Mauser HSc

Firearms history wouldn’t be complete without the introduction of the German manufactured HSc pistol during World War II, after development of a blowback-designed pistol dating back to 1934 at Mauser Obendorf in Neckar, Germany. Research shows that Mauser began actual production of the original HSc in late 1940, beginning with serial number 700001. Production of the Mauser HSc halted around 1946 with the final serial number (purportedly) being 971239.

The HSc pistols were produced in 32 ACP/7.65mm caliber and were made for the Nazi Military and Police. Some of those old WWII pistols made their way into the United States by returning service members coming home from the war, so you may see one of these in your shop from time to time. The Mauser HSc action is a blowback operated design that has been produced in both 32ACP (7.65mm) and 380 ACP (9mm Kurz) calibers.

The magazine capacity of the 32 ACP is eight rounds with the 380 ACP You can clearly see the firing pin and spring in the track of the slide, along with the safety, barrel, and recoil spring. The last three numbers of the serial number are stamped under the chamber. Removal and reassembly of the barrel and recoil spring is an awkward endeavor. These post-war pistols were imported from Germany by Interarms, USA. They were made in both 380 ACP (9mm Kurz) and 32 ACP (7.65mm). or 9mm Kurz only holding seven.

The pistol has an overall length of 6 inches, give or take, and a weight of around 24 ounces. Barrel length is approximately 3.4 inches. Total wartime production is estimated to have been approximately 252,000. The Mauser HSc pistol was then reintroduced around 1967 and imported by Interarms, USA. Research tells us that approximately 63,118 post-war pistols were produced for commercial sale. The pistols were reengineered to accept the 380 ACP/ 9mm Kurz cartridge, a more popular cartridge in America.

However, many were also sold in the original 32 ACP chambering. Accordingly, approximately 18,868 32 ACP pistols and 39,250 380 ACP pistols were produced as post-war models. These post war models had been redesigned from the original HSc, now sporting a separate (removable) backstrap on the grip frame. The design of this particular pistol is unlike others in its class. First, there is no slide lock or release external to the pistol. It has an internal slide lock that is activated by the magazine.

It is awkward to disassemble for cleaning, has a very delicate firing pin, and familiarization with how this pistol operates safely must be conducted when working on them. This is due mostly to the fact that when loading the pistol, the magazine, whether empty or loaded with live rounds, serves to unlock the slide and chambers that first round when the magazine is inserted. So the owner/user must take some extra time at the range getting used to this type of operation to avoid any unintentional discharges.

This design, without a doubt, caused this particular pistol to fall from popularity. The pistol on my bench today is a post-war model imported by

Interarms, USA, and was manufactured in 1972. The pistol is a numbers-matching piece in the original box (blue) with an original owner’s manual and associated paperwork. The manufacture date is hand-written in the accompanying owner’s manual. Serial numbers on this pistol were found on the right side of the slide and on the left side of the frame on the trigger guard. The last three digits of the serial number were later found on the bottom of the barrel lug underneath the chamber.

When the slide is locked to the rear, the safety applied, and magazine is inserted, the slide will close and the hammer will remain During reassembly, you will insert the detents and spring into the hole in the slide and after the safety is reinstalled, insert the extractor into the slide by pressing it against the detent, compressing the spring until it is fully seated in the slide. cocked. This pistol was very dirty from having been carried but in overall good shape. It test fired well, with only a couple jams.

The pistol came to me for inspection, deep cleaning, and test firing/sighting in. Finally! An HSc in the shop without a broken firing pin! A review of my American Gunsmith library found that this pistol has not previously been covered here. No better time than now, I say. Especially with a complete and unbroken specimen on my bench to work with!

Disassembly As mentioned previously, the basic design of this pistol differs from others on the market (then and now) and, therefore, disassembly for cleaning can be awkward. To begin, remove the magazine and pull the slide all the way to the rear. While holding it there, visually inspect the barrel breech to ensure there is no live round in the chamber. Work the slide a few times to be sure. When absolutely certain the pistol is not loaded, re-insert an empty magazine and pull the slide to the rear.

The slide will lock back. Remove the slide and you will find that you cannot simply pull the slide back and release it like other semi-automatic pistols available today. The slide stays locked back in the open position. This is normal. To close the slide, insert the empty magazine back into the magazine well. When seated, the slide closes automatically. There is no external slide release on this pistol.

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the functioning characteristics of the pistol in front of you, move forward with disassembly. Check again to be sure the pistol is unloaded. You now want to have the hammer (4) cocked to the rear—so if it is not, do so now either by working the slide or by cocking the hammer with your thumb. Once the hammer is cocked, place the safety catch (15) in the ON or SAFE position. The "S" will be showing when properly engaged.

The slide should be closed at this point, the hammer cocked, and the safety ON. The magazine (11) should also be removed at this point. You will need two hands to remove the slide (2). Hold the pistol so that you can depress downward on the barrel latch (21) located on the inside front of the trigger guard. Use your finger or a non-marring tool to push downward on this pin. While holding it down, move the slide forward about a 1/4" or so and lift up on the rear of the slide to separate it from the receiver.

If you cannot get the slide to come loose, chances are the safety is back in The long bar at the top of the frame with the hook on the end is the slide lock/ejector. Note the hammer is still cocked to the rear.

the OFF position (red dot showing). Double check this if you’re having trouble getting the slide to lift off of the receiver. Do not pry it off under any circumstances. With the slide removed from the receiver, the barrel (14) and recoil spring (36) need to come out. The original owner’s manual states you can use the base tip of the magazine to push the barrel forward in the slide to clear the extractor, then lift the barrel out of the slide, breech end first.

This is an awkward removal, even more so when reassembling the barrel into the slide. I personally like to clamp the slide in a padded vice upside down, then use apiece of plastic to push the To lower the hammer from its cocked position, pull the hammer rearward and use ascribe to pull the sear away from the hammer hooks, then gently lower the hammer. This relieves tension on the hammer spring. In the same hole is a hollow pin that retains the magazine release button.

Once that pin is removed, pull the hammer spring assembly out from the frame. barrel forward in the slide until I can lift the barrel breech clear of the extractor and the slide breech face. Once you accomplish this, the barrel and recoil spring come out and can be separated for cleaning. This is as far as you need to go with typical cleaning and lubrication of the pistol during normal use. To continue with disassembly, turn the slide (2) upside down on the bench.

Using a pin punch, depress the firing pin (19) forward so that it protrudes through the breech face, then lift the rear of the firing pin base upwards just enough to seat it in a notch in the slide. Your goal here is to move the firing pin out of the way of the safety catch (15). Once out of the way, use your punch to press against the safety catch from the inside of the The long leg with the dog leg is to the left side and presses up against the frame itself.

The shorter spring leg is to the right of the frame and presses downward against the top of the trigger. The assembly is held in place by a frame pin. slide towards the left. Once started enough, you can insert a screwdriver tip in between the right side of the slide and safety catch. Push the safety catch out towards the left until you can grab the safety and pull it all the way out.

There is a spring (35) and detent (27) that secures the safety but it won’t fly out as it is trapped in a small cutout slot in the slide. With the safety catch removed, push downward on the firing pin (19) to allow it to drop back into the firing pin channel. Use ascribe to lift up on the front of the firing pin spring (34) so that you can remove the firing pin and spring upward and out of that channel, firing pin nose first. The firing pin used in this pistol is fragile and is easily broken.

Keep this in mind when deciding if you should use this pistol as a daily carry or shooter as you will be replacing the firing pin often if you do so, provided you can still buy them. When reinstalling the firing pin, place the lug located on the firing pin downward into the firing pin channel in the slide for proper reassembly. With the safety catch and firing pin removed from the slide, remove the extractor (20) by pulling upward on it and lifting it out of the seat in the slide at the ejection port opening.

Turn the slide muzzle end down and tap it on the bench while carefully watching for the extractor plunger (27), extractor coil spring (35), and safety plunger (27) as they drop out of the tunnel in the slide that retains them. Yes, both plungers are identical on this model pistol. They are also nearly extinct when trying to replace them, as is the extractor spring, so

Also note the relationship of the magazine safety that controls the sear spring (center of photo). The sear is underneath the magazine safety. be very careful removing these so that you don’t lose them. With that completed, the only item left to remove from the slide is the rear sight (22) and that is simply drifted out of the dovetail from left to right. Moving on to the frame (1), it will look a little intimidating at first but it is a very simple design to work with.

With the grip panels (9 & 10) still in place, I like to remove the Also note the small round pin protruding upward that will be positioned downward when reinstalling into the slide, with slide upside down. These firing pins are very prone to breakage. Good news is that newly manufactured firing pins are still available—for a price—and must be fitted.

The difference between the magazine followers is obvious: magazine on right is for use with hollow point cartridges and has the angled relief cut down both sides of the follower while the original magazine on the left has the Mauser name stamped on the bottom of the floorplate. barrel latch or takedown pin (21) and the barrel latch spring (31).

Using a flat bladed screwdriver of like size, insert the blade into the cut in the barrel latch from the top inside of the receiver, then depress the barrel latch downward all the way. Turn it 180 degrees or a half a turn. This will allow you to release and pull the barrel latch out of the frame completely. The barrel latch spring (31) should be attached to the barrel latch during removal. If not, look for it in the frame. Next, remove both grip panels (9 & 10) by removing the two grip panel screws (38).

Laying the frame down on the bench left side up, lift the trigger bar (7) off of the trigger (6) where it is retained by the pin stud at the top left side of the trigger. You’ll need to move the wire spring leg (33) that places tension on the bottom of the trigger bar out of the groove in the trigger bar to fully release the bar from the frame. That wire spring—called the trigger bar spring (33)—is attached to the frame on the other end by peening it into the groove for it in the frame.

It is not necessary (nor should you, if possible) to remove that spring fully from the frame. With the trigger bar removed, remove the trigger (6) and trigger spring (32) by drifting the trigger pin (25) out of the frame from left to right. Hang on to the trigger spring and note how it sits in the frame when reinstalled. The longer leg with a dog leg on one end rests against the front of the frame on the left side of the trigger, while the short leg rests on the trigger itself towards the left side of the trigger.

If not done already, lower the hammer (4) to take the tension off of the hammer spring (28). Do this now as you cannot simply pull the trigger to do it. Pull the hammer rearward with your thumb, then depress the sear bar (5) forward so that hammer hooks release and you can slowly lower the hammer to the down or into the forward position. With that done, drift or simply push out the magazine release pin (37).

This pin retains the magazine release/hammer spring/hammer strut assembly/backstrap along with a hollow pin in the frame (not shown in schematic). Once the magazine release pin (37) is removed, push out the frame hollow pin (not shown) so that you can remove the magazine release (17), hammer spring (28), and hammer strut (16) assembly. To disas-

semble this assembly, place the top of the hammer strut (16) downward on the bench and press downward on the magazine release (17). Once pressed downward about three quarters of an inch, turn the magazine release one quarter turn, then slowly allow the spring pressure to decrease while holding onto the magazine latch. Reassemble this unit in reverse. You can now remove the backstrap (3). Pull rearward on the backstrap at the bottom where it fits onto the frame.

It was previously held in place by the magazine release pin (26) and hollow frame pin. Once pulled free at the bottom, tilt the back strap upward and pull it down, releasing it from the top of the grip frame area. You can now remove the hammer (4) by pushing out the hammer pivot pin (23) from the left side of the frame out to the right. Note that there is a lug on the hammer pivot pin.

When correctly installed in the frame, the lug is pointed upwards in the 12 o’clock position and is seated flush into the right side of the frame (during reassembly of the hammer). As you remove this pin, you will find that the hammer is under spring tension. The tension comes from the magazine safety (18) and sear spring (29). I included reassembly tips for the hammer below. The last pin in the frame is a small pin located at the top of the frame called the sear pin (26).

This pin retains the ejector (8), magazine safety (18), ejector spring (30), the sear (5), and sear spring (29). You want to be extra careful here so that you don’t lose either of the two small springs, especially the ejector spring (30) as it is nearly impossible to buy anymore. Begin by using alike-sized pin punch to press on the sear pin (26) from left to right, moving it just enough to withdraw the punch and pull the ejector (8) and ejector spring (3) off the frame.

Then, while holding downward on the magazine safety (18) and capturing the sear spring (29) at the same time, push the sear pin (26) the rest of the way through the frame to remove the magazine safety (18), sear spring (29), and sear (5) from the frame. This completes disassembly of the pistol. You will notice the trigger bar spring (33) is still in the frame. It is retained in place by crimping the channel where the right side of the wire spring leg rests.

If you have to remove this spring due to breakage or bluing, use a small wedgeshaped tool or properly-ground bit to pry apart the channel walls so that you can pull the wire spring out. Make sure you can still get a replacement spring before attempting to "upgrade" this spring as they are difficult to find. When replacing, use a punch to crimp or collapse the groove edges that retain this trigger bar spring to the receiver. Just don’t overdo it. Crimp just enough to secure that part of the spring in place.

The other end rests in a groove made for it in the bottom of the trigger bar (7) when reinstalled properly. Reassembly Tips Reassembly is straight forward and performed in reverse of the above firing order. As promised earlier, here is a tip for reinstallation of the hammer.

Once the sear assembly is reassembled and you are ready to reinstall the hammer, begin by pressing downward on the magazine safety (18) and sear spring (29), essentially lifting the back end of the magazine safety upward enough so that you can insert the hammer into the frame.

The magazine safety and sear spring will place tension on the hammer when trying to install the hammer correctly, so press downward on the hammer and insert a pin punch from the left side of the frame to capture the hammer, magazine safety, and sear spring interface. Then, insert the hammer pivot pin (23) from the right side of the receiver, making sure that the lug on the pin faces upward or is in the 12 o’clock position when inserting it fully into the frame.

The pin and lug should be flush into the frame when properly reinserted, AND more importantly, you should be able to cock the hammer at this point. If the hammer cannot be cocked rearward, you did not get the leg of the magazine safety (18) up high enough when inserting into the center of the hammer. Repeat the above process until you can cock the hammer and the sear engagement is correct.

To test the hammer and sear engagement, insert the trigger bar (7) and a magazine (11), then pull the trigger rearward while holding onto the hammer so that it does not fall freely into the frame. You just want to ensure the sear is engaging with the hammer and when pulling the trigger that the hammer falls. You can also check double action operation too. Just place a finger of your weak hand over the trigger bar (7) where it hooks onto the trigger pin so that the trigger bar doesn’t fall off during testing.

When reassembling the slide, this can be awkward as well. First, push the safety catch plunger (27), the extractor spring (35) and extractor plunger (27) into the extractor tunnel in the slide starting at the area of the extractor seat (ejection port opening). Once the above unit is in the extractor tunnel, turn the slide over and insert the firing pin and firing pin spring into the channel.

Make sure you depress the firing pin forward and upward so that the firing pin catches on the slide and is out of the way as you reinsert the safety catch (15). Next, insert the safety catch fully into the slide and then press down on the back of the firing pin so that it correctly interfaces and functions with the safety when the safety is placed in the ON and OFF positions. Once that is correctly in place, turn the slide over so that the right side is

1 Frame 2 Slide 3 Backstrap 4 Hammer 5 Sear Bar 6 Trigger 7 Trigger Bar 8 Ejector 9 Grip, Left 10 Grip, Right facing upward. Use your strong hand to insert the extractor (20) into the seat, pressing rearward against the extractor spring and detent until the extractor drops down into its seat. Another awkward reassembly is the barrel (14) and recoil spring (36) assembly into the slide.

When pressing the barrel forward and downward into the slide, the barrel has a tendency to catch on the inside of the slide at the hole in the slide muzzle. I found by inserting a plastic pen into the muzzle end of the slide and pressing that pen into the barrel muzzle allows moving the barrel muzzle around while pushing the barrel down into the slide.

This movement will help align the barrel muzzle with the hole for the barrel in the slide so that you can fully insert the barrel down into the slide and seat the barrel past the breech face all while clearing the extractor.

This is best accomplished by clamp- 11 Magazine 12 Magazine, Finger Rest 13 Barrel, 32 14 Barrel, 380 15 Safety 16 Hammer Strut 17 Magazine Release 18 Magazine Safety 19 Firing Pin 20 Extractor 21 Takedown Pin 22 Rear Sight 23 Hammer Pivot Pin 24 Hammer Strut Pin 25 Trigger Pin 26 Sear Pin 27 Extractor Pin 28 Mainspring 29 Sear Spring 30 Ejector Spring ing the slide in your padded vise upside down again, at least for me anyway. The slide assembly can now be replaced onto the frame.

You will not need to depress the barrel catch when installing the slide. It will simply drop down and latch onto the frame. Another interesting item on this pistol is the magazine (11). The owner of this pistol told me that after he purchased it new in the 1970s, he had trouble with it feeding, extracting, and ejecting hollow point ammunition. He contacted Interarms and they sold him another magazine that had a different follower.

The original magazine has the Mauser stamp on the bottom of it but there are no markings on the "special" magazine made for hollow point ammo use. Comparing them side by side, the only difference is the shape and angle of the follower.

The original magazine follower is rounded and has a slightly lower Mauser Model HSc Pistol (Post 1945) (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 31 Takedown Pin Spring 32 Trigger Spring 33 Trigger Bar Spring 34 Firing Pin Spring 35 Extractor Spring 36 Recoil Spring 37 Magazine Release Pin 38 Grip Screws (2) angle in the magazine. The "special" magazine has two relief cuts down both sides of the follower at the top and has a slightly higher angle on the follower.

Whether the difference in the angle itself or the relief cuts on the follower (or both) made for better feeding of hollow point ammunition remains a mystery. For me, both magazines fed ball and hollow point ammunition similarly, with no jamming. On occasion, the pistol would jam when down to three rounds left in each magazine. This did not happen often but it did happen with both magazines.

My guess is that recoil dislodged the cartridges forward a tad in the magazine and provided for an increased angle when trying to chamber during firing. Common ball ammunition worked well, as did Winchester Silvertip hollow point ammunition. Since the 1980s, I have always counted on Winchester Silvertip hollow point cartridges to feed superbly in semi-automatic pistols, especially when used in pistols that seemed to have jamming problems.

Seldom have I heard of a semi-auto pistol having problems with Silvertip ammo, due mostly to the shape of the bullet itself. It just works well. Plus, the soft lead bullet opens up exponentially when fired into an object, making the round a great self defense cartridge. I am sure there are better cartridges out there, but Silvertip rounds seem to correct jamming issues in a variety of semi-auto pistols where no amount of magazine feed lip adjustments make a difference.

This little Mauser-designed pistol did its fair share of work over the years with a design that withstood the test of time. No doubt the awkward disassembly, lack of an external slide release, and a very fragile firing pin made this little gem fall from popularity in the shooting world. But they are fairly accurate, comfortable shooting pistols built on a tried and true design. AG