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    #1

    Royal MM31

    Hi friends,

    This is a Mauser Broomhandle spanish copy made by the Beistegui Hermanos factory. It was called "M.M.31" for “Modelo Militar 1931” (’31 Military Model) and was issued with a fire select lever, which alloed it to work as a machine gun.

    Chambered to fire the then-popular 7,63 mm Mauser (.30 Mauser) cartridge, it was a very close copy of the Mauser C96 pistol with mechanical improvements. Beistegui Hermanos started to built copies of the Broomhandle in 1927 behind the trade mark "ROYAL" especially for the chinese market in a time when Versailles treaty prevented Waffenfabrik Mauser from manufacture such guns. In spite of a poor quality, these guns were a commercial success in China, especially when an automatic version was created.
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    #2
    In 1929, Beistegui Hermanos had got a great experience in the Broomhandle manufacture and decided to built a new version which production started in 1930. This pistol, the M.M.31 was mechanically different from the Royal and very close to the real Mauser. The quality was high high, with first class imported Böhler Austrian steel. It had the usual 10 shot fixed front magazine feed with stripper clips and the select fire lever in the left of the frame as the pictures show. Approximately 10000 M.M.31 were manufactured before a new version with detachable magazine replaced it. The serial numbers run from the end of the Royal production, near 23000 to 33000.
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      #3
      With the Astra 900, it is the more common broomhandle copy that saw action during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939). This version has less common markings as "Royal" is stamped in the right side of the frame. Majority of the production bears a "M.M.31" marking in an oval but some specimens keeped the old mark "Royal" when they were sold in countries where the older models of the firm where famed and appreciated.
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        #4
        With the Astra 900, the M.M.31 is the more common broomhandle copy that saw action during the Spanish civil war (1936-1939). This version has less common markings as "Royal" is stamped in the right side of the frame. Majority of the production bears a "M.M.31" marking in an oval but some specimens keeped the old mark "Royal" when they were sold in countries where the older models of the firm where famed and appreciated.
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          #5
          This particular pistol has been manufactured in 1931 as the "D" letter on the left side of the frame shows. Concerning the use of the M.M.31, it was extensively used in China and in both parts of the Spanish Civil War but production had ceased near 1934 due to political restrictions in the guns laws in Spain.

          Unlike his competitors, the Astra broomhandle pistols, the M.M.31 had never been bought by the germans during WWII. On the other hand, numerous M.M.31 were confiscated by French military police when the defeated Spanish republican army entered in France in 1939. Those guns were stocked in all the Gendarmerie centers of the border remaining there during German occupation till 1942. At that date a lot were stolen and used in the resistance maquis.

          Hope you enjoy this presentation.

          Wishes,

          Douglas.
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            #6
            Very Rare

            Douglas, That is a very nice Royal.. Quite rare here in the USA with only a few examples registered and transferable to collectors of class 3 weapons... Do you by chance have a Royal 'Super Azul'.. Nice BILL

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              #7
              Originally posted by BILL GRIST
              Douglas, That is a very nice Royal.. Quite rare here in the USA with only a few examples registered and transferable to collectors of class 3 weapons... Do you by chance have a Royal 'Super Azul'.. Nice BILL
              Bill,

              Thanks for your comments! Unfortunately, I do not have a "Super Azul" yet... However I could handle around one year ago. It had been reblued but it wasn´t a good job and most of the inscription was erased. Also the gun lacked the magazine floor - not a simple piece to find around here . But it was a impressive gun with the characteristic cooling fins on the barrel.

              Douglas.

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                #8
                Very nice gun and interesting info. Enjoyed reading and looking at it.
                Thanks for showing.
                Kris

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                  #9
                  Just as a suggestion try shooting at a lower resolution. The pictures were 10KB and overwhelm the capacity of the board to adequately show them. You can tell much more about the pistol when you can see all of it in one picture. A huge blurry picture is still blurry.
                  I also agree that it is a Royal Spanish copy of the Mauser.

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                    #10
                    Douglas Jr.
                    Sorry about posting on the wrong thread. By the time I got the picture reduced to a reasonable size, I guess you had put your post up and I didn't catch it.
                    JP

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