My Latest Find! An early HSc!

[Matt Weber]

Just got this baby into my pistol collection. It is an early war Mauser HSc rig. Serial number is 726xxx, which would probably date this pistol to late 1940. I'll post pics to follow with details.

First off, here is the holster. A very nice early war brown leather, break-a-way type. I've seen photos of the famous Walther Nowotny wearing this same type of holster (He did carry a Mauser HSc as well!)


Matt

[Matt Weber]

The closure strap of the holster is marked with an "Eagle over WaA number". Number is difficult to read, but appears to be "266". this means that the holster was accepted and used by the Army or Luftwaffe.

[Matt Weber]

Inside the flap, the holster is clearly marked with the maker code "jhg" and the date "41". Also inkstamped inside the holster is the model designation. "Mauser 7.65"

[Matt Weber]

The left side of this HSc clearly shows the early war hi-polished finish to this piece. Also notice the quality checkered walnut grips

[Matt Weber]

A close up of the left trigger guard shows the early proof marking "eagle 655". Later this was changed to the "eagle 135" and later to the "eagle WaA135". This gun is serial number 726xxx. I have another with serial number 746xxx, that is marked with the "eagle 135", so the change occured around 742xxx.

[Matt Weber]

Close up of the left side of the slide shows the Mauser logo, and the model designation. Note that these early HSc will not have the 3 lines in the model inscription. This was added later. Also note the lovely hi-polished finish to this piece.

[Matt Weber]

Right side of the HSc shows us once again the finish, as well as the lovely walnut grips. Notice the "eagle N" markings will be on the right trigger guard, as well as on the right side of the slide.

[Matt Weber]

Bottom of the magazine shows us the Mauser logo on the bottom of these early HSc mags. Later the HSc mags were plain, with no logo. I'm not sure exactly what serial range this logo was dis-continued?

[Chuck McLemore]

Hi Matt! Nice rig. I picked up one just like it before Christmas. #722xxx with holster (no markings) and an extra mag. I don't think it had been cleaned since the war, but I got it looking pretty good. Something is wrong with the trigger spring, but I will work on that later. What do you think is the date on my pistol and what are they going for? Thanks

[Chris N]

Weber

Great looking piece. Be sure not to give that away.

[Matt Weber]

Thanks Chuck and Chris!

Chuck, your piece is an early one like mine is. Suposidly the first batch of these produced for the military all went to the Kriegsmarine. After that these were suppose to be made for the Luftwaffe, however, there is no exact way of telling.
I would date these to be around late 1940, or early 1941. The holster that came with mine is also dated "41". Yours should definately have the "eagle 655" proof then as mine does.

Tigger springs are probably the #1 problem for the Mauser HSc.
I don't really know why, but even when you got a good spring, the trigger pull is noisy. A bad spring will actually feel like its' ratcheting



I did have a spring replace on one of my other HScs, and I got an original WWII spring for only $17. To have a gunsmith install it will probably cost anohter $30. Not too bad.

AS for price, I actually got this baby for a pretty fair deal. I found it at a gun auction, and got this rig for only $400! The only problem with it is the holster. Some moron used a leather punch to punch an extra hole in the flap, since the holster is tight.moremad If they didn't do that, this would have easily been a $150+ holster alone!! I'd say the gun is probably worth over the $400 I paid for it, and the holster an mag were basically free then!

Matt

[hochadler]

Early HSc's

Matt:
The Mauser HSc went into full production in late 1940 at serial number 700001. There were a few prototypes of the two development pistols, the HSa and HSb, but they were not numbered in the Mauser pattern. The Mauser 1934 pistol ended in the high 600000 range, and the Mauser HSc was assigned the 700000 range.

The first 1347 Mauser HSc’s were the low grip screw variety, which are quite rare today. The low placement of the wooden grip screws caused many of these grips to crack, so the screw location was raised 20mm to where it remained for the balance of Nazi wartime production ending at approximately 951000

The Kriegsmarine began their procurement with approximately 500 from these early, highly-finished commercial pistols. The balance of this small grouping was directed to the commercial market. The Kriegsmarine pistols were marked at Naval installations with the eagle over M on the front grip strap, which continued well into the production. Later wartime Kriegsmarine pistols were stamped on the left trigger guard with a smaller Navy proof

The Army procured a small number of “test” pistols which were stamped with a small eagle over 655 on the left trigger guard and a small Nazi eagle on the left rear tang. At approx 713000, the stamping was changed to a larger eagle over 655 and the small Nazi eagle discontinued. Your pistol falls within that group

It’s important to note that all Mauser HSc pistols will have the commercial firing proof of an eagle over N on the right trigger guard and at the front of the right slide.

The Mauser HSc pistol was procured by the Navy, Army and Police. HSc’s without an acceptance mark either on the front grip strap or on the left trigger guard are commercial pistols. These were often purchased privately by military personnel, so it was not uncommon to have these captured in the field.

The Luftwaffe, SS and other organizations procured their pistols through the Army Heereswaffenamt. So, pistols captured from these organizations will bear the Army acceptance mark of Eagle over 655 and later Eagle over WaA 135.

[Chuck McLemore]

Thanks Guys, that is good HSc information. Yes, Matt it has the eagle 655 proof. I picked mine up for $450.00, so I guess we didn't do to bad. Thanks

[Matt Weber]

Thanks Hochadler, your information is all correct. I should have read up on serial numbers before posting exact numbers. I have edited my post to reflect such.

Yes, the Kriegsmarine did purchase around 28500 model HSc pistols. Early ones will be marked on the grip strap with the "eagle swastika M". Later ones will be marked trigger "eagle swatika M" on front grip strap and "eagle/MIII/3" on trigger guard. Later ones still will not have the markings on the grips strap and will be marked with only one of the following on the trigger guard: "eagle/M6", "eagle/M8/11", or "eagle/MIII/3".

Chuck, Yes, I think we both got a good deal!

Matt