Engraved Mauser C96 Broomhandle With Shoulder Stock

Most engraved C96s you come across get the scroll treatment on the frame and call it a day. Not this one. The oak leaf and acorn pattern runs the length of the entire pistol, wrapping the frame, the magazine housing, the barrel extension, and the full round of the barrel itself. Even the barrel, which most engravers leave alone because the curved surface fights them, carries unbroken foliate work right out to the muzzle. That alone tells you the hand behind this took the job seriously.

The motif reads as German oak, a recurring patriotic theme in early 20th century work, cut deep and silvered against darkened steel so the leaves stand up in relief. A retailer cartouche sits on the right side of the frame, marked Waffen-Weiss, Frankfurt am Main, with a small oak leaf and acorn panel set into it. The left flat carries the Waffenfabrik Mauser Oberndorf a. Neckar address. That pairing points to a commercial pistol dressed and sold through a Frankfurt gun house rather than anything military.

The action is the classic Mauser short recoil system with the bolt riding inside the barrel extension and the locking block underneath. Tangent rear sight graduated out to optimistic distances, the bottlenecked 7.63mm Mauser cartridge feeding from the fixed forward magazine. The grips here are checkered walnut rather than the usual wood panels, fitted snug to the backstrap.

And then there's the stock. The walnut shoulder stock doubles as a holster, hollowed to take the pistol with a hinged door and the original cleaning rod tucked inside. Attach it to the grip frame and the C96 becomes the carbine Mauser intended. The walnut shows honest handling marks and a warm grain that plays against all that silvered steel.

For a collector who wants a C96 that goes beyond the standard military silhouette, this is the kind of dressed example that doesn't surface often.