The Broomhandle Mauser Pistol

Shooting the Broomhandle

Like many weapons of a bygone era the Broomhandle represents weapons of previous wars. As such they are a fascinating part of history at least to me. The last ones were made almost 70 years ago in 1939 after being in production for about 45 years and approximately one million made not including the Chinese version. Some of their features are obsolete by today’s standards such as the stripper clips and the magazine in front of the trigger guard. Those among other features make them interesting. It also has a unique profile shared only by its knockoffs. The fact that some famous people used and liked the Broomhandle including Winston Churchill doesn’t hurt a thing either. Imagine in the 1890’s or early 1900’s having such an advanced pistol when many others were using revolvers some even black powder models. What was it like to shoot such a gun or take it to war? Other then the potent Mars pistols of England there were few if any other rounds that matched its velocity until the 1930’s. The one rap it had against it was its poor stopping power due to its small non expanding slug.

I am a firm believer in shooting any gun that’s safe to shoot regardless of age. To have a Broomhandle and not shoot it is a sacrilege especially since getting or making ammo for it is relatively easy. There is factory ammo that is suitable for it though you may have to look around a bit. The ammo is a 30 Mauser or 7.63 X 25 as it’s sometimes called. The round is a copy of the slightly earlier Borchardt round and was slightly souped up for the stronger Mauser pistol. In 1930 Russia brought out the 7.62 X 25 Russian Tokarev round. Essentially it has the same dimensions as the Mauser round there in lies a problem. The newer Tokarev round meant for the CZ 52 and various machine pistols is loaded much hotter then the Mauser offering making it dangerous to fire in a Broomhandle. The rounds look identical but I must emphasize again don’t mix them up. Failure to heed this advice may result in a ruined pistol and injuries to the shooter and bystanders. Since I have a CZ 52 I take pains to keep the ammo segregated.

If you can’t find factory ammo for it and are a reloader you are in luck. Cast bullets can also be successfully used with proper loads. Just to clarify swaged and are softer then the typical cast bullet. Shooting swaged bullets at higher velocities will lead up your barrel so keep that in mind when working up loads. Although the specs call for 308 diameter bullets my specimen required 312 diameter slugs in order to prevent them from keyholing. My first shooting test with 308 diameter bullets grouped them fairly well but they all tumbled. You might want to slug your bore prior to loading in order to insure that you will have the most accurate ammo. The good news is that 312 diameter bullets are available from the same sources as the 308 variety. They are meant for the 32 autos and revolvers but they work fine. Most of your die companies make the necessary dies for reloading and I used R.C.B.S. dies in this test. Powders should be in the range of 231 to Herco for the best results. I shot approximately 700 rounds for this report and Unique was my favorite powder though the others did ok.

My objective in making ammo for this pistol was to have something that approximated the military ballistics and be reliable. Keeping in mind that the design is over a century old and my piece is about 80 I didn’t try for the last foot second in velocity. Rather I wanted ammo that was safe and enjoyable to shoot. I doubt that I will ever take it small game hunting nor will it be my first line self defense gun though with the right bullets it will suffice for either. The ammo is easy to make by using regular reloading techniques. Belling the case mouth is necessary especially with lead bullets. You can buy an inexpensive Lee die that has two inserts that cover almost any caliber that you will encounter and it bells the case mouth just fine. Small pistol regular primers work fine and I used Winchester primers for this shooting test. Case life was good the only problem was finding them on the desert floor. Before I reloaded them I took pains to remove the dirt from the cases to prevent damage to the die or cases. They were thrown in various directions from the gun but seldom over 5 or 6 feet from the shooting station. Whatever faults real or perceived the Mauser has jamming wasn’t one of them. Regardless of the bullet if fed and ejected everything I loaded with the exception of an underload I tried. There wasn’t enough powder to cycle the action which is hardly the fault of the gun. To my surprise it even fed full wadcutters though the feed ramp didn’t look like it could handle them. Here are some loads that I used and found suitable in my gun. For the most part my gun liked Unique though that might not be true of all guns. I didn’t clean the gun during the tests as I wanted to duplicate field conditions at least to a certain extent. That didn’t cause any problems with the gun.

Shooting the gun proved to be an interesting experience. Since the ammo is located in front of the trigger guard the balance is different then most other auto pistols. That was one of the reasons that it was never officially adopted by most nations. Most people simply don’t like that balance and find it hard to shoot accurately. Once you get the feel for it it’s no harder to shoot accurately then most other handguns at least in my opinion. Jamming and feeding problems were non existent. The recoil was very mild enabling me to shoot accurately and have long shooting sessions. The trigger pull isn’t too bad for such a gun though the hammer fall is a little heavy. It is a typical single action auto meaning you cock the hammer for the first shot then pull the trigger for each succeeding shot. The gun can be fired rapidly without any problems though the muzzle will climb a little. The rear sight is adjustable for elevation but is hard to see at least for my eyes as the notch is small and not well defined. The rear sight raised up to its maximum height is supposed to give you a thousand meters of range. I suggest that is very optimistic at best. The sights on the 9mm version are good to 500 meters also somewhat optimistic. When set at its lowest elevation it shoots about 2” high at 15 yards with most loads. The slower and heavier bullets printed a couple of inches higher which is to be expected. At 15 yards I could keep 6 shots into 2 to 3 inches while at 25 they opened up to 6 or so. I feel that it was as much a function of the sights as it was an accuracy problem. The stripper clips may take some getting used to though they work fine. Replacement clips are available from a couple of sources and are inexpensive. A good place to get replacement parts for the Broomhandle is Numrich arms. They have everything from replacement grips to springs. They even have barrels occasionally but due to the design the barrel and receiver are one piece making it more expensive and difficult to replace a worn out barrel. To me that is a design fault. It is more difficult to machine a one piece receiver and barrel then a typical two piece unit. The Mauser requires a lot of machining which made it more expensive and difficult to manufacture. The Spanish copies which looked liked the Broomhandle were made differently with fewer steps in their manufacturing process.

While a majority of C96 Mausers came in the 30 Mauser chambering there were several other calibers made. During WWl about 150,000 were made in the conventional 9mm Luger chambering. They supplemented the Luger pistol and have a prominent red 9 on their grips. Other offerings included the 30 Luger, the rare 8.15 mm and the 9mm export which is longer then the 9mm Luger round. The Chinese made them in 45 ACP and they liked the Broomhandle very much. If you purchase one and intend on shooting it you should have it checked out for soundness and caliber. As a note my pistol will fully chamber a 9mm Luger round. However firing it would be foolhardy to the extreme. You are forcing a 9mm (35 caliber) bullet down a 30 caliber barrel. That would almost certainly destroy the gun and injure you and any bystanders. Like any gun the caliber and condition should always be ascertained before shooting it. I have a second specimen but the barrel is completely shot out making it useless to test ammo. My first option is to have it bored out to the 8.15 and if unable to do that I will have it relined to the standard 30 caliber. There are a few advertisers in the Shotgun News that can provide that service. Another note is there are some people out there selling replica shoulder stocks for the Mauser. Don’t even think of attaching a replica stock to your Broomhandle. The BATF considers that a sawed off rifle and you will be tagged with a felony if you get caught. If you have an original that’s ok to attach and shoot it but not a replica. Go figure. You can contact the BATF to get the necessary tax forms and pay the $200. fee if you want to go through that process. Anytime you want to modify a gun in any way I would advise checking with the authorities before undertaking such a project. Doing so may save you a world of hurt. A shoulder stock would make shooting the Broomhandle at a hundred yards or so practical due to the relatively high velocity of the cartridge.

When you take something like a Broomhandle to the range it generally attracts a crowd. Some of the more knowledgeable shooters may know what you have but the majority doesn’t have a clue. I get some pleasure in explaining what it is and letting other shooters try it out. They get a kick out of shooting the antique and sharing knowledge with other shooters is what it’s all about.