TOPIC:

I have done some research online and tried to see whether there is any proof or evidence that the Boers had also made use of the Mauser Pistol C96. There are numerous reports of Officers making private purchases of these pistols or otherwise being presented them prior to embarking for South Africa by either employers, rifle clubs, community organisations, etc. As a piece of German manufactured engineering, I couldn't imagine these pistols being cheap at all.

Unfortunately the two following stories do not back up any further evidence of where the original physical information has come from to either prove or disprove that the Boers had purchased the Mauser Pistol.

(The Australian Star, Sydney NSW, Thursday 9 Nov, 1899)


The next story does talk about 500 Mauser Pistols which have been purchased by the Transvaal Government.

(The Daily Telegraph, Sydney NSW, Wednesday 7 Mar, 1900)

Trev

  

Trev, a quick look at a few of my books confirms:

Photographs of Boer officers show the following carrying C96s:
Gen Lukas Meyer
Gen Louis Botha
Gen Jan Smuts
Gen Ben Viljoen
Gen Jaap van Deventer
Cmdt Christiaan van Niekerk

Examples of C96s in collections with carved stocks, named to the following Boers
L Metzler
GP Naude
PJ Roussouw
AS Botha
LE Krause
CGS Sandberg
Baaukens

Some of these will be captures from British officers.
South African collectors will tell you there is, even now, an abundance of C96s in the country with manufacture dates 1897-1901.
They still regularly come up for auction.
Ron Bester writes in his definitive book that the ZAR purchased 100 C96 pistols; but as well as government purchases, there were many retail gun sellers in the ZAR and OVS for burghers who wished to purchase arms privately.

Here are some pages from a French trade catalogue for 1900, showing the various types of ammunition in use in countries around the world at the time of the ABW. Included are cartridges for the Mauser (Spain), Guedes (Kropatschek, Portugal), Lee-Metford (England) and Krag (Norway) rifles. Also clips for both the Mauser rifle and the Mauser C96 pistol.

"Société Française des Munitions de Chasse, de Tir et de Guerre", Paris, 1900









..

In my experience, spent small arms ammunition on battlefields is almost invariably of two types:
7mm Mauser or Mk II cordite .303.
Very occasional spent Guedes rounds.
Martini Henry rifles are common in posed photos of Boers, but they seem almost never to have been used in battle (clouds of smoke mean your position is revealed).
Photo shows Mauser cases in a Boer position.

Rob,
The one place where I did find plenty of M-H cases was Paardeberg. I even found the heavily rusted barrel of a Martini-Henry rifle which had been utilised as a barbed wire support on a field boundary..! But yes, in the main, Mauser (including Kortnek), and Guedes. I found a couple of Westley Richards cartildges at Modder River, but I suspect these were from a hunting trip rather than the battle.
Neville

Just a few pieces that I have.......

1. Martini (center marked KYNOCH .557s), others un-marked but have been told they may be Zulu Wars period.



2. British .303, previously described.



3. Mauser in stripper clip marked DM, cartridges marked "D.M. 1896 K" (Camera not good enough to take picture)





Mike