The following information on uncommon Mauser pistols comes from Chapter 37 of Mauser Rifles and Pistols by W. H. B. Smith. Mauser Rifles and Pistols is also available to purchase in print.
Like all other arms manufacturers, Mauser constantly experimented. Occasionally experimental models of pistols manufactured at that plant and returned to this country by servicemen, will be encountered. In general these will be hand manufactured weapons of which only one or two were made and which did not prove successful enough to warrant manufacture.
The one exception to this is a weapon manufactured in 1913 along the general exterior lines of the Mauser Model 1910 Pocket Pistol but which was constructed with a special breech mechanism and which uses the 9mm Luger cartridge.
According to official Mauser records, this arm was designed for use by Russian officers. A Brazilian Army Commission also evidenced interest in this design.
This pistol was never put into major production, however, and only a few hundred pieces were manufactured. The factory turned its entire production over to the manufacture of arms for Germany, of course, during World War I. Manufacture of this pistol was never revived.
Occasional samples will be encountered, since a few together with their parts were sent to the Stoeger Arms Company in New York, for sale in this country.
This weapon is not equipped with a positive lock of the type of the Mauser Military pistol. However, it has a delaying system which differentiates it from the strictly unlocked blowback type of Mauser pistol.
There is a release catch provided ahead of the triggerguard which controls two flat steel locking pieces, pivoted in the front part of the receiver ahead of the triggerguard where they are retained under powerful spring pressure, constantly tending to thrust them inward.
To load the firing chamber, it is necessary to release this powerful spring arrangement by pushing in on the release catch, before the slide can be drawn back by hand.
The slide has a projection machined at its forward end extending into the recess in the receiver suitably beveled at its rear face, to act upon and cam the dual locking strips outward against the pressure of their springs as the slide starts to the rear.
At no time is this slide locked to the barrel. However, since the slide in its rearward movement must overcome not only the pressure resistance of the customary recoil spring and the inertia of the parts to be moved to the rear, but must also overcome the side thrusting pressure of the spring-supported steel finger pieces, the additional force necessary to overcome these added resistances serves to provide a hesitation which permits use of the powerful Luger 9mm cartridge when the pistol is in good operating condition. The recoil is considerable however.
This arm was designed to be fitted with an adjustable shoulder stock holster as in the standard Mauser Military Pistol and has an adjustable rear sight for long range shooting.
The manufacture and machining of this arm and all its components are of the very highest order. The arm itself, however, is essentially a collector’s weapon.
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