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At a time when most handguns were limited to six rounds- the ten-shot Mauser caught the attention of the world for its unprecedented firepower and formidable high-velocity 7.63x25mm cartridge. This saw its ultimate expression in the first-ever select-fire handgun - the Schnellfeuer machine pistol- fed by a detachable magazine and offering both full-automatic and single-shot modes. The C 96 was the first semi-automatic pistol to see combat- arming both sides in the Second Anglo-Boer War- and seeing service with the German- Russian- Chinese and other militaries. Widely purchased commercially- it was carried by none other than Winston Churchill in the Sudan and South Africa- became prized by the Irish Republican Army and Soviet revolutionaries- and even armed Han Solo in the Star Wars movies.Featuring full-colour artwork and an array of revealing photographs- this is the engrossing story of the C 96 Broomhandle Mauser- the ground-breaking semi-automatic pistol that armed a generation of military personnel- adventurers and revolutionaries at the turn of the 20th century....