Wartime Commercial C96 With Matching Stock - German Military Divert

Description

3/15/26 - This is an interesting variation of a WWI German Imperial C96 pistol. It was initially manufactured for the commercial market in Germany in 1916 or 1917. Due to the need for small arms by the German military at this time, some commercial C96 pistols were rerouted to the German Military. This is one of those guns. We know this for a few reasons. First, because the gun is in the proper serial number range. Second, it has a "Double Crown U" stamp on the left side of the chamber, and a "Crown Gothic Letter" (German Military Inspector Proof) stamp on the right side of the chamber. This gun also has a Prussian Eagle stamped on the right side of the chamber. Finally, the gun bears an NS safety by the hammer, which was added in November of 1915 to all newly manufactured guns. All of the above variation characteristics were provided by "Central Powers Pistols" by Jan C. Still. The gun is all matching except for the grips which seem to be just four digits off. The gun's finish rates roughly 85-90%. There is spotty finish loss over the barrel, especially the underside. This would be due to the shoulder stock holster. There is general high edge wear and thinning on the grip straps. There is some scratch wear on the left side of the frame and on the magazine plate bottom. The grips are in great original condition but there is one tiny chip in each grip close to the lanyard loop. Excellent shiny bore with strong rifling. The shoulder stock is numbers matching to the gun. The stock has the correct German Military acceptance stamp under the hinge plate. The stock has numerous cracks that start the opening "flap" and extend downward toward where the pistol would attach. We count six cracks (there are perhaps more) with the longest of them measure 4.5". The stock functions as it should and opens and closes appropriately.