32 auto pistol

[sgt tee]

My Dad brought this home after the war ended (world war 2)
Very little info on the gun.
Fabricade is all I get. Not even what cal. Pistol it is. I have like 5 bullets in the mag and they are 32 Auto, seems solid
Any thoughts?

[WRideout]

This looks like an Astra Mod. 1916, or a very close copy. You might want to move this from "Leverguns" to "Wheelguns, Pistols and Handcannons."

Wayne

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Good I.D. I think.

DG

[shooting on a shoestring]

Sorry no info for your question.

But I do like the old 32 acp guns from the pre war days. Back then they’d put that cartridge in a gun big enough to do some good. I know now days people would scoff at a cartridge that small in a gun that big.

I can’t argue that a 32 acp Colt M1903 (or any of its competitors) is a better carry gun than a 9mm Sig P365. But I think I could make the argument that if one is going to use the 32 acp cartridge, those old pre war guns can do it the most effectively.

And they’re just plain cool!

[GhostHawk]

Nothing wrong with .32acp in my book. That looks like a keeper!

I did find this page which might be of interest. I make no claims to it being the same pistol.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/other-handguns/eibar-ruby/

[Outpost75]

Unique, Astra, Ruby and numerous other French and Spanish makers produced huge quantities of this same basic pistol during the WW1 period. They are crude, but simple and work well enough. Sturdy and reliable.

[Bigslug]

Ruby pistol, made for the French WWI effort in Spain I think. Very heavily Browning/Colt M1903-inspired.

[sgt tee]

Thanks for the input guys

[sgt tee]

Nothing wrong with .32acp in my book. That looks like a keeper!

I did find this page which might be of interest. I make no claims to it being the same pistol.

https://www.forgottenweapons.com/other-handguns/eibar-ruby/

I will read up on this thank you

[Buzz Krumhunger]

I believe it’s a Ruby, also.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Since I'm a Spanish pistol collector, I can't resist discussing this .32 ACP pistol a bit more:

In WW I the French were desperate for pistols. Among other possible sources they looked to Spain with which they share a common border. Gabilondo y Cia, later famous for guns made under the Llama trade mark, had a viable design named "Ruby". The French gave them a contract for 10,000 pistols a month which later was upped to 50,000 pistols a month. Gabilondo couldn't possibly produce that many, so they farmed production above what they could handle out to several other Spanish makers. Among them was Astra, a company known for good quality. However, there were several companies that made guns of lesser quality that by necessity were given part of the contract. Although these pistols all bear a close similarity in appearance, many of the parts and magazines were not interchangeable. Pistols which were accepted into French service, good and bad, were stamped on the butt with a 5-pointed star, sometimes two or three times, sometimes only once. However, if you have a Ruby-type pistol that does not have a star on the butt it is an indication that the pistol did not see French wartime service and was sold to a civilian distributor. The Ruby-type pistols remained in production for a couple of years after the war ended, but so many had been produced and become available that sales dropped off and the model was discontinued. In the case of this particular pistol, lacking more and better details, one can only say that it appears to be of Astra production. Many of these WW I pistols were reissued for WW II service, making the story about it being a WW II bring back very believable.

DG

[Texas by God]

I see that it doesn’t have the “French Rivet”- does that preclude it from military service?


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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Ahhh.....Uhhhh...you've got me there amigo; I never heard of the French Rivit. Tell us about it. All I know about is the star on the pistol's butt, often 2 or 3 times, and sometimes on the magazine as being the French acceptance of the piece. I do not have a Ruby in my collection, but have examined many of them and would buy a nice one if it came my way.

DG

[Texas by God]

If I remember correctly (Big IF), a rivet was added to the side to prevent the safety being accidentally moved to fire upon reholstering.
Apparently it was a common enough occurrence to warrant the modification?


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[rintinglen]

I have seen quite a few Ruby pistols--none had a rivet that I can recall, though on Forgotten Weapons, Ian McCallum mentions these. They certainly were not universally applied. I have read that French acceptance was indicated by the "Star" stamped on the frame, and sometimes elsewhere. However, like so much else about these guns, there were exceptions. I believe it was in W. H. B. Smith's Pistols of the World, but somewhere I saw page after page of similar "Browning" pistols. It gave understanding as to why "Browning" came to be to pistols what "kleenex" is to tissue.

For what it's worth, there were ultimately at least two score subcontractors of the main Contractor, Gabilondo y Cia in the "Ruby" acquisitions by France in WWI. I won't say that no two are alike, but there are a whole lot of different "Rubies." Also, there were copies of the Browning 1910 pattern purchased and as well as Spanish designed Star pistols in the mix. In just over 4 years there were over a million 32 auto-pistols cranked out for French service use, along with who knows how many made in the 1920's up to the Spanish Revolution in 1936.

[Texas by God]

I did a little looking and it seems that the rivet was added post war to pistols for the police or whoever to use.
The quarterly magazine Surplus Firearms was a treasure trove of info about the then numerous surplus firearms in the 1980s.
That’s where I learned of this long ago. Those were good times. Bought a surplus gun three out of four paychecks a month[emoji3]


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[Der Gebirgsjager]

Hi-de-ho, good neighbors! Well, I just did a read-up on the Ruby pistols. Seems that there were at least 25 manufacturers during WW I, some helping Gabilondo to fulfill their French Contract, others selling directly to the French to cut out the middle man (Gabilondo), and as many as 45 shops that contributed to the Ruby-type pistols either by manufacturing the entire thing or making parts for those who did make finished pistols.

The French star acceptance marks were usually found in twos, one each stamped on the bottom of the frame on either side of the magazine well, but are occasionally found elsewhere like the slide.

The rivet referred to by TbG was added by the French to address a problem of the safety being swung from safe to fire when removed from tight holsters of the time, and were not installed by the Spanish makers. A little confusion there, as most sources refer to it as a stud, but it is no doubt installed like a rivet through an added hole in the slide. One source plainly states that many did not receive this modification, so the OPs pistol is not diminished by not having one. Also, I have a feeling that many Rubies returned home with those to who they had been issued at the end of the war, not unlike our 1911. Indications are that the stud was added after the war to those pistols to be retained in service, but other sources seem uncertain as to exactly when the stud was installed.

There remained a huge amount of these pistols after the war, and all were collected and sorted through by the French Army. Those of good reputation were retained for service, and the others were condemned. Even so, such a large number of good quality Ruby-type pistols remained that they were retained in service, many even as late as the Indo China war, precursor to the Viet Nam War, where many captured by the Vietnamese fighting the French were then used against the Americans, some of which were brought home as trophies.

As a collector I have often seen these pistols for sale and actually examined some of them, but as a long time 1911 fan I was more orientated toward the 1911-looking Stars and Llamas. I found the Ruby pistols interesting, but there is such a huge number of makers and variations in models and markings that I realized that would be an extensive collection by itself. Now, however, I've decided that I need at least one of them, and have a nice specimen on order. When it arrives I'll share
it with you in photos.

DG