7.63mm ammo Database Films & TV
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Ammunition

Factory loads: at present, the only cartridges I know of that are currently available for the .30/7.63mm Mauser, are those made by Fiocchi.

The original .30 Mauser round was manufactured by DWM for the Borchardt pistol. This was constructed using a 96 grain jacketed bullet with a muzzle velocity of around 1400fps 4. The standard load for the 7.63mm C96 models was an 85 grain bullet in front of 8 grains of powder 1.

The standard load for the 9mm Parabellum models was a 115 grain bullet in front of 6 grains of 'factory' powder 1.


Stripper clips © Brian Leigh Terifay

Factory loads: It is known that 'Silvalube' 85 grain bullets can be made to work well but seem to require a fast powder in order to cycle the mechanism correctly. Ammunition loaded with Unique powder appears to suffer this problem. With Bullseye powder, the mechanism cycles correctly but appears to result in leading problems. Red Dot powder appears to give satisfactory results 2.

As the feed ramp of the C96 is very steep, the bullets of any home loads need to be tightly crimped, to ensure that they do not get pushed back into the case during the loading cycle 8. Use the hardest bullets that you can for three important reasons 10.

  • easy feeding

  • minimum deformation of the ogive during feeding

  • to gain the highest possible muzzle velocity without leading of the bore

It is also important that you do NOT roll crimp, use a taper crimp ONLY 9.

It is also important that you do NOT use 7.62x25 (Tokarev) ammo. The 7.62x25 Tokarev ammo is certainly NOT advised for use in a Broomhandle Mauser as it is much too "hot", and can eventually blow up your gun 9.

My own reloading experiences: I've tried to combine all the reference sources that I could find on reloading for the 7.63mm C96. Always follow best practices when reloading ammunition. Start off with lower loads and work up to maximum loads. Double check everything.

For information only - as I have no control over an individuals loading performance,
no responsibility either expressed or implied is assumed by
me for the use of this data E&OE.

In the load table that follows, my own home loads, indicated by the comments in blue, have the OAL for the cartridges set at 1.360 inches, the primers used were standard Federal 100's, and the cases were either new or once used, as manufactured by GFL.
 

Bullet
grains		 Bullet
type		 Powder
grains		 Powder
type		 Chrono
f.p.s.		 Std.
dev.		 Comments
77 FMJ 7.2 Unique 1320   Handloader 11
84 Cast 5.1 Bullseye 1250   Handloader 11
84 Cast 5.0 Bullseye 1397   Handloader 11
84 Cast 5.5 Red Dot 1100   Handloader 11
84 Cast 6.5 Unique 1150   Handloader 11
84 Cast 5-5.6 Red Dot 1030-1103   Lyman 46th Edition 11
84 Cast 5.2-6.8 Unique 1003-1187   Lyman 46th Edition 11
85 LRN 4.7 HS-6 762   Failed to cycle action and cases dirty
85 LRN 3.7 Bullseye 770   Failed to cycle action and cases dirty
85 FMJ 5.0 Bullseye 1397   Handloader 11
85 LRN 4.5 Herco 793   Failed to cycle action
85 LRN 5.6 Unique 824   Failed to cycle action
85 LRN 4.1 Win 231 999 68 Failed to cycle action and cases dirty
85 LRN 3.8 Red Dot 1025 110 50% of shots failed to cycle action and all cases dirty
85 ? 4.5 Bullseye 1143   Good accuracy but some leading 8
85 ? 6.7 Nobel Pistol 2     Suggested load 2
86 ? 5.0 Bullseye 1390   Barnes' CTG's (Mauser factory load) 11
86 FMJ 5.2 Bullseye 1410   Barnes' CTG's (Tokarev factory load) 11
86 FMJ 5.1 Bullseye 1250   Handloader 11
86 FMJ 4.2-5.0 Bullseye 1081-1217   Lyman 46th Edition 11
86 FMJ 5-5.6 Red Dot 1030-1103   Lyman 46th Edition 11
86 FMJ 5.2-6.8 Unique 1003-1187   Lyman 46th Edition 11
87 FMJ 6.9 Unique 1200   Handloader 11
87 FMJ 6.9-7.1 Unique 1200-1250   Handloader 11
88 FMJRN     1296 161 Fiocchi factory load
90 HJ 5.2 Bullseye 1420   Handloader 11
90 ? 5.3 Unique 1090   Best load 4
92 FMJRN 4.9 Nobel Pistol 2 1100   Suggested reduced load 12
92 FMJRN 3.5 Nobel Pistol 3 1110   Suggested reduced load 12
92 FMJRN 5.4 Nobel Pistol 2 1175   Maximum load 12
92 FMJRN 4.0 Nobel Pistol 3 1185   Maximum load 12
93 Cast 4.7 Nobel Pistol 2 1125   Suggested reduced load 12
93 Cast 3.4 Nobel Pistol 3 1135   Suggested reduced load 12
93 Cast 3.8 Nobel Pistol 3 1195   Maximum load 12
93 Cast 5.2 Nobel Pistol 2 1200   Maximum load 12
93 FMJRN 5.4 Vit 340 1280   Maximum load with Vit-22 primer 12
93 ? 5.3 Unique 1345   Barnes' CTG's (Mauser factory load) 11
93 FMJ 4-6.8 Universal 742-1375   Handguns Magazine Nov 1995 11
93 SP 5.2 N2020 1250   Handloader 11
93 ? 3.8-4.2 Win 231 1085   Lee Loader sheet (25000 PSI) 11
93 ? 3.6 Bullseye 1173   Lee Loader sheet (29900 PSI) 11
93 ? 4.0 HP 38 1070   Lee Loader sheet (29900 PSI) 11
93 ? ? N340 1150   Lee Loader sheet (29900 PSI) 11
93 Sako 101c 7.7 Adco SP 2 1486   Tested load 11
93 Sako 101c 8.0 Adco SP 2 1610   Tested load 11
93 Sako 101c 8.5 Adco SP 2 1700   Tested load 11
96 FMJRN     1400   Original factory load
100   5.0 Unique 1018   Good load but shoots high 8
100 Speer Plink 4.7 Bullseye 1250   Recommended by C-R-FFL thread 11
100   4.6 Unique 1200   Barnes' CTG's (Tokarev load) 11
100 Speer Plink 5.5-5.6 Unique     From Jeff Dwyer: "I have used that load after extensive experimentation
and must say its the sweetest load , minimum recoil , great accuracy.
Highly recommended for the old guns!" 11
100 Speer Plink 6.0-6.6 Unique 1263-1349   Handguns Magazine Nov 1995 11
100 Speer Plink 6.0 Universal 1277   Handguns Magazine Nov 1995 11
100 FMJ 5.0 Bullseye 1275   Handloader 11
100 Cast 4.2-5.0 Bullseye 1081-1217   Lyman 46th Edition 11
100 Sierra 6.6-7.8 HS 6 910-1070   Guns & Ammo Aug 1994 11
100 Sierra 5.0-5.7 IMR PB 940-1079   Guns & Ammo Aug 1994 11
115 LRN 4.7 HS-6 762   Failed to cycle action and cases dirty
115 LRN 4.6 Unique 906   Cycled action OK
115 LRN 4.5 Herco 914   Cycled action OK
115 LRN 3.7 Bullseye 996 24 Cases OK and shot OK but sharp recoil felt
115 LRN 4.1 Win 231 1005 13 Cases OK and shot OK with softer recoil than 3.7g Bullseye load
115 LRN 3.8 Red Dot 1023 27 Cases OK and shot OK

Other calibres 4: Although the majority of C96 Broomhandle's were manufactured in 7.63mm, several other limited edition and experimental calibers were also produced by Mauser and other factories:

  • 7.65mm Borchart - used for the first prototype C96 pistols
  • 9mm Parabellum - official German military pistol caliber of WW1. Some models were later re-chambered to this caliber
  • 9mm Mauser - a larger 9mm cartridge and not interchangeable with the 9mm Parabellum. Sometimes referred to as '9mm Mauser Export'
  • 7.65mm Parabellum - adopted by the Finnish government after 1923 as their official pistol caliber
  • .45 ACP - developed by the Chinese Shansei arsenal on their C96 copies
  • 9mm Largo (Bergmann) - official Spanish caliber used on their Astra C96 copies
  • 8.15mm Mauser - this variation could possibly be as a result of the restrictions applied to Germany following the Treaty of Versailles (1919)x. Cartridge believed to be known as 'DWM Case No. 580', with a mouth diameter of 8.12mm and a case length of 25.2mm.

8.15mm C96 #416868 belonging to Marty Jung

 

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