Mauser 1910 Serial Number Confusion

[makabunda]

I just bought a 1910 Mauser serial #256000 in excellent condition with 100 rounds of ammo for $120 dollars. I figured I couldn't go wrong at that price and if I had waited to research the pistol it would have been gone by the time I came back. I now know it was a smoking deal, but my question is about the last three serial digits being zeros and if that holds any significance?

[Hammerslagger]

Welcome to the forum.

You might want to check out this link. http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/10-14M/10-14m.html

From one of the link's photos, it looks like the improved 1914 model pistols were serialized in the 250,000 range. You might have stumbled across the first of that series.

http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/10-14M...2MauserLSS.jpg

[makabunda]

Hammerslagger,

Thanks for the info. I'm hoping that I found a real gem. I've got a safe full of Mauser rifles but this is the first Mauser pistol I have purchased. I will admit I ran a couple mags through it and I was very impressed. Nine hits with nine shots at 25 meters on a 32 ounce Gatorade bottle was simply amazing considering that I missed two out of fifteen with a Beretta 92 I had also just purchased.

Thanks Again

[makabunda]

This is a low quality cell phone picture but it does give a fairly accurate representation of the condition. It still needs a thorough cleaning though.

[Hammerslagger]

Thanks for the pic. Looks like you made an excellent purchase that some collector will likely pay you a handsome profit on, should you decide to sell it. The serial ending in "000" likely adds to its value, regardless of whether it is the first model 1914 pistol.

[Jim K]

There are some folks who see something rare or unusual in serial numbers that end in two or more zeros and will pay more for them. Myself, I can't understand how 256000 is any better or worse than 255999 or 256001, but to each his own.

In any case, that gun is referred to as the Post-War (WWI) Commercial 1910, and is the most common of the .25 caliber Mauser pocket pistols. Serial numbers of the original production started at 1 and went to c. 152,000. After the war, production resumed starting at number 200000 and ultimately went over 426,000, which included the so-called 1910/34.

That deal borders on highway robbery. Nice gun.

Jim

[makabunda]

Jim,

Yeah I wouldn't have haggled with him if I would have known the actual value of the gun, but I could see it being worth more than 200 and it is just going to sit in the safe unless a trade for something interesting came up. I bought it because I thought it was ugly and unusual. Oddball guns always get me, but at least this time it paid off.

Brad