Joined
·
841 Posts
I have had this pistol for a few years. I saw it at a gun show and the condition was so nice I decided to buy it. Anyway, I was cruising through the gun safe (you know playing with some pistols I haven't handled for awhile) and I rediscovered this well made and beautiful pistol. There is some really good information/data/pictures in the Dr. Leonardo M. Antaris book "Astra Automatic Pistols". In fact this exact pistol (a little over two thousand higher in serial number) is pictured on page #26 of the referenced book. If you are interested in Astra pistols (M1916, 300, 400, 600 and 900 for example) you should have this excellent book in your collector library.
This pistol was part of the French contract for a subsidiary military pistol that eventually involved a number of Spanish small arms manufacturing firms. The demand was so intense by the French that they could not be produced fast enough. Approximately 150,000 alone were produced by Astra-one of at least 8 other weapons contractors.
This pistol is serial number 71743 (produced in 1916 as evidenced by left side slide legend which documented year of production) and has the following French contract features:
1. Lanyard staple left rear bottom frame grip.
2. 7.65 caliber
3. 9 shot magazine
4. Safety marking FEU (fire) and SUR (safe)
5. Checkered Walnut grips (unnumbered)
These are very well made pistol exhibiting high standards of fit and finish. The Ruby was finished with a rust blue and this one has a fire blued trigger (a small amount remains) & safety lever/slide hold open and the barrel is left in the white. The frame and other internal components are not matched to the external serial number (left rear slide) but rather to an assembly number in this case 2579--frame, barrel and slide (inside).
This specimen does not have an EU stamp on the left rear tang area. The magazine is chrome plated and does have an EU in a circle on the magazine bottom. The barrel hood has the characteristic Astra HOPE (Esperanza) inscription along with the crown over PG proof mark.
Download Attachment:
M1916 Ruby Left Side.jpg
77.63KB
Download Attachment: M1916 Ruby Right Side.jpg
76.22KB
Download Attachment: Model 1916 Ruby slide back.jpg
68.65KB
Download Attachment: Model 1916 bottom up view.jpg
36.43KB
This pistol was part of the French contract for a subsidiary military pistol that eventually involved a number of Spanish small arms manufacturing firms. The demand was so intense by the French that they could not be produced fast enough. Approximately 150,000 alone were produced by Astra-one of at least 8 other weapons contractors.
This pistol is serial number 71743 (produced in 1916 as evidenced by left side slide legend which documented year of production) and has the following French contract features:
1. Lanyard staple left rear bottom frame grip.
2. 7.65 caliber
3. 9 shot magazine
4. Safety marking FEU (fire) and SUR (safe)
5. Checkered Walnut grips (unnumbered)
These are very well made pistol exhibiting high standards of fit and finish. The Ruby was finished with a rust blue and this one has a fire blued trigger (a small amount remains) & safety lever/slide hold open and the barrel is left in the white. The frame and other internal components are not matched to the external serial number (left rear slide) but rather to an assembly number in this case 2579--frame, barrel and slide (inside).
This specimen does not have an EU stamp on the left rear tang area. The magazine is chrome plated and does have an EU in a circle on the magazine bottom. The barrel hood has the characteristic Astra HOPE (Esperanza) inscription along with the crown over PG proof mark.
Download Attachment:
M1916 Ruby Left Side.jpg77.63KB
Download Attachment:
M1916 Ruby Right Side.jpg76.22KB
Download Attachment:
Model 1916 Ruby slide back.jpg68.65KB
Download Attachment:
Model 1916 bottom up view.jpg36.43KB
