My female friend wants a Mauser 1914 for carry, is it safe?

[drjoker]

I've heard horror stories about old gun designs that would discharge accidentally if dropped. Is the Mauser 1914 safe to use for concealed carry?

Women, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. I told her that 32 ACP is not that effective, but she would not hear it. She wants it because it looks good and is cool because it is a unique antique. Aesthetics over function in a self-defense tool. Using an almost 100 year old gun for self-defense. Great.

Anyways, I googled until my face is blue, but I've found that it has a "safety lever", however, I cannot find if this prevents accidental dropped discharge or if it just prevents pulling the trigger accidentally until the safety is released.

Please let me know.

Thanks,


If it is drop-safe, then I am going to buy one for her for self-defense, concealed carry AFTER I have a competent gunsmith look it over for life-threatening rust and other defects, age related and otherwise.

[dicion]

Careful about the 100-year old gun remark.... 1911's are over 100 years old (in design), And I wouldn't hesitate to carry an original 1911 issue if I could verify it was in good working condition.

Dunno anything about the Mauser 1914 though. Hopefully someone will chime in :)

[joe817]

The 1910, 1914 and 1934 Mauser's are really neat looking little pocket pistols. I had a 1934 Kriegsmarine for a number of years when I was collecting German pocket pistols.

IMO, it's a poor choice for daily carry. It's underpowered as you've pointed out. 7.65mm is not an effective self defense round. I honestly cannot say for certain if it is drop safe. My initial reaction is to say no, because of the crude design safeties in the earliest of semi-auto pocket pistols.

There are MANY higher quality pistols that she could purchase new, for less than the cost of a 1914 Mauser that is in a good, safe shooting condition. As an alternative, have you showed her a Mauser HSc, or a Walther PPk? IMO, they are much better looking guns than the crude 1914. Besides the fact they are in much more plentiful supply, AND much safer to shoot.

That pistol is truly a collectors item and should not be considered a reliable self defense gun. Just my thoughts.

Here's a link to the Mauser's:

http://www.mauserguns.com/Mauser1910.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[MoJo]

The Mauser 1914 wasn't very safe back in the day. The safety is a trigger block that engages with a lever and dinengages with a button that looks like a mag release. The gun could and would fire with the safety engaged. Try to talk her into a modern gun. If she wants a .32 the KelTec p32 and Beretta Tomcat are far superior to the Mauser but a 9mm is the way go go.