School me on Mauser Pocket Pistols

[glennsche]

gents,

who's got one? do you like em? can you even get ammo for them?

[Edvil91]

I want one very bad, a mauser 1910!

[gun toting monkeyboy]

The 1910, 1914 and 1934 models were all your basic blowback pistols. They were chambered in .25 and .32 ACP. Very well made. A bit more expensive than other pistols of the time, but worth it in terms of craftsmanship and quality. The HSc model was made in .32 and .380 ACP from the 1940s until some time in the 1970s. It is built more like the Walther PP series. It is one of the classic .380 pistols out there. Ammo is common, and available here in the US. .25 ACP is just as expensive as the others, so there is no savings in going with the smaller caliber. If you can find them, these pistols are well worth getting. I missed an early .32 Model 1914 a few years back, and I am still kicking myself for it.

-Mb

[Milsurp Collector]

I have two Mauser HSc's. Most Mauser, Walther, and other German pocket pistols of that era were available in .32 ACP.

[glennsche]

I have two Mauser HSc's. Most Mauser, Walther, and other German pocket pistols of that era were available in .32 ACP.

no pics?

[beetle]

"Before you buy guns, buy books!" -- Collector's motto

Most of the information I'm about to write comes from the book "Mauser Pistolen" by Weaver, Speed, and Schmid

As a firm Mauser had great success selling rifles. The model 98 rifle (basis for the majority of significant bolt action rifles including the german K98K and American springfield 1903) sold to countries all over the world. In fact, the firearms company of Fabrique Nationale was specifically set up to sell model 98 rifles to Belgium.

However, Mauser did not find itself quite as successful in the pistol market. It's innovative C96 "broomhandle" sold only about 8,800 units in 1907. In 1908 the german military decided to go with the Luger instead as the standard sidearm. Paul Mauser knew he had to create another pistol line that was much simplier than the difficult to manufacture C96 broomhandle.

The company was looking for a new design that could be sold to the military as well as the growing police and civilian market for "pocket pistols". Mauser had an innovative idea -- what if the company could produce an entire range of pistols in various sizes and calibers by manufacturing the same components but in different sizes. Almost like saying "if I take this 7.65mm pistol and make each piece 1.176 times larger I'll have a 9mm gun".

9mm parabellum was the target because it was the only round Mauser felt the military would take seriously. In addition Mauser felt that it was easier to develop towards the larger 9mm size and scale things downward for the civilian market.

Paul Mauser worked with two other engineers employed by the company, Fidel Feederle and Josef Nickl, the latter being the most instrumental in the design of the "pistol family" and "pocket pistols".

They started with a hammerless, striker fired design fitted with a fixed barrel on an open top slide. It was felt that these features could easily be scaled to the other calibers.

(as an aside I find it fascinating that many of the features we consider "modern" were used so long ago. For example, open top slide? Beretta 92! hammerless striker fired design, hello most plastic pistols like glock, xd, m&p)

They first experimented with a more complex locked breech design, but for an unknown reason abandoned this approach. Perhaps it was too costly to manufacture, or didn't hit their targeted price point. Instead, they switched to a simpler blowback design. Unfortunately the decision to switch to blowback had consequences on making the design work for 9mm. outside of a few prototypes Mauser never took to market a 9mm based on the pocket pistol design.

However, the design proved successful with smaller calibers and Mauser took to market the pistol chambered in both .25acp and .32acp.

I don't have one, but the first model was the Model of 1910. The earliest versions had a "side latch" -- a latch above the trigger opening which allowed you to take out trigger, trigger bar, trigger spring, and sear assembly without having to remove the slide. I'm not sure of the benefits of this.

improvements were made and the model of 1914 was released. It simplified some of the internal parts from the 1910 model, including eliminating the side latch. It was a popular pistol and sold about 70K units, which was about 10K units more than the model of 1910 (sold alongside). So all together about 130K units of the pocket pistols were sold delighting Mauser management.

During WW2 Mauser's parent company transferred all Luger production to Mauser (away from Ludwig Loewe). The new superintendent of pistol production August Weiss ordered a refresh of the pocket pistol line. Along with cosmetic updates, the gun was further simplified and some parts were substituted with stamped metal parts. The grip was also re-contoured for a better fit in hand. Other than that the gun is essentially the same as it previous designs.

In 1934 the gun was offered at 36.50RM (or $8.75)

During this time Nickl experimented with the design quite a bit, always trying to scale it up to handle 9mm. Protoypes exist of all kinds of fancy rotating barrel units, delayed blowback units, etc. Unfortunately none were put into production.

Production of the pocket pistol design ceased when Mauser transitioned to a new design entirely, the double action "HSc".

Here are my two examples, a 1914 and a 1934 (some day I'll add a 1910).


As you can see the gun itself is very simple consisting of just a few parts.


The barrel is fixed in place by a long pin that locks it to the frame


While the gun itself is basic the construction, fit, and finish are superb. Today pocket pistols in excellent condition fetch about $600 or so. models marked for the military or rare variations can be worth double.

while it's not my main collecting area I have a little Mauser collection going

[smle-man]

I have an Interarms Mauser HSc 'one of five thousand' models in .380. Very accurate little piece. Seems like a perfect pocket auto to me.

[bruceflinch]

Just last week, I was looking at my Neighbors 1910 for him.
Decent shape, but broken safety, Seer & firing pin mating surfaces are toast. When you drop the slide, it goes bang about half the time. Numrich has none of the parts needed.
Neat wallhanger tho!

[glennsche]

so.... beetle wins the thread. great info sir, thank you! and great pics!

and if that "little" collection isnt your main focus, what is?

[MyOdessa]

Beetle, you have a nice collection and great photos.

[Milsurp Collector]

no pics?

The Mauser HSC on the lower left was made in 1941 for the Heer (Army). The one on the lower right was made in 1942 for the Kriegsmarine (Navy). Pre-war Walther PPK and PP for comparison. All are chambered for 7.65 mm (.32 ACP).

[TMB 1]

Cool Pistols! My Great Uncle brought a 1934 back from France after WWII.

[Mike A]

Beetle I LOVE your "ZigZag" Mauser pocket revolver!!! A VERY rare bird.

What caliber is that one?