Mauser HSc

The German military used a lot of different handguns during World War 2. The Luger had been the standard issue pistol for World War I, but by the late 1930s it was definitely showing its age and was expensive to produce. As a result, Germany adopted a new service pistol called the Walther P38, which was much cheaper to make. However, Germany was unable to build enough P38s for the military, so they turned to other handguns as well.

One of these handguns was the Mauser HSc. The pistol utilized a blowback action and double action/single action system very similar to the Walther PPK pistol; in fact, the general shape of the HSc is incredibly similar to the PPK. Around 300,000 HSc pistols were built, and issued to officers in the army and the navy. In addition, many German soldiers who were not personally issued sidearms by the military would buy HSc pistols commercially and carry them in the field. The HSc was chambered for the .32 ACP round and held 8 rounds in the magazine.