page_title: Mauser C96
section_title: M1932/M712 Schnellfeuer
hierarchical_section_title: Mauser C96 / Major variants / M1932/M712 Schnellfeuer
caption_attribution_description: English: A Mauser C96 Schnellfeuer. Taken at the National Firearms Museum
context_page_description: The Mauser C96 is a semi-automatic pistol that was originally produced by German arms manufacturer Mauser from 1896 to 1937. Unlicensed copies of the gun were also manufactured in Spain and China in the first half of the 20th century.
  The distinctive characteristics of the C96 are the integral box magazine in front of the trigger, the long barrel, the wooden shoulder stock which gives it the stability of a short-barreled rifle and doubles as a holster or carrying case, and a grip shaped like the handle of a broom. The grip earned the gun the nickname "broomhandle" in the English-speaking world, because of its round wooden handle, and in China the C96 was nicknamed the "box cannon" because of its rectangular internal magazine and the fact that it could be holstered in its wooden box-like detachable stock.
  With its long barrel and high-velocity cartridge, the Mauser C96 had superior range and better penetration than most other pistols of its era; the 7.63×25mm Mauser cartridge was the highest-velocity commercially manufactured pistol cartridge until the advent of the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935.
context_section_description: The Spanish gunmaking firms of Beistegui Hermanos and Astra began producing detachable magazine-fed, select-fire versions of the C96 in 1927 and 1928 respectively, intended for export to the Far East.
  Mauser began production of the Schnellfeuer (rapid fire), their own select-fire, detachable magazine version of the M30 designed by Karl Westinger. Production started in 1932 and ended in 1936, which has led to its unofficial designation of "M1932" by collectors. An extremely successful design, around 98,000 guns were made overall and they had their own series of serial numbers.
  It was largely intended for export to South America and China or to the opposing sides in the later Spanish Civil War. From 1932 to 1935, the Yugoslavian military tested batches of the Schnellfeuer in both 7.63mm and 9mm Parabellum for the purpose of arming mountain troops and special operations units. Improvements requested by the Yugoslavs included a detachable barrel, improved front and rear sights, more durable parts to prevent breakage under sustained fire and lowered position of the shoulder stock to avoid "hammer bite".
  Small numbers of M1932s were supplied to the German Wehrmacht during World War II, who designated it the M712.
  The US National Firearms Act of 1934 placed a $200 tax on select-fire weapons ("machine guns"), making exports of the Schnellfeuer guns to the US impractical since at the time this was roughly half the cost of a new car. After World War II, importers sold a semi-automatic conversion of the detachable magazine Schnellfeuer that was made for the US surplus market. The versions imported from China were built on new semi-auto-only frames; the ATF treats them under the law as new guns and not under the curio and relic exemption.
caption: Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer
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