We take a quick look at 7.63 Mauser, a very early automatic pistol cartridge.
The 7.63 Mauser cartridge (aka .30 Mauser or 7.63x25mm) was developed by German gun designer Hugo Borchardt for the first successful commercial, automatic pistol of the same name. The Borchardt pistol was made by Ludwig Loewe & Co. (later DWM) of Berlin, Germany. Both the pistol and cartridge were introduced in 1893.
The Borchardt automatic pistol was later redesigned, emerging as the well-known Luger pistol. This cartridge was adopted by Paul Mauser for his famous Model 1896 pistol, though with increased power for his more rugged design. It has been used mainly in the Mauser M1896 military automatic pistol and various imitations or copies manufactured in Spain and China.
Until the .357 Magnum cartridge came along, the 7.63 Mauser was the high-velocity champion of the pistol world. It has a flat trajectory that makes long-range hits possible, but lacks stopping power because of the light, full jacketed bullet. However, it has been used successfully for hunting small game and varmints at moderate ranges.
Handloading with soft-point or hollow-point hunting bullets improves performance considerably. At one time, both Remington and Winchester loaded this cartridge, but it has been dropped.
7.63 Mauser Loading Data and Factory Ballistics
| Bullet (grains/type) |
Powder | Grains | Velocity | Energy | Source |
| 86 FMJ | Bullseye | 4.5 | 1,160 | 257 | Lyman |
| 86 FMJ | Unique | 6.0 | 1,230 | 289 | Lyman |
| 86 FMJ | FL | – | 1,410 | 375 | Factory load |
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt of Gun Digest’s Cartridge’s Of The World.
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