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Title:	PISTOL, AUTOMATIC -  GERMAN PISTOL MAUSER MODEL 1932 SCHNELLFEUR 7.63MM SN# 48007
Maker/Manufacturer:	MAUSER
Date of Manufacture:	1931-1936
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 882
Measurements:	OL: 25 1/4" with stock; 11" without stock. BL: 5 1/2" 2.66 lbs. unloaded and without stock; 4.33 lbs. loaded and with stock.

Object Description:

GERMAN PISTOL MAUSER MODEL 1932 SCHNELLFEUR 7.63MM SN# 48007
Manufactured by Mauser, Oberndorf, Germany - Commercial German selective-fire Westinger patent pistol. Blued finish; two-piece wood grips. Adjustable U-tangent, set for adjustment 50-1000 meters in 50 meter increments rear; blade front sight. Weapon complete with 20-rd. detachable box magazine. Chinese markings are not common on Westinger patent specimens. See SPAR-881 for shoulder stock.

Markings:
Barrel: WAFFENFABRIK/MAUSER/OBERNDORF A.N. Proofs.
Frame: 48007. Chinese markings = Made in Germany. (N R. Sel. Switch). Mauser logo. Right side: WAFFENFABRIK MAUSER/OBERNDORF A NECKAR/D.R.P.U.A.P.

Notes: "A number of these turned up in Japanese hands on Guadalcanal." - Craig Brown, 8 August 1979.

"In the opinion of some Asiatic authorities, the apex of the Mauser automatic pistol development was reached in 1931 with the introduction of the Mauser Schnellfeur (rapid-fire) machine pistol. This selective-fire weapon could reliably deliver either semiautomatic or full-automatic fire, and also offered increased firepower through its use of large-capacity detachable box magazines which could be changed extremely rapidly. The Chinese, in particular, took to the Mauser machine pistol like a duck to water. The Chinese attitude toward this fine pistol is a factor of cardinal importance in the Mauser story....
It is ironic, but a fact of history, that Mauser was forced into developing a machine pistol. The Mauser company had not planned to develop and sell such a model in the early 1930's but initiated a crash development program in 1930 because of the successful introduction of Spanish-made machine pistols on the Asiatic marketplace. The Spanish machine pistols were close copies of the Mauser pistol, modified for selective fire. Mauser feared the competition by Spain, and understood the sales potential after it became generally known that the Spanish models were witnessing success in Asia.
The Mauser company reacted to the Spanish threat by hurriedly pushing the noted Austrian designer, Joseph Nickl, who worked for Mauser, to modify the existing Mauser Model 1930 pistol to deliver selective-fire. The Nickl-type Mauser machine pistol was patented in Germany on November 25, 1930-1931, and only about four thousand were produced.
This model can be recognized by it radial fire-selector lever on the left side of the frame, and by its trigger, which is larger than that on the standard Mauser pistols. The Nickl machine pistols had their own separate serial-number range, and were numbered from one up. The Mauser machine pistol fire selector designed by Nickl was, in part, very similar to some of the first Spanish designs; it is known that the Mauser company obtained some of the Spanish machine pistols in order to test the design principle before proceeding with its model. Obviously, the Spanish design influenced development of the first Mauser machine pistols.
Almost all of these first machine pistols made by Mauser-Werke were sold to China, and very few can be found in the Western World today. The first one thousand Mauser Schnellfeuer pistols, each with two 20-round magazines, were shipped to China in May, 1931.
Odly enough, the Mauser company produced the only representative of the machine pistol class to be made in Germany. The company's designation for the weapon was 'Die Schnellfeurpistole Mauser,' which literally translates as 'The rapid-fire Mauser pistol.' Another designation used by the factory was 'Reihenfeuer Model R-713.'
Both the early Nickl-designed Schnellfeur and the later Westinger model were designated the 'Model 712' in the United States. This designation is reported to be the early factory stock number for the Schnellfeuer, and it appears in Stoeger catalogs of the period. With the exception of the additional fire-selector lever and the larger trigger, which has a spring-loaded disconnector that permits it to function in either full-automatic or semiautomatic modes, the Mauser Schnellfeuer, or 'Model 712,' incorporated all of the basicSome problems were witnessed by Mauser with the factory prototypes, and malfunctions reportedly occurred on the Nickel models of early production, as well as on some of the later Nickel models produced in 1931. Accordingly, Mauser modified its machine pistol design with Mauser an improved mechanism designed by Karl Westinger. This second version of the Schnellfeuer was patented in Germany for the Mauser-Werke on April 13, 1932. United States patents were filed on February 16, 1933, and number 2,058,746 was granted on October 27, 1936. The most noted difference between the Nickl and the Westinger models is the fire-selector lever: the Westinger design is semi-circular, with a pointed tip, and can be locked in position by means of a spring-loaded button in the center of the selector.
The Westinger design proved to be eminently successful, and production of the machine pistol ran almost continuously from 1932 to late 1938. The final design of this machine pistol was accomplished by a Mauser design team headed by Altenburger. Total production of this model was approximately 98,000 guns. This model, like the Nickl model, had its own separate serial-number range, starting with number one.
The basic Mauser Schnellfeuer remained almost unchanged after the introduction of the successful Westinger fire selector, but it is reported that, in the period of 1933-1934, a special lot of 100 Schenllfeuers was made for Yugoslavia. These guns were in caliber 9mm and 7.65mm Parabellum, with screwed-in barrels, and had adjustable front and rear sights. These special guns were designated 'Model S.'
Like most other Mauser weapons of that day, the majority of the Schnellfeuer machine pistols were sent to China. The Schnellfeuer was also purchased by Persia, Turkey, Peru, and approximately fourteen other nations. A few were sold in the early 1930's in the United States through the Stoeger Arms Co.
The incident which probably made the Schnellfeuer most notorious was its reported use by a Bulgarian anarchist to assassinate King Alexander II of Yugoslavia in the streets of Marseilles, when he was on an official visit to the French Republic in 1934.
Some of the last Mauser Schnellfeuers produced were purchased by the German military. Most of the Schnellfeuers produced during the production run between 1931 and 1938 were intended for sale to China. However, after Japan went to war with China in 1937, many of the normal commercial sales outlets used by Mauser for sales in China were blocked, and the political situation further restricted sales. As a result, the majority of machine pistols produced in 1937 and 1938 could not be delivered to China. It was these guns which were held in stock by the Mauser factory and were later sold, in 1939 and during the 1940's, to the various German military units. Guns examined, #83,868, #85,278, and #93,570, all have the Nazi eagle and Oberndorf proofs. It is reported that some 600 of these guns were purchased by the Luftwaffe, and a quantity was also sold to the Waffen SS. A few were reportedly used by a reconnaissance unit of the SS Todtenkopf Division in the French campaign of 1940. It is confirmed that the last quantity of these pistols produced for delivery to China could not be delivered, and were sold to the SS Hilfsverbaende, which was a quasi-military unit, reportedly attached to the Hitler Youth groups formed at the close of World War II. Some of these pistols were marked on the side of the frame 'made in Germany' in Chinese characters. The German Navy was another purchaser of the Schnellfeuer, as it was in use in some Naval infantry units up to the end of the war." - Nelson & Musgrave.

"The advent of Astra, Azul and Royal pistols in Spain, offering refinements such as detachable magazines and fire-selector systems, goaded Mauser into retaliation. The first selective-guns known as Schnellfeurpistolen, were made in 1931 to the design ofThe Schnellfeurpistole had a two-position selector on the left side of the frame between the trigger-guard aperture and the grip. Markings 'N' ('Normale', single-shot) or 'R' ('Reihenfeur', repetitive fire) showed the relevant lever positions. The Nickl design was replaced by that of Karl Westinger, patented in 1932-3. This had a distinctive selector plate, requiring the bottom corner of the frame panel to be abbreviated.
The C/96 action was originally held open after the last shot had been fired by the magazine follower; this was not possible with the detachable-magazine patterns, so a separate hammer-operated catch was added. The hammer remained back after the last case had been ejected, and was thumbed past the full-cock position to release the bolt once a new magazine had been fitted. The bolt of most 'Spanish Mauser', conversely closed on an empty chamber." - Zhuk

References:
Breathed, John W. & Joseph J. Schroeder. SYSTEM MAUSER. Handgun Press. Chicago, Il. 1967.
Nelson, Thomas B. & Daniel D. Musgrave. THE WORLD'S MACHINE PISTOLS & SUBMACHINE GUNS. T.B.N. Enterprises. Alexandria, Va. 1980.
Zhuk, A.B. THE ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HANDGUNS: PISTOLS AND REVOLVERS OF THE WORLD, 1870 TO THE PRESENT. Greenhill Books. London, England. 1995.