index.ph ... y&path=105
mine's what they call a "prewar commercial" - pre-ww1.
it's my understanding that churchill carried one of these in the boer war.
Last edited by lurker on Sun Jul 25, 2021 5:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
i'm retired. what's your excuse?

Re: C96 Questions

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So these types of projects rarely make financial sense. 9 out of 10 times you'll end up spending a good deal more than if you just bought one.
Of the parts you listed that you still need, those are all close to universal. Yeah there's more than one of thing like the hammer, but yours will take the more common parts. I think you'll find parts are closer to interchangeable than you think.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: C96 Questions

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Thanks for the detailed info Lurker. I’d come across the Mr Science pages, but not the KB International. I think I can piece most of what I need for less than $500. The confusion sets in when suppliers start calling the parts new model or old model, etc etc.

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