This particular Chinese pistol is a great example of all the elements of a proper Chinese Mystery Pistol: sights that don’t function, gibberish markings, mechanical derivation from the Browning 1900, aesthetic elements form the C96 Broomhandle Mauser, and clearly handmade parts. However, this one is a particularly high quality example of the type.
Crude Copies
North China Type 19: The Improved Nambu Pistol
This pistol sold for $8,625 at Rock Island on December 2, 2018. The North China Type 19 pistol (not to be confused with the North China Type 19 rifle) is an improvement on the Type […]
Semiauto pistol
China’s CF-98 Modular Service Pistol
China adopted this pistol in 1998 in a domestic 5.8x21mm cartridge, and also manufactured examples like this one in 9x19mm Parabellum for export. It is a design built around a sheet metal skeleton holding the […]
Crude Copies
Chinese C96 “Wauser” Broomhandle
The C96 Mauser was a very popular handgun in China in the 1920s and 30s, which naturally led to a substantial number of domestically-produced copies of it. These ran the full range of quality, from […]
Dare I ask: What cartridge is it chambered for, with slots on both sides of the magazine, and additional inspection holes?
Also: where did those nice grips come from?
Thanks Ian.
Fantastic, your presentation, not so much the pistol.
Wanted to see some Chinese writings but there were none.
What was its caliber?
Maybe the bullets had to be handmade for it also.
🙂
Pat
Pretty sure it used .32ACP.
There IS an advantage of putting an ornamental hammer on a striker fired pistol slide; if one drops it in battle, the enemy can pick it up, but won’t be able to figure out how to shoot you!
fantastic pistol. I especially like the hammer.
PS: I am using Full30 and like it a lot, but I found out that it doesn’t matter if you subscribe to a channel or not. All the videos appear regardless. Can’t you change that?
The reason to subscribe it to receive email notification when new videos post – all the videos are supposed to be visible to everyone.
My guess is that it’s 7.65 Browning (.32 ACP), simply because that seems to be the “default” caliber for these weapons.
It seems a workmanlike copy of the 1900. And if you’ll pardon me going into writer mode, the real test is;
It’s 1932, and you’re on the Shanghai docks at 0200. A gang of local boohow doy want to “talk” to you, and Fairbairn and his cops are nowhere about.
If all you’ve got is this plus a Model 1918 LF&C trench knife, can you use them effectively enough to see the sunrise?
My guess would be, the pistol is no more likely to let you down than that trench knife is. You just have to know what to do with both.
cheers
eon
These pistols are quite fascinating! I have to wonder about the circumstances under which this one was made. Was a machinist commissioned to make it, or or did someone make it speculatively hoping to make a bit of money selling it? We’ll probably never know. However if you go to China today, there’s large numbers of small shops making various knock-offs of nearly everything. If there’s a way to make a bit of money, the Chinese will find it.
Fake barrel may lead accidents
It’s very cool, for something handmade.
How do you tell this is Chinese, not from Khyber pass?
It has characteristics much more in line with a Chinese pistol.
This is like the love child of the Chiappa Rhino and the R51.