A Very Historically Interesting, Significant and Beautiful 'Broomhandle' C96 Mauser Semi Auto Pistol. Winston Churchill & Lawrence of Arabia's Favourite Pistol. Made By Mauser of Obendorf For The Revolutionary Bolshovik Army Of Russia 1921

Designed and used from the late Victorian era, this beautiful and distinctive gun was hugely popular throughout the world, and was the type used by German Officers in WW1. This was, at the time, one of the best designed and most expensive pistols ever made. It was designed to have completely interlocking parts without a single screw in its construction other than one to hold the grips in place This type was Winston Churchill's personal choice of pistol, and he used one in his personal milItary service before WW1.

This is one of the best surviving examples we have ever seen, with near perfect matching parts integrity, 1000m ladder sight. And it has an extremely sensitive deactivation, in order to preserve its good condition accordingly, with UK certificate

A 4 inch barrel Mauser Pistol known as the 'Bolo' short for Bolshovick and named for the use of the early Revolutionary Red Army Officer's of Russia, just after WW1. This example has the rarer feature of a special safety proof on the hammer. A most attractive piece, with areas of good matt finish. It is highly collectable by those seeking early examples of both famous German pistols and early Russian Revolutionary arms. It became the favourite arm for Bolshevik agents of the Cheka-OGPU.

The Bolshevik Army, also known as the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, was the military force of the Bolshevik government formed after the October Revolution in 1917. Led by Leon Trotsky, it was initially composed of Red Guards, volunteers, and a component of the Cheka (the Bolshevik secret police), later expanded through conscription. The Red Army played a crucial role in the Russian Civil War, defending the Bolsheviks against various opposition forces, including the White Army and foreign interventionist forces.

The revolver is a traditional and popular weapon in Russia, but ... for some reason, in Soviet Russia, immediately after the end of the Civil War, they did not appeal to the old traditions and solve the issue of developing their own production of these revolvers in Tula, but thought about equipping them with modern samples of self-loading weapons, and first of all, the operational staff of the Cheka-OGPU.The only question was where to get it.
And ... the place was immediately found - yesterday's fierce enemy, and today, potentially the best friend - Weimar Germany. The memory was still alive that in Russia since pre-revolutionary times German Mauser pistols were popular, which became even more popular during the Civil War.
Kozhanka and Mauser became the "calling card" of security officers, commissars, crews of "Comrade Trotsky's propaganda armoured train" and all sorts of chieftains, fathers and ... sailors-anarchists. In general, it was the Mauser, and by no means the "good old revolver", that became a kind of symbol of the revolution, so that even during the civil war in Spain in 1936-1939, the fashion for it, as a symbolic weapon of the revolution, was revived again, and they were worn there and anarchists of Durruti, and Canadian volunteers and ... Soviet military advisers.

Deactivated yet fully actionable. Small areas of old pitting. Almost all the parts have matching numbers
Winston Churchill was very fond of his Mauser C96, and used one at the Battle of Omdurman and during the Second Boer War; similarly, Lawrence of Arabia carried a Mauser C96 for a period during his time in the Middle East. Chinese Communist general Zhu De carried a Mauser C96 during his Nanchang Uprising and other future conflicts, his gun (with his name printed on) can be viewed in Beijing war museum as a first class relic. It can also be seen used in the Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes movie Games of Shadows, an absolutely marvelous film..
Not suitable for export UK mainland sales only

Code: 25744