tell me about the destryoyer carbine

[psweigle]

who has any experience with one of these. what are the good and bad?

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The Destroyer carbine used to be fairly inexpensive and available as surplus, but is now much harder to find. That is probably because they are a good gun (for what they are) and the lucky owners hold onto them. They were made in Spain for the Spanish national police known as the Guardia Civil, and many were issued with the carbine rather than a pistol. Most of the carbines are chambered in 9mm Largo, but like an Astra M1921 pistol many will fire other 9mm rounds as well. Not a good idea due to pressure and design of the firearm. They were made by several different manufacturers during their service life. Great plinkers, and if you're offered one in good condition buy it. 9mm Largo ammo isn't always easy to come by, so being a reloader helps.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

The worst Spanish production was unspeakably bad, but these were always made by well-known arms companies, of the kind which did quality work. It is basically a scaled-down 93 Mauser, and should be safe, unlike 9mm. Largo pistols, for a bit more than the standard loading. I doubt if it would be wise to go as high as the 9x23 Winchester, but its cases, which are strongeh than the Largo's, might be useful. You might have to thin down the Destroyer extractor a little to fit the smaller groove, and I doubt if a spare, to keep the original original, would be easy to find.

[Nobade]

I had one of those for a while. All parts are soft, so if used much it wears quickly. Otherwise kind of neat little rifles, I found I could shoot it using 9X19 brass and seat the bullets way out to hold headspace against the rifling. Very light loads only of course.

It sure would be cool if a modern company made something like that now. Ruger sort of did with the 77/357 but then they discontinued those. My own Rem 580 converted to 9X19 satisfies the need now for a four pound centerfire rifle.

-Nobade

[LAGS]

I had one of thes many years ago.
I converted it to, 9mm x 19 By making a pressed in ring to fit the front of the chamber , then running a 9x19 chamber reamer in to clean it up and set the headspace.

Converted a bunch of Astra 400's that were 9x21 the same way.
Bought the pistols for next to nothing because you couldnt find ammo for them.
But they sold like hotcakes once converted.

[mcdaniel.mac]

I had one of those for a while. All parts are soft, so if used much it wears quickly. Otherwise kind of neat little rifles, I found I could shoot it using 9X19 brass and seat the bullets way out to hold headspace against the rifling. Very light loads only of course.

It sure would be cool if a modern company made something like that now. Ruger sort of did with the 77/357 but then they discontinued those. My own Rem 580 converted to 9X19 satisfies the need now for a four pound centerfire rifle.

-Nobade
Special Interest Arms offers the Novem rifle, a 9x19 bolt action based on the RIA .22TCM bolt action rifles. They're available with an 11" barrel, the same barrel with a welded on shroud that allows mounting a suppressor, standard rifle barrel, and integrally suppressed, tax stamps apply as needed.

Just a thought.

[Nobade]

Good idea. Somebody needed to do that!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[bouncer50]

I have two of them. Real fun to shoot all day. I reload for my two that i have also four pistol in 9mm largo. Great short range pest rifle like rats, rabbits even possible small deer. Really cheaper to shoot then a 22 rifle if you reload and cast.

[psweigle]

Awesome. I have the ruger 77/357. Always wanted a 9mm rifle and I had read that you could use a pressed insert to headspace a 9x19.

[Multigunner]

Wonder how these would perform if rebarreled or relined to 7.6X25 ?

[Brasso]

I own one of these. I reload 38 ACP or 38 Super cases. Seems to work great.

[Nobade]

Wonder how these would perform if rebarreled or relined to 7.6X25 ?
Probably come apart in short order. That's about twice the pressure it is designed for.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[PB234]

Anyone slug their Destroyer barrel?

[Outpost75]

One I had MANY years ago was .346 bore with .366 groove, the loose groove diameter apparently intended to limit chamber pressure. HK VP70 machinepistol of the 1970s was the same way.

[bob208]

mine shoots good. I turn the rim off .38 super cases to get largo brass. works fine in my star pistol too. for cast I use 124gr. rcbs coned bullets. for j words I use Remington 124 golden saber hp. with the new price for .22 . I use it with cast as a training rifle.

[bouncer50]

One I had MANY years ago was .346 bore with .366 groove, the loose groove diameter apparently intended to limit chamber pressure. HK VP70 machinepistol of the 1970s was the same way. The VP70 was a blow back pistol. And yes they used a loose groove to limit chamber pressure. The 9mm Luger is to hot to use in a blow back pistol. The Astra used heavy springs 400 and 600 model to control pressure. But the Destroyer carbine is a bolt action that can control the pressure of the 9mm. A mini- 93 action that is strong enough for the 9mm. Question about rebarrel to 7.62x 25 the shell is to long for the mag. I have hear of some of them rebarrel to 45 acp.

[bkbville]

I have two Destroyer carbines. One in 9mm Largo and one in 9mm Luger.

The Luger model is factory, not a conversion - pretty rare I believe.

They are both really great little rifles. Typically if I let someone shoot either they want to buy it. You just don't want to put one down - perfect size.

Grafs has 9mm Largo brass - starline, (in stock - I just bought more a couple of weeks ago)

Use standard Luger dies for loading Largo. Both really like the Lee 356-120-TC.

If you want more mags, don't buy on ebay - much cheaper from Sarco (I could spare a few as well - I bought a boat load)

[bouncer50]

I have two Destroyer carbines. One in 9mm Largo and one in 9mm Luger.

The Luger model is factory, not a conversion - pretty rare I believe.

They are both really great little rifles. Typically if I let someone shoot either they want to buy it. You just don't want to put one down - perfect size.

Grafs has 9mm Largo brass - starline, (in stock - I just bought more a couple of weeks ago)

Use standard Luger dies for loading Largo. Both really like the Lee 356-120-TC.

If you want more mags, don't buy on ebay - much cheaper from Sarco (I could spare a few as well - I bought a boat load) I use 38 super dies to reload mine. Since the 9mm largo is a close copy of the 38 super/ 38 auto. Yes a 9mm Destroyer is not very common. But they did make them. You can also use 38 super mags with some work to make them fit.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Just FYI--the early version did not have front locking lugs on the bolt, and the bolt was locked by the bolt handle turning down against the receiver, much like many bolt action .22 rifles. Later the carbine was redesigned with twin front locking lugs, and that would be the better of the two to have if shooting hotter loads. Something to consider when buying one, as both versions are "out there".


The name "Destroyer" is kind of interesting, in that it refers to the naval ship. Some of them have a picture of a destroyer stamped into the receiver, but many do not--depends on which company made it.

[Larry Gibson]

My Destroyer was/is not of the best quality. The Bore is clean and for the most part slugs at .356 but there is a loose part of about 1/3 the barrel length in the middle. Doesn't seem to cause any problems though. The locking lugs on mine are twins opposing each other and lock in recesses in the rear of the receiver. The chamber on mine was considerably long and larger in diameter. 38 Super cases would not headspace enough for reliable firing. I also found the larger 9mm cases would chamber but would not headspace of course. I solver the problem by setting the barrel back 1/2 thread, facing the barrel off a bit, recutting a new extractor groove and making a small piece 3/4 round to fit between the inside of the receiver and barrel face. That corrected the feed ramp problem the original extractor cut, now at 6 o'clock, presented. It feeds and headspaces perfectly with 38 Super cases now. Sounds a lot harder to do than it really was.

I'd also removed the military rear sight and put a Williams base with peep sight on the receiver rear bridge. I also rotated the front sight base and milled it for an M14 front sight. Then I D&T'd the barrel for a Weaver base for a Contender barrel. With a Tasco ProPoint on it makes for a dandy "scout" set up.

While I've shot some hellacious jacketed loads (88 - 125 gr 380, 9mm and 38 SPL bullets) upwards of 1800+ fps I don't shoot those much if at all any more. I've also shot a lot of 358477, 358156 and TL358-158-SWC cast through with pretty good results. Now I use a Lee 356-120-TC over 3 gr of WST or Bullseye. They are cast of just about any unknown alloy I have laying around. With the 6 cavity mould they cast quickly. I size them at .358 and lube with BAC. I load them on my Dillon 550B and use 9mm dies to avoid excessive sizing of the cases as the rear of the chamber is still large. That gives the cases after loading a sort of tapered shape. I use a Lee carbide 9mm die for sizing and a 9mm funnel in the Dillon powder thrower. An 9mm seater is at station 3 and a Lee FCD at station 4 adjusted just to straighten out the case mouth flare.

Group is at 50 yards using the 3 gr Bullseye under the Lee 120 TC cast bullet with the Williams receiver sight.


Larry Gibson

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[psweigle]

larry, how is the scout scope setup, say for hunting, ive always wondered how welkl they would work/

[Doc1]

.38 Super Comp brass is a virtual drop-in replacement for 9mm Largo. Super Comp is basically just a rimless .38 Super case. I never buy any, but find pick up brass at my local USPSA range where it's very popular with the .38 Super crowd. Most of these guys reload, but there's always a lot of brass on the ground after the matches, even after the reloaders make their first pick up pass. I'll sometimes head out to the range on my bike on a slow afternoon and walk around finding the leftovers. I always get at least a bag full of good cases (of various calibers).

I load the .38 Super Comp cases for my 9mm Largo Star Super. Other cases that work in that particular pistol are .38 Super and the obsolete .38 Automatic which may also work in some of your your Destroyer carbines.

Best regards
Doc

[Larry Gibson]

larry, how is the scout scope setup, say for hunting, ive always wondered how welkl they would work/

Scout scope "set ups" work great as intended for a "scout" rifle IF the scopes are mounted correctly. Most of the "scouts" we see posted just have longer eye relief scopes on them (mostly milsurps) because the rear sight base can be used to mount the scope base on w/o alteration of the rifle. In those instances the scope thus mounted on the rifle is used merely as an aiming aid and not a "scout rifle". Those scout rifles with scopes mounted incorrectly give the concept a bad rap as they are not really that easy to use. As to the scout set up on the Destroyer.....I wouldn't know........every time we take it out shooting I can't pry it out of my wife's hands until the ammo is all gone. Then I just get to clean the Destroyer, pick up the brass and reload them..........:sad:

Seriously, it works great. I've put another set of rings on the sight that gets it as low as possible. Very quick and fun to shoot. With the load mentioned there is little recoil and blast. My wife and I do go through a lot of ammo in it.....thank goodness for a 6 cavity mould and a Dillon 550B.......[smilie=l:

Larry Gibson

[Jeff Michel]

That is a real neat setup, thanks for sharing.