My Papa made a wooden c96 for me when I was a kid too! Mine was a rubber band gun tho. It paired Nicely with my wood and steel (factory made) 1903 Springfield. ...they certainly don't make toys like they use to.
When I was in Finland back around 1980 I met a young man who, when we started casually talking about guns, he brings out a C96. I was surprised enough by that, but then he pulls out the wooden stock as well and attaches it to the pistol. I was so amazed I completely forgot to ask what caliber ammo it used. At that point in my life I had never seen a C96 except in pictures. I didn't ask where or how he got it. I assumed it was a family heirloom passed down by a family member or relative who had served during WW2.
It's pretty common. My grandfather had an Ukko-Mauseri and so did my godfather. My granddad never explained how we came to own his, but we have our theories. After the war, he was briefly held in custody on suspicion of illegally caching weapons in the event of a Soviet occupation. It must be true, because he kept a box of hot 9mm SMG ammunition -- too hot to handle for the C96 -- till the day he died, suggesting there's still a private cache somewhere out there with a Suomi SMG in it.
@jidk6565 IMO unless the gun is either super mint, unsafe to shoot, or that historically important, there's no reason not to shoot them. This C96, for example, could absolutely be a shooter, seeing as it's basically just a regular C96 with the SA mark (uncommon, but not ultra rare).
@@jidk6565 It's sad that in Finland we still have these but our gun laws are so harsh that some of this kind of piece of history is put on smelter because there is no buyers😱
It`s de-milled by the thoughtful addition of a giant hole drilled through the bottom of the chamber. When held upside down it can be seen in the video.
As a Finn your knownlege of Finnish history is truly impressive. I fear most Finns don’t know the story of Finnish struggle of independense to this detail.
My great-grandfather who was a captain during Winter War and Continuation War, had C96 with wooden stock + Lahti L-35 and Luger P08 pistols all the way to the 1970s until the government officials started to collect old service sidearms away from the veterans.
Finnish independence was requested and agreed to by Lenin's soviets very early after the overthrow of the monarchy. It was Stalin who tried to renege on this settlement.
@@causewaykayak Paleoconservative weirdo american villagers who think it's 1770 lol. If there was no Finnish or German state, there would be no Finland.
@@flyfin108 Johr ist not a german name or word. The Name Johannes could be abbreviated Joh. but that is not what i see. "Gefr" being short for Gefreiter in old german handwritig is what I see as well
Why can't a gun company make repros of these guns? Seriously, we have enough semi auto Thompson clones and overpriced MP5 clones. Make us some damn C96 clones!
@@TotemparadoxIt would only be "unreliable" if it was poorly made. I had a C96 years ago that shot accurately and very reliably. A repro that a manufacturer actually wanted to sell and make a profit from would also have to be reliable or it wouldn't last long on the market.
When I was a kid, one of my mates had a Red 9 replica. Most fun I've ever had with a toy pistol. You just gotta love the C96. Interesting vid thanks mate 👍
Indeed, also both had a great famine in the mid-1800s (Ireland 1845-1852, Finland 1866-1868), both are bilingual nations, and both use the Euro even though our neighbours do not.
"Ukko" means something like "old man" or maybe "big man". The pocket Mauser pistols m/1914 (?) in 7.65 Br was "Akka-Mauser" and in 6.35 Br was "neiti-Mauser". Just like the Nambus in USA, the Finns had Papa-Mauser, Mama-Mauser and Missy-Mauser...
@@chadjacket Ukko literally means "old man" and it has been interpreted as to have been bypass to refer to the lightning god, as that deity's real name was seen as taboo. Euphemistic names being used for deities, spirits and animals was common in ancient Finnish beliefs, like how the word for "bear", "karhu", comes from "karhea" meaning "rough" relating to its fur.
My granfather shot reds 1918 during the independence war with this gun, we have also akka Mauser (akka-nagging wife). Great that this guns are still working.
A lot of C96 pistols actually also ended up in Lapland or stashed away during civil war by people living in rural areas. It was seen as popular hunting weapon mostly by poachers, as it could be hidden away in backpack and made into a little carbine. For a goodwhile poachers using the C96 were a bit of a nuisance to official cracking down on poachers who hunted other people's Reindeer in Lapland, the 9mm casings found at crime sites being the clue that "Red 9's" were used.
Weapons caching occurred after the Continuation War, not "during civil war [sic]". Even on the best of days, the C96 makes a poor poacher's weapon, stock or no stock. You'll never get close enough to wild game, especially in Lapland, where the shooting distances are longer because of the sparse forestation. And "hunting" reindeer, a domesticated animal in Lapland, would've been a dangerous undertaking. Their angry Lapp owners would've hunted the poacher down and turned him into carrion.
My friend once found one of these caches but there was only m40 helmet, ammo and bayonets. We dont know where the gun has gone if there even was one hid away
Many years ago, some outfit on Shotgun News got a bunch of BOLO Mausers from China. They were pretty much parts guns and they sold them 3 for 100 bucks. So I ordered 3 and managed to get one working, all be it junk, gun and another pretty much all there but with broken parts. They all looked like they came out of a rice patty, horrid pitting but the best of the lot I polished up an blued on my next hot bluing day, the rest were sand blasted and blued as well, in for a penny in for a buck. I got over $300 out of the lot at a gun show so made a nice profit on the deal and they were great fun to sort of restore. Never did get any grips for them, they were all missing grips when I got them. Ah for the good old days, I miss my FFL.
I sure miss those good old days of Shotgun News. having all sorts of good surplus for sale cheap. I bought my share for the day but now wish I would have spent every dime I could muster ,because now they are gone and anyone selling theirs is enjoying a Huge profit.
I have a Mauser C96 Bolo. Not one serial numbered part matches another. Supposedly, and I only have the pawn shop I bought it from for $350 to go on (it was covered in rust and had several broken or missing parts) it was a Franken gun assembled from spare parts laying around the factory and sold to a USGI in 1945 as a souvenir. I've since got it shooting, but the chamber is very rough and leaves scratches on ejected cases and the rifling is mostly shot out, so I'll probably have it resleeved once I get it refinished. I'm keeping the original 7.63mm caliber though.
Historical correction: Finland hasn't gone back and forth under Swedish and Russian rule a couple of times. We, i.e. Finland was a part of Sweden for about 600 years until Sweden (and Finland was a part of Sweden up until then) lost a war against Russia in 1809. From that 'til 1917 Finland was a semi autonomous part of Russia. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Russians started putting pressure on Finland, trying to Russificate Finland and right before our Finnish Civil War, we/Finland became independent, 6th of December 1917. So Finland was part of Sweden, or under Swedish rule once and for quite some time, about 600 years, then about 108 years under Russian rule and then independent.
Interesting. Their training camp was at a place called Hohenlockstedt, close to my area in northern Germany. 2015 the 100th aniversary was celebrated there.
Hi, in early 80’s one of my relatives passed away and he had one ”Ukko Mauser” in hes possession. I got it while I was serving in army. The gun was bought in ”White Army” sportshop in Vyborg (Viipuri , now ovcupied in ruski side). It was 9.0 mm barabellum model , matching numbers, no SA stamp and it had wooden holster you could use like shoulder kind arm so you can shoot more far stable. All the leather straps and ammunition combs. Sold it late 90’s but still have that first buying permitt from 1921 from Vyborg.
I have one like that, though from the mentioned commercial range (371xxx, so 1917 production) and also in 7.63. It did come with the shoulder-stock holster (not matching numbers, but the gun itself is) with the original leather strap. There is some pitting on the outside around the extractor, but the barrel rifling is in decent shape with no corrosion, so overall really nice condition for a more than a 100-year old piece that was actually used. Interestingly, it stayed in Finland until a couple years ago (so around a century probably), until it came to Poland where I got it.
Because of the way timezones work Ian generally uploads at lunchtime or teatime in the UK, which is a neat coincidence and probably explains why there are so many commenters from this side of the Atlantic.
For some reason lots if C96s ended up in Lapland. Reindeer herders used to carry them even as late as 1980s. They mainly used them to poach and defend the reindeer from predators. Notorious reindeer herder and thief Mosku favoured the C96, though he probably shot more men than wildlife...
Fun Fact: The Finnish soldiers were trained at the german army barracks at Munster/ Lower Saxony. Today the "Panzermuseum", the german tank museum is located there (although not in the same barracks).
Not exactly. The Jägers were trained in Hohenlockstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, but a small group did spent 6 months in Munster. Much of (Finnish) Jäger literature doesn't even mention Munster and I never heard about it in school, which is why the stone at Panzermuseum suprises many Finns.
These history/hardware/weapons videos are just superb. Learn so much about history, as well as the provenance of the weapon in focus. Only bettered by your field trips - Alligator Creek etc!
Good memories... My great grandfather was one of those Jaggers.... He had Ukko-mauseri... Illegally... Although it was in such a bad condition.. I seriously doubt that it was functional.. But for me as a kid.. it was the most awesome "toy" gun ever .. which me and My cousins fought over... 😀😀 Who's turn it was to play with it..
"All went back into inventory". Not quite, not quite ;) .. and that is a really interesting story. You might want to look into the "weapons cache case", or "asekätkentä" in finnish. Loads of weapons were illegally hidden all over the country in case of a later russian invasion. Those caches are still found to this day. Many went to prison for it in the 40s and/or moved to the US. That is why some finnish ex. soldiers ended up in the US, mainly in the Special Forces, teaching SF everything they knew about arctic warfare , guerrilla tactics etc. They were called "Marttinen´s men" / "Marttisen miehet" after col. Alpo Marttinen who basically organized the finnish officers in the US. And when on that subject.. look up the "soldier of three armies" Larry Thorne / Lauri Törni. His life sounds like a Hollywood movie. Finnish army -> German SS -> US Special Forces -> disappeared in Vietnam.
Incidentally, Törni organised his own weapons cache, part of which is now on display at the Military Museum in Helsinki. One exhibited item is the late president's, Mauno Koivisto's, personal weapon, an 'Emma' LMG.
Even though Finland has always been a military Lilliputian, it amazes me, how significant of a thumb print we've had on the international weapons trade.
Not huge until relatively recently perhaps. But the weirder thing is that we are not these days the military "lilliputian" of Europe, despite being a small country as always. There are only a few countries in Europe with bigger militaries than ours nevertheless.
@@jussi3378 The irony is that we are much more significant militarily these days than ever before, especially when compared to other European countries. The military industry seems to do quite well as well, which is not something Finland is known for.
@@jussi3378 Doesn't matter at all if we can punch above our weight class, which we should always aspire to anyway. The best quality that Finland has is independence from foreign countries, which is something that makes national sovereignty actually meaningful or even possible if it is ever contested by force. Allies are great addition, but their interests are nevertheless not always identical with ours. We must always be prepared to take care of our own lot with means in our political control, at bare minimum, and then secondly also help our allies defend themselves if they ever need it.
The text in the holster beside the name Vomberg could be 'Gefr', short for Gefreiter, a German military rank similar to private: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gefreiter
The stamp with the framed letters SA does not refer to the German acronym for "Sturm-Abteilung", but in this context to Suomen Armeija (the Finnish Army).
Ian, thanks for this very interesting video. The C96 may not be the best, or practical handgun, but It's always been a favorite of mine since the first time I laid my eyes on one, and even more so since I own one.
@@teemu86 And Ukko is just the "every-day name" of him, the one you use when you don't want him to actually notice you mentioning him. He's real name is Perkele.
@@DjKorppi Well, actually not. Perkele is a Finnish adaptation of the Baltic (Latvian/Lithuanian) god Perkunas and has since Catholic times (before 1593) been one of several Finnish names for the Devil. Ukko, on the other hand, is already in the pre-Christian pantheon found in the Kalevala epic. The word means "old man" but it can also figuratively be used to indicate something large, so one could surmise that the epithet "Ukko-Mauser" was meant to distinguish the C96 from the Model 1910 6.35mm Mauser pocket pistol or "Pikku-Mauser" ("Little Mauser"). My grandfather, who was with the White Guard during the Civil War, had one of the latter.
Slightly nitpicking if I may, Suomen Armeija (not literally) translates into "Finnish armed forces", including both Army, Navy and Air Force. But yes, AS is indeed Suomen Armeija.
A few C96s came to Ireland in the early part of the 20th century along with artillery Luger's colloquially known as the "Peter the painter" sourced from Germany along with Mauser rifles used to fight the British Army at the time. The Germans were quite happy to supply arms to quite a few countries back then it would seem.
There is a book about pistols in finnish service. It have couple of hundreds of pages and if I remember right army had dozens of different weapons and catridges from .22 lr to .45 ACP and everything between. If there was a calibre of type of gun we had it and we had given it to troops.😁😁😁
Left behind by Tsarist military, captured in Civil War from Red Guard weapons, vintage WW1 pistols bought by the weight, small batches bought in the 20' and 30's, captured from Soviets during the 5 years of war, left behind by Germans... And can't get rid of anything as there are never enough of pistols. They start to accumulate over time!
Unusable is a strange choice of words to use for a C96. That was the very first practical auto loader and I would still feel well armed with one today. They were sold all over the world, especially China, sure this one you got had the weird original caliber , but still a gun well designed and a piece of history. Those 3 Mauser employee did a great job, hope they had a nice bonus in their pay. This was the gun many British officers bought, such as Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia. I saw some reconditioned ones in a magazine in US about 2 decades ago, but I live in Canada, only criminals are allowed to have guns here. We even get public statement from our Toronto police telling us to leave our car keys close to the front door so it will not inconvenient the thieves, and don't bug them, many of them are armed said the cop. Whats next, leave our young daughters near the front door too?
These are not uncommon finds in Finland, known as drawer finds. In the late '20s and '30s, these were quite common Civil Guard guns. My grandad's brother was active in the Civil Guard and owned one. It was called 'vikkeläpoika.' He hated 'commies' and carried it in his backpack. The local police knew he had one. I tried to trace it in the '80s. My grandmother said it was thrown into the sea after the owner died."
German guy here: The lower marking is actually "Gefr" - referring to the German Army rank - Gefreiter = Corporal. Like a certain Austrian postcard painter...😉 This pistol therefore belonged to Gefreiter Vomberg.
Finland has not gone back and forth between Sweden and Russia. Finland was part of Sweden for almost 700 years before Sweden was forced to give up Finland to Russia at the peace of 1809. After that, Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia until it became an independent nation in 1917
Three things I love about Finland: Arto Saari, Ripsipiirakka and Finnish firearms history. (Coincidentally, the only three things I know about Finland 🤔)
I'm impressed by your knowledge of Finnish history, however please allow me to nitpick a little bit. Technically Russia was not occupying Finland during the Great War years as legally Sweden had handed Finland over to Russia in 1809. In the Civil War, the Whites were not "more Western oriented" and the Reds were not "more Russian oriented" - I assume this mistake stems from looking back to the events in 1918 from a modern perspective. The Red side included Communists of course, but the majority of them were Social Democrats. Even the Communists were divided between the idea of independent Communist Finland and *possibly* joining the Soviet Union, and the Social Democrats of course were firmly committed to Finnish independence. The Jäger Movement was not quite as strong as you said - less than two thousand men actually joined the Prussian army. But really, you had the big picture framed right, well done!
Every time i see a c-96, i think of churchhill on safari in africa, and his " little pom-pom. ( I think i got that right) That may be a cool idea for a topic. The guns of Churchill, and Roosevelt, on thier famous african safaris.
@@bruceinoz8002 hear, hear, matey! I believe that would be a proper British response. Idk for sure, as I am just a small-town American rednek, but.... Sir Churchill's safari memoirs is an interesting story.
my great grandfather was one of those who went to Germany he maid training "book" about using bayonet. and my grandmas cousin was one of those assassins
You can tell Ian has spent too much time in the country when a simple intro to a pistol prompts him to give a 5-minute history lesson on Finland all the way to the time of Swedish rule. Like a true Finn.
Really nice looking C96. I never knew the Finns had the C96. Really cool how it served until the 50s. The Finns really had an amazing history of firearms, both foreign and domestic in origin.
The story says that these c96 + similar accessories are still in the houses with the permission of the "civil guard", i.e. sky. Of course, the authorities want such things in the melting pot. Recently, the Lapland police presented the pistols brought to the handover , proud of their achievements. I cried a small tear for a lost piece of my nation's history.
Thanks you Ian, I've got one of these C-96's and nobody had been able to explain the N-S on the back of the hammer and SA on the right side of the receiver. Mine is number 89xx. It is in excellent shape and has maintained very well during its life and a joy to shoot. It's also a 7.63 mm as well. Now I know where this gun came from and where it was during the wars. And it has no import marks, so I'm not real sure how it came to be here.
These guns are also part of bloody criminal history of Finland. After civil war, almost "everybody" had a at least pistol and combined with prohibition law, alcohol smuggling, unstable society, war traumatized men, use of substances etc ment that crime rate was high and use of deadly violence very normal even against law enforcement.
I am german, Brittas boyfriend. The fact that former finnish guns are stamped ,SA' is confusing for german people, so in 1980s rather often in geman arms magazines was noted, this means something like Suomen Armeen (?), because finnish name of country is Suomi. And Imperial Germany had four armies: A) The prussian army, including the troops of greatduchies, duchies, principalities , hanseatic towns and Alsace- Lorraine. B) Bavarian army. C) Saxon army. D) Württembergian army. The troops of the armies B to D had a number of special rights ( Reservatrechte).
@@romaliop SA in German could mean Sturm-Abteilung in some contexts. However, I have never seen SA in a Finnish text meaning the German Army (i.e., Heer, including Wehrmacht and the SS).
Ian, I'm a big fan of your channel and you are the very best at Firearms history and as usual the video is great. But this once I have to correct you, not about firearms but the History of Finland as a nation. Rather than a Back-and-forth of owners Finlands history is a journey from a province of Sweden for some 600 years, to 1809 when an empire stole it, then finally Freedom 1917 as that empire fell apart.
I just got back from Finland. There’s a spy museum I went to that claimed the PPSH-41 was a copy of the Suomi KP/31. To my knowledge, only the drum magazine of the PPSH-41 was copied from the Suomi’s 71 round magazine. Any input on that?
@@romaliop Indeed, the concept of using a submachine gun like the Finns did with the Suomi kp (kp = konepistooli, machine pistol) in the Winter War 1939-40, issuing them to the best individual soldiers for ambushing and attacking aggressively at close range with devastating firepower, that was a major Finnish innovation - previously, submachine guns were internationally rather regarded as Police weapons, instead of weapons of war. All foreign armies soon adopted the lessons. Submachine guns had been very rare weapons in the Red Army by 1939-40 (mostly issued for Politruks for their personal protection), but their experiences of the Suomi kp soon made them cheaply mass-produce the PPSh-41 with less machining in its production method (pay attention to the year 1941 in its name!).
That was excellent short summary of Jäger Movement and Finnish Civil War. Too many channels gloss over or fumble Finland's Duel of Fates completely.
My grandfather (rest in peace
Cool and skilled grandpa! 🪚
Sweet...my uncle made a wooden cucumber for my sister...kinda weird but he got skills.
That my friend:
Is love,
And definitely male family bonding.
My Papa made a wooden c96 for me when I was a kid too! Mine was a rubber band gun tho. It paired Nicely with my wood and steel (factory made) 1903 Springfield.
...they certainly don't make toys like they use to.
@@Enolagay1945🫢oh my..
When I was in Finland back around 1980 I met a young man who, when we started casually talking about guns, he brings out a C96. I was surprised enough by that, but then he pulls out the wooden stock as well and attaches it to the pistol. I was so amazed I completely forgot to ask what caliber ammo it used.
At that point in my life I had never seen a C96 except in pictures. I didn't ask where or how he got it. I assumed it was a family heirloom passed down by a family member or relative who had served during WW2.
It's pretty common. My grandfather had an Ukko-Mauseri and so did my godfather. My granddad never explained how we came to own his, but we have our theories. After the war, he was briefly held in custody on suspicion of illegally caching weapons in the event of a Soviet occupation. It must be true, because he kept a box of hot 9mm SMG ammunition -- too hot to handle for the C96 -- till the day he died, suggesting there's still a private cache somewhere out there with a Suomi SMG in it.
you probably met my dads friend XD He owned PERFECT C96
@@peabase You better find it before the fobba does. That's a priceless heirloom
@@MrMango331 No it isn't. Technically, it's government property.
@@peabase Exactly. Before they come and steal part of HIS-tory, he should recover the artifact.
Thats actually a really nice looking C96, i bet whoever gets it is gonna have a fun shooter on their hands (not to mention the cool history).
Based off the price
I don't think a lot of these expensive guns will ever be shot again... I worry about that sometimes
@jidk6565 IMO unless the gun is either super mint, unsafe to shoot, or that historically important, there's no reason not to shoot them.
This C96, for example, could absolutely be a shooter, seeing as it's basically just a regular C96 with the SA mark (uncommon, but not ultra rare).
@@jidk6565 It's sad that in Finland we still have these but our gun laws are so harsh that some of this kind of piece of history is put on smelter because there is no buyers😱
It`s de-milled by the thoughtful addition of a giant hole drilled through the bottom of the chamber.
When held upside down it can be seen in the video.
@@jeanbaptistevallee4500 Well fuck, that's sad. At the least, it's a beautiful display piece
As a Finn your knownlege of Finnish history is truly impressive. I fear most Finns don’t know the story of Finnish struggle of independense to this detail.
My great-grandfather who was a captain during Winter War and Continuation War, had C96 with wooden stock + Lahti L-35 and Luger P08 pistols all the way to the 1970s until the government officials started to collect old service sidearms away from the veterans.
And he complied? Guess the Germans really did win the war after all...
Should have not handed them in. Never trust your government.
Finnish independence was requested and agreed to by Lenin's soviets very early after the overthrow of the monarchy. It was Stalin who tried to renege on this settlement.
@@causewaykayak Paleoconservative weirdo american villagers who think it's 1770 lol. If there was no Finnish or German state, there would be no Finland.
And now they are scrapped and made into metal🤬
Again, an accurate round-about-way of a larger piece of history perfectly worded to get to the point. Thank you, Ian
The writing in below the name "Vomberg" most probable is in the old German handwriting and means "Gefr." - abbreviation for Gefreiter (private)
agree
looks more like Johr to me, you happend to know if thats german name?
@@flyfin108 Johr ist not a german name or word. The Name Johannes could be abbreviated Joh. but that is not what i see. "Gefr" being short for Gefreiter in old german handwritig is what I see as well
@@tobskerk7574 thank you
@@timewave02012 thank you, found german cursive from wiki, it has couple differencies
Your are really well versed in Finnish history. Hat off. The C96 and the FN are the only handguns I've fired, since I'm a Finn.
I love that gun jesus likes finnish guns and history so much, and as i finn i always appreciate people having interest in finnish history
Why can't a gun company make repros of these guns? Seriously, we have enough semi auto Thompson clones and overpriced MP5 clones. Make us some damn C96 clones!
It doesn't even need to be mechanically the same! Just give us a look-alike!
Why? How many you know who're willing to pay around 10k for an unreliable relic?
Because it'd be ridiculously expensive.
@@TotemparadoxIt would only be "unreliable" if it was poorly made. I had a C96 years ago that shot accurately and very reliably. A repro that a manufacturer actually wanted to sell and make a profit from would also have to be reliable or it wouldn't last long on the market.
@@Tunkkis Yup. They'd be expensive. But there'd be a market. Just ask Lugerman.
And another great information session!
That was a pretty fascinating history for the C96 especially for those that were in Finnish service. I'm glad you're also a fan of Finnish firearms.
When I was a kid, one of my mates had a Red 9 replica. Most fun I've ever had with a toy pistol. You just gotta love the C96. Interesting vid thanks mate 👍
The parallels between the Independence, Civil War and post WWII histories in Finland and Ireland are uncanny.
Indeed, also both had a great famine in the mid-1800s (Ireland 1845-1852, Finland 1866-1868), both are bilingual nations, and both use the Euro even though our neighbours do not.
@@64ankka Thank you, I didn’t know you had a famine too. We don’t have a word for “sisu”, maybe that would be useful :)
"Ukko" means something like "old man" or maybe "big man". The pocket Mauser pistols m/1914 (?) in 7.65 Br was "Akka-Mauser" and in 6.35 Br was "neiti-Mauser". Just like the Nambus in USA, the Finns had Papa-Mauser, Mama-Mauser and Missy-Mauser...
Isn't ukko the lighting god?
@@chadjacket : It's both.
@@chadjacket In this context it doesn't refer to the old god at all. But yes, Ukko was an old finnish god for some finns.
@@chadjacket Ukko literally means "old man" and it has been interpreted as to have been bypass to refer to the lightning god, as that deity's real name was seen as taboo. Euphemistic names being used for deities, spirits and animals was common in ancient Finnish beliefs, like how the word for "bear", "karhu", comes from "karhea" meaning "rough" relating to its fur.
@@jokemon9547Also, bear therefore have many names in Finnish: Karhu, Otso, Kouvo, nalle, mesikämmen.
Gotta love that rear sight having range up to a 1000 meters. Thanks Ian for the great video!
So early, Simo hasn't pulled his boots on yet.
Haha Simo Häyhä 😂😂😂
My granfather shot reds 1918 during the independence war with this gun, we have also akka Mauser (akka-nagging wife). Great that this guns are still working.
A lot of C96 pistols actually also ended up in Lapland or stashed away during civil war by people living in rural areas.
It was seen as popular hunting weapon mostly by poachers, as it could be hidden away in backpack and made into a little carbine.
For a goodwhile poachers using the C96 were a bit of a nuisance to official cracking down on poachers who hunted other people's Reindeer in Lapland, the 9mm casings found at crime sites being the clue that "Red 9's" were used.
Weapons caching occurred after the Continuation War, not "during civil war [sic]".
Even on the best of days, the C96 makes a poor poacher's weapon, stock or no stock. You'll never get close enough to wild game, especially in Lapland, where the shooting distances are longer because of the sparse forestation. And "hunting" reindeer, a domesticated animal in Lapland, would've been a dangerous undertaking. Their angry Lapp owners would've hunted the poacher down and turned him into carrion.
My friend once found one of these caches but there was only m40 helmet, ammo and bayonets. We dont know where the gun has gone if there even was one hid away
As usual it's 3 times as interesting as I expected.
Many years ago, some outfit on Shotgun News got a bunch of BOLO Mausers from China. They were pretty much parts guns and they sold them 3 for 100 bucks. So I ordered 3 and managed to get one working, all be it junk, gun and another pretty much all there but with broken parts. They all looked like they came out of a rice patty, horrid pitting but the best of the lot I polished up an blued on my next hot bluing day, the rest were sand blasted and blued as well, in for a penny in for a buck. I got over $300 out of the lot at a gun show so made a nice profit on the deal and they were great fun to sort of restore. Never did get any grips for them, they were all missing grips when I got them. Ah for the good old days, I miss my FFL.
I sure miss those good old days of Shotgun News. having all sorts of good surplus for sale cheap. I bought my share for the day but now wish I would have spent every dime I could muster ,because now they are gone and anyone selling theirs is enjoying a Huge profit.
I have a Mauser C96 Bolo. Not one serial numbered part matches another. Supposedly, and I only have the pawn shop I bought it from for $350 to go on (it was covered in rust and had several broken or missing parts) it was a Franken gun assembled from spare parts laying around the factory and sold to a USGI in 1945 as a souvenir. I've since got it shooting, but the chamber is very rough and leaves scratches on ejected cases and the rifling is mostly shot out, so I'll probably have it resleeved once I get it refinished. I'm keeping the original 7.63mm caliber though.
Historical correction: Finland hasn't gone back and forth under Swedish and Russian rule a couple of times. We, i.e. Finland was a part of Sweden for about 600 years until Sweden (and Finland was a part of Sweden up until then) lost a war against Russia in 1809. From that 'til 1917 Finland was a semi autonomous part of Russia. In the late 1800s and early 1900s Russians started putting pressure on Finland, trying to Russificate Finland and right before our Finnish Civil War, we/Finland became independent, 6th of December 1917. So Finland was part of Sweden, or under Swedish rule once and for quite some time, about 600 years, then about 108 years under Russian rule and then independent.
The eastern boarder however had moved multiple times so going back and forth was true to Savo and Karelia at least
My uncle has one in 9mm. The wooden holster and everything!
Reported to finnish authorities
What a cool story! I’m usually primarily here for the guns, but I’d never heard this bit of history before
I see Finnish, I click. I'm a simple man.
I hear that a lot about Finns. 😊
😅
Kulttuurimiähiä selvästi.
Interesting. Their training camp was at a place called Hohenlockstedt, close to my area in northern Germany. 2015 the 100th aniversary was celebrated there.
Hi, in early 80’s one of my relatives passed away and he had one ”Ukko Mauser” in hes possession. I got it while I was serving in army. The gun was bought in ”White Army” sportshop in Vyborg (Viipuri , now ovcupied in ruski side). It was 9.0 mm barabellum model , matching numbers, no SA stamp and it had wooden holster you could use like shoulder kind arm so you can shoot more far stable. All the leather straps and ammunition combs. Sold it late 90’s but still have that first buying permitt from 1921 from Vyborg.
I love the C96, so I'm always happy to get another video on it!
Yay broom handle video.
Love the Finnish content
It's so interesting. I was just doing research for my second novel, and here you are talking about the same folks. Wonderful timing.
I have one like that, though from the mentioned commercial range (371xxx, so 1917 production) and also in 7.63. It did come with the shoulder-stock holster (not matching numbers, but the gun itself is) with the original leather strap. There is some pitting on the outside around the extractor, but the barrel rifling is in decent shape with no corrosion, so overall really nice condition for a more than a 100-year old piece that was actually used. Interestingly, it stayed in Finland until a couple years ago (so around a century probably), until it came to Poland where I got it.
Thank you for the historical context of the arms in service.
There is still a museum in Hohenlockstedt, Germany for the Finnisch Jägers
Fricking early gang reporting for duty
🫡 Reporting for duty!
Shithead actual standing by
Yerrrr
Is 21 minutes still early?
Because of the way timezones work Ian generally uploads at lunchtime or teatime in the UK, which is a neat coincidence and probably explains why there are so many commenters from this side of the Atlantic.
For some reason lots if C96s ended up in Lapland. Reindeer herders used to carry them even as late as 1980s. They mainly used them to poach and defend the reindeer from predators. Notorious reindeer herder and thief Mosku favoured the C96, though he probably shot more men than wildlife...
Cool video Ian. Never heard this story. Greetings from Finland.❤
Fun Fact: The Finnish soldiers were trained at the german army barracks at Munster/ Lower Saxony. Today the "Panzermuseum", the german tank museum is located there (although not in the same barracks).
Not exactly. The Jägers were trained in Hohenlockstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, but a small group did spent 6 months in Munster. Much of (Finnish) Jäger literature doesn't even mention Munster and I never heard about it in school, which is why the stone at Panzermuseum suprises many Finns.
Ian, love your videos, especially THIS one. The "cool" factor on a C96 can't be beat!
These history/hardware/weapons videos are just superb. Learn so much about history, as well as the provenance of the weapon in focus. Only bettered by your field trips - Alligator Creek etc!
Good memories... My great grandfather was one of those Jaggers....
He had Ukko-mauseri... Illegally...
Although it was in such a bad condition.. I seriously doubt that it was functional..
But for me as a kid.. it was the most awesome "toy" gun ever .. which me and My cousins fought over... 😀😀
Who's turn it was to play with it..
A real-feeling toy, was it?
What a nice coincidence that you just happened to have a Luger in your lap as well.
I like to think his daily carries are all like that. Tues day is a Bergman pistol and Wednesday is a c96.
Jesus could turn water into wine. Gun Jesus can turn thin air into the appropriate comparison piece.
That's what she said?
I love early self loading pistols and the C-96 pattern guns are the queens, even the spanish and chinese ones are amazing iconic bullet machines!
"All went back into inventory". Not quite, not quite ;) .. and that is a really interesting story. You might want to look into the "weapons cache case", or "asekätkentä" in finnish. Loads of weapons were illegally hidden all over the country in case of a later russian invasion. Those caches are still found to this day. Many went to prison for it in the 40s and/or moved to the US.
That is why some finnish ex. soldiers ended up in the US, mainly in the Special Forces, teaching SF everything they knew about arctic warfare , guerrilla tactics etc. They were called "Marttinen´s men" / "Marttisen miehet" after col. Alpo Marttinen who basically organized the finnish officers in the US.
And when on that subject.. look up the "soldier of three armies" Larry Thorne / Lauri Törni. His life sounds like a Hollywood movie. Finnish army -> German SS -> US Special Forces -> disappeared in Vietnam.
Not nearly all have been found. 😊
Incidentally, Törni organised his own weapons cache, part of which is now on display at the Military Museum in Helsinki. One exhibited item is the late president's, Mauno Koivisto's, personal weapon, an 'Emma' LMG.
No where close to all have been found, there is caches in the forests, houses, pits. some are inside trees@@NALE12
Even though Finland has always been a military Lilliputian, it amazes me, how significant of a thumb print we've had on the international weapons trade.
Not huge until relatively recently perhaps. But the weirder thing is that we are not these days the military "lilliputian" of Europe, despite being a small country as always. There are only a few countries in Europe with bigger militaries than ours nevertheless.
Not really. Just because a few guns end up in the US doesn't mean we were significant in any way
@@jussi3378 The irony is that we are much more significant militarily these days than ever before, especially when compared to other European countries. The military industry seems to do quite well as well, which is not something Finland is known for.
@@herptek maybe, but we are still a small nation.
@@jussi3378 Doesn't matter at all if we can punch above our weight class, which we should always aspire to anyway. The best quality that Finland has is independence from foreign countries, which is something that makes national sovereignty actually meaningful or even possible if it is ever contested by force.
Allies are great addition, but their interests are nevertheless not always identical with ours. We must always be prepared to take care of our own lot with means in our political control, at bare minimum, and then secondly also help our allies defend themselves if they ever need it.
The text in the holster beside the name Vomberg could be 'Gefr', short for Gefreiter, a German military rank similar to private: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gefreiter
I think so too
Cool pistols. I've always found Finnish gun history fascinating.
Those are some serious machining marks on the frame
The stamp with the framed letters SA does not refer to the German acronym for "Sturm-Abteilung", but in this context to Suomen Armeija (the Finnish Army).
Ian, thanks for this very interesting video. The C96 may not be the best, or practical handgun, but It's always been a favorite of mine since the first time I laid my eyes on one, and even more so since I own one.
The leather of that holster seems still perfectly supple!
"Hokey Religions And Ancient Weapons Are No Match For A Good Blaster At Your Side, Kid."
- Han Solo
Apropos of nothing, Ukko was Sláine's sidekick in the old 2000AD strip. He was named after... well, Ukko. "He did not think it too many."
Named after the Finnish storm-god/supreme god Ukko
@@teemu86 And Ukko is just the "every-day name" of him, the one you use when you don't want him to actually notice you mentioning him. He's real name is Perkele.
@@DjKorppi Well, actually not. Perkele is a Finnish adaptation of the Baltic (Latvian/Lithuanian) god Perkunas and has since Catholic times (before 1593) been one of several Finnish names for the Devil. Ukko, on the other hand, is already in the pre-Christian pantheon found in the Kalevala epic. The word means "old man" but it can also figuratively be used to indicate something large, so one could surmise that the epithet "Ukko-Mauser" was meant to distinguish the C96 from the Model 1910 6.35mm Mauser pocket pistol or "Pikku-Mauser" ("Little Mauser"). My grandfather, who was with the White Guard during the Civil War, had one of the latter.
I remember reading that. Ukko was described as "perverted but loyal".
These episodes where the gun essentially serves as a centrepiece for an interesting history lesson are always fun :)
SA, for non-Finnish speakers, means "Suomen Armeija", Army of Finland.
Slightly nitpicking if I may, Suomen Armeija (not literally) translates into "Finnish armed forces", including both Army, Navy and Air Force. But yes, AS is indeed Suomen Armeija.
A few C96s came to Ireland in the early part of the 20th century along with artillery Luger's colloquially known as the "Peter the painter" sourced from Germany along with Mauser rifles used to fight the British Army at the time. The Germans were quite happy to supply arms to quite a few countries back then it would seem.
During my military service Major of our Company carried a Mauser in one of these leather holsters.
Finland is based.
Based? Based on what?
Huh?
@@ToiletCloggerDemonBased on sauna and sisu.
@@ToiletCloggerDemonI read that in badgers voice.
Very
High up on the cool scale.
Was really hoping this was another "getenteredtowin" gun. Have always wanted a C96 or a clone.
I have the airgun version and ordering the stock. And it's also full auto capabile.
They’re awesome pistols. Wish I still had mine.
Thanks man! Very interesting 👍🏻
There is a book about pistols in finnish service. It have couple of hundreds of pages and if I remember right army had dozens of different weapons and catridges from .22 lr to .45 ACP and everything between. If there was a calibre of type of gun we had it and we had given it to troops.😁😁😁
Small and (relatively) poor countries make do.
Left behind by Tsarist military, captured in Civil War from Red Guard weapons, vintage WW1 pistols bought by the weight, small batches bought in the 20' and 30's, captured from Soviets during the 5 years of war, left behind by Germans...
And can't get rid of anything as there are never enough of pistols. They start to accumulate over time!
Unusable is a strange choice of words to use for a C96. That was the very first practical auto loader and I would still feel well armed with one today. They were sold all over the world, especially China, sure this one you got had the weird original caliber , but still a gun well designed and a piece of history. Those 3 Mauser employee did a great job, hope they had a nice bonus in their pay. This was the gun many British officers bought, such as Winston Churchill and Lawrence of Arabia. I saw some reconditioned ones in a magazine in US about 2 decades ago, but I live in Canada, only criminals are allowed to have guns here. We even get public statement from our Toronto police telling us to leave our car keys close to the front door so it will not inconvenient the thieves, and don't bug them, many of them are armed said the cop. Whats next, leave our young daughters near the front door too?
Shows Fiochi ammunition behind him. It gave huge brilliant white fireballs in 7.63 Mauser!
These are not uncommon finds in Finland, known as drawer finds. In the late '20s and '30s, these were quite common Civil Guard guns. My grandad's brother was active in the Civil Guard and owned one. It was called 'vikkeläpoika.' He hated 'commies' and carried it in his backpack. The local police knew he had one. I tried to trace it in the '80s. My grandmother said it was thrown into the sea after the owner died."
German guy here: The lower marking is actually "Gefr" - referring to the German Army rank - Gefreiter = Corporal.
Like a certain Austrian postcard painter...😉
This pistol therefore belonged to Gefreiter Vomberg.
Finland has not gone back and forth between Sweden and Russia. Finland was part of Sweden for almost 700 years before Sweden was forced to give up Finland to Russia at the peace of 1809. After that, Finland was a Grand Duchy of Russia until it became an independent nation in 1917
Three things I love about Finland: Arto Saari, Ripsipiirakka and Finnish firearms history. (Coincidentally, the only three things I know about Finland 🤔)
Ahhhh! The choice of an avid gun collector. It’s a nice gun stranger!
C96 my beloved.
I'm impressed by your knowledge of Finnish history, however please allow me to nitpick a little bit. Technically Russia was not occupying Finland during the Great War years as legally Sweden had handed Finland over to Russia in 1809. In the Civil War, the Whites were not "more Western oriented" and the Reds were not "more Russian oriented" - I assume this mistake stems from looking back to the events in 1918 from a modern perspective. The Red side included Communists of course, but the majority of them were Social Democrats. Even the Communists were divided between the idea of independent Communist Finland and *possibly* joining the Soviet Union, and the Social Democrats of course were firmly committed to Finnish independence. The Jäger Movement was not quite as strong as you said - less than two thousand men actually joined the Prussian army. But really, you had the big picture framed right, well done!
Every time i see a c-96, i think of churchhill on safari in africa, and his " little pom-pom. ( I think i got that right)
That may be a cool idea for a topic.
The guns of Churchill, and Roosevelt, on thier famous african safaris.
When young Winston was a REPORTER in the Boer War, he also carried a C-96. Interesting bloke, old Winnie.
@@bruceinoz8002 hear, hear, matey!
I believe that would be a proper British response.
Idk for sure, as I am just a small-town American rednek, but....
Sir Churchill's safari memoirs is an interesting story.
I guess you could say that unfilled contract was...Finnished...WAKKA WAKKA
You should check the firing pin. It usual snaps in 2. Pistol will still fire. I have changed it on 3 guns. The Red 9. 1917 model.
my great grandfather was one of those who went to Germany he maid training "book" about using bayonet. and my grandmas cousin was one of those assassins
You can tell Ian has spent too much time in the country when a simple intro to a pistol prompts him to give a 5-minute history lesson on Finland all the way to the time of Swedish rule. Like a true Finn.
Really nice looking C96. I never knew the Finns had the C96. Really cool how it served until the 50s. The Finns really had an amazing history of firearms, both foreign and domestic in origin.
Mr Lahti and Saloranta planning lot of great guns.
I feel like this guy has not aged in like 15 years
It's in great shape!!!
Interesting
The story says that these c96 + similar accessories are still in the houses with the permission of the "civil guard", i.e. sky. Of course, the authorities want such things in the melting pot. Recently, the Lapland police presented the pistols brought to the handover , proud of their achievements. I cried a small tear for a lost piece of my nation's history.
Thanks you Ian, I've got one of these C-96's and nobody had been able to explain the N-S on the back of the hammer and SA on the right side of the receiver. Mine is number 89xx. It is in excellent shape and has maintained very well during its life and a joy to shoot. It's also a 7.63 mm as well. Now I know where this gun came from and where it was during the wars. And it has no import marks, so I'm not real sure how it came to be here.
Its kinda funny how Finland of all places has adopted Gun Jesus,
These guns are also part of bloody criminal history of Finland. After civil war, almost "everybody" had a at least pistol and combined with prohibition law, alcohol smuggling, unstable society, war traumatized men, use of substances etc ment that crime rate was high and use of deadly violence very normal even against law enforcement.
Morning early team!
Great video 👍🏼🤩
For those interested, "Ukko-Mauser" basically means "Old Man Mauser" in this context.
I am german, Brittas boyfriend. The fact that former finnish guns are stamped ,SA' is confusing for german people, so in 1980s rather often in geman arms magazines was noted, this means something like Suomen Armeen (?), because finnish name of country is Suomi.
And Imperial Germany had four armies: A) The prussian army, including the troops of greatduchies, duchies, principalities , hanseatic towns and Alsace- Lorraine. B) Bavarian army. C) Saxon army. D) Württembergian army. The troops of the armies B to D had a number of special rights ( Reservatrechte).
SA=Suomen Armeija=Finnish army
We like to keep things simple😁
@@Kesssuli It can be confusing since SA could also be an abbreviation of Saksan Armeija = German Army
@@romaliop SA in German could mean Sturm-Abteilung in some contexts. However, I have never seen SA in a Finnish text meaning the German Army (i.e., Heer, including Wehrmacht and the SS).
TIL where the red 9 designation for the Mauser in Resident Evil came from.
Ian, I'm a big fan of your channel and you are the very best at Firearms history and as usual the video is great.
But this once I have to correct you, not about firearms but the History of Finland as a nation.
Rather than a Back-and-forth of owners Finlands history is a journey from a province of Sweden for some 600 years, to 1809 when an empire stole it, then finally Freedom 1917 as that empire fell apart.
Ian said Ukko-Mauser perfectly. Torille!
"I have a cocooned Ukko-Mauser in my stomach"... let's see if anyone recognizes this deep cut.
Kuulkaa käskyn antajaa, Jukka Emil Vanajaa!
Good research
good vid
Would definitely be a cool historic addition...
5:47 good pronunciation, Ian 👍
Suomi mainittu, torilla tavataan :D🇫🇮
Mainitaan melko usein tällä kanavalla.
Perkele!
@@ChristianConrad Ja hyvä niin, pönkittää imagoa. Paitsi ehkä Ahlberg ja JaTiMatic videot.
Ei tavata.
Mitä siellä torilla tehdään? Paikkoja iloisesti vallataan, huudetaan mölyapinan raivolla ja särjetään paikkoja! Ihanaa, suomi mainittu!
I hear of some Astra 900s in 7.63mm coming out of Finland but no Finnish markings. Do you have any info on them?
I just got back from Finland. There’s a spy museum I went to that claimed the PPSH-41 was a copy of the Suomi KP/31. To my knowledge, only the drum magazine of the PPSH-41 was copied from the Suomi’s 71 round magazine. Any input on that?
You could maybe say that the concept is copied from the Suomi, but the gun is mechanically very different.
@@romaliop Indeed, the concept of using a submachine gun like the Finns did with the Suomi kp (kp = konepistooli, machine pistol) in the Winter War 1939-40, issuing them to the best individual soldiers for ambushing and attacking aggressively at close range with devastating firepower, that was a major Finnish innovation - previously, submachine guns were internationally rather regarded as Police weapons, instead of weapons of war. All foreign armies soon adopted the lessons. Submachine guns had been very rare weapons in the Red Army by 1939-40 (mostly issued for Politruks for their personal protection), but their experiences of the Suomi kp soon made them cheaply mass-produce the PPSh-41 with less machining in its production method (pay attention to the year 1941 in its name!).