"Astra" - weapons and firms
Not everyone is so lucky that his name will show off on the pistol grip!
Another glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another of the stars;
and star differs from star in glory.
First Corinthians 15:41
and star differs from star in glory.
First Corinthians 15:41
Weapon and firms. Astra Unceta y Cía was founded on July 17, 1908 in Eibar (the center of the arms industry of the Basque Country) by Juan Esperanza (1860-1951) and Pedro Unceta (1854-1934), but was then called "Esperanza and Unceta". She then moved to Guernica in 1913. At first, the company employed only six employees, but little by little their number began to grow. And then the founders of the company took up arms and from 1911 began to receive patents for new pistols with enviable regularity. In 1913, they finally switched to the production of pistols of their own design.
Pistol "Campo Giro"
And then it happened that in 1912, a new pistol was adopted by the Spanish army, designed by a retired military man, Lieutenant Colonel Don Venancio Lopez de Caballos y Aquirre, Count of Campo Giro. It received the official designation Pistola Campo-Giro de 9 mm Modelo of 1912, but it was usually called the "Campo-Giro" by the name (or rather, the title) of its creator.
Pistol markings on the barrel
It was then that it turned out that there was an improved version of this pistol, developed by Esperanza and Unset, and in January 1914 it was it that was put into service under the name Campo-Giro de 9 mm Modelo 1913. It was supposed to be produced by the developer, which led to the move to a new plant in Guernica due to a sharp increase in order volume. In 1914, 1 pistols were produced, but then their production was stopped in order to release new, improved modifications.
And the star is the emblem of the manufacturer ...
In 1916, the design of the pistol was slightly changed, and it was produced until about 1920. The total production volume was 13 pieces.
Interestingly, before the adoption of the Campo Giro, Spain purchased about 3 Bergman Bayard pistols of the 000 model of the year. Like the Mauser M1908 pistols, the Bergman pistols had a magazine in front of the trigger and therefore had a relatively short barrel, although it fired a powerful bolt-action 1896mm cartridge. The Campo Giro of 9 used the same 1913mm cartridge, commonly known as the 9mm Largo, but the magazine was more traditionally located in the grip and therefore had a much longer barrel and therefore a higher muzzle velocity.
A feature of the Campo Giro was the blowback, with a powerful recoil spring and recoil buffer to compensate for the recoil of the powerful 9mm cartridge. By the way, the first samples of the pistol had handle cheeks made of black buffalo horn, but with the outbreak of the First World War, the supply of this exotic material ceased and they began to be made of wood!
Astra M400. Chilean model
During the First World War, Esperanza i Unceta produced about 150 Ruby-type self-loading pistols for the Allies. It was a pistol based on Browning's M000 design, with some improvements patented by Pedro Careaga in 1903 and by Esperanza y Unceta in 1911. The pistol was named "Victoria", and in turn it was copied by the company "Gabilondo and Urresti" in 1912, installing a new magazine with a capacity of 1914 cartridges on it (the capacity of the old pistol was 9 cartridges) and a cord ring.
This is what it looked like when the shutter moved back
But in 1915, Gabilondo sent this pistol to France, and they liked it there. And so much so that in May 1915 the French military decided to adopt it. The pistol was named Ruby, and contracts for its production were signed with Gabilondo and eight partner companies.
As a result, the order also went to the Esperanza and Unset company, and they began to produce them as M 1914, M 1915, M 1916, under the names Astra, Brunswick and Victoria. In general, such strange things happened in the world of weapons at that distant time. Trademark "Astra" turned out to be the most convenient as a result!
M400 disassembled
But in Spain, complaints went to the Campo Giro pistol that, firstly, it was not as durable as expected, and secondly, that it was very difficult to disassemble it. As a result, the military began searching for new service weapons, and it was then that Esperanza and Unset offered them their newly developed Model 400, which received the beautiful name Astra.
M400 produced by the Republicans. On the cheeks of the handle, the designation: "Spanish Republic"
The "Model 400" was a design by Pedro Careaga. The tests went on for two years - from 1920 to 1921, until finally in September 1921, the Astra 400 was adopted by the Spanish army. Two versions of the pistol were developed: the "model 400" for the army and the carabinieri, and the model 300, a slightly smaller pistol, for naval and air force officers.
As a result, the "Model 300" became a kind of symbol of the company, its popularity was so great. Both models had long careers and remained in production until 1967 and 1946 respectively.
M400 model 1941
The Model 400 was chambered for the 9mm Bergmann-Bayard cartridge, named after the first semi-automatic pistol used by the Spanish army. This caliber was known in Spain as the 9mm Largo (long). During the Spanish Civil War, it turned out that it was easy to convert it to 9mm Parabellum cartridges.
As a result, 63 pistols chambered for Parabellum cartridges were delivered to Germany during the Second World War (another 000 pistols were sent to the Germans chambered for a “long” cartridge. A total of 22s were produced 390 copies.
Pistol "Astra" M200 with mother-of-pearl trim handle
The Spaniards, generally speaking, copied other people's samples very widely. So, for example, the Astra M200 pistol appeared - nothing more than a copy of the FN 1906, which was released in several versions and calibers. A total of 234 pistols of this model were produced. Production ceased in 105, mainly due to new US customs regulations.
In 1926, Juan Esperanza left the joint venture and formed his own company. The company changed its name and became known as Unceta y Compania. And the following year, the Spanish army again decided to modernize its weapons, and Unceta once again won a contract to supply the military with a new pistol, the production of which began a year later.
This time it was the "Model 900", very similar to the famous C96. The pistol was actively supplied to China, where Kuomintang officers simply adored it. Some of these pistols (M903) ended up in Germany, and the Spanish Civil Guard received the F modification. Although mass production of this model ceased in 1937, small batches continued to be assembled later from the remaining stocks.
Astra Model 900 (bottom) and Mauser S-96 (top)
The "Model 900" differed from the "Mauser" C96 only in weight, due to the longer barrel. "Model 901" was made at the request of China - they put a fire translator on it, which made it possible to shoot bursts from it. At the same time, his rate of fire was about 850 rounds per minute. "Model 902" - the same "Model 901", but with a fixed magazine for 20 rounds and a barrel length of 190 mm. Produced about 7 pieces.
"Model 903" - An improved "Model 902", with a removable magazine for 10 or 20 rounds. "Model 904": had changes in the fire switch that allowed varying the rate of fire, but only 10 of them were produced. Model F - "Astra 903", modified in accordance with the requirements of the Civil Guard.
Marking one of the "Aster"
As for the Astra M400 pistol, it turned out to be in demand on the arms market and was supplied not only to Germany, but also to Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and France. 106 units were made, most chambered in 175mm Largo. During the Civil War, the company began to work for the Republicans, but its owner Unset left the company and went over to the side of the Nationalists.
Automatic "Astra", right side view
Part of the M400 pistols was produced at the enterprises of the Republicans, but the plant itself worked for Franco. Moreover, during the Second World War, despite the official neutrality of Spain, deliveries of pistols to Germany began in 1943 (10 copies were sent) and continued until June 450.
It is interesting that although they ceased, this contract did not lose its force and was already finally fulfilled in 1950 and 1951, when the Federal Republic of Germany turned to the Allies with a request for permission to receive the remains of weapons ordered in 1944 for arming the police. This is how Spanish pistols ended up in Germany again, and after the end of the war.
Astra 300. Right side view
In 1946, the company was reorganized so that it began to produce industrial equipment, although they continued to produce firearms. As a result, the Astra 3000 model appeared, put into production a year later.
More than 44 of these pistols were produced, after which in 000 it was replaced by the Astra 1956 Falcon model. And in 4000, the company changed its name again and became known as Astra y Unceta Cia, SA
Then new models were created under the name "Astra": M800 "Condor" (1958), "Astra" A-70, A-80, A-90 and "Astra 100" in the eighties. In general, the Basque arms industry had something to be proud of ...
However, politics intervened in the work of the company: in 1977, its successful manager and owner of the company, Augusto Unceta-Barrenechea, was killed by terrorists from the ETA group.
Astra 300. Left side view
In 1998, the Basque government decided to create a new company by merging Astra Unceta y Cia and the bankrupt enterprise of Bonifacio Echeverria S.A. This new company was also called Astra, but it lasted only one year. After that, a certain Swiss company took the name, received the rights to the Astra trademark and also began to produce pistols, as well as AR-15 rifles of the StG-15 and StG-4 models.
And it all ended with the fact that weapons under the Astra brand were again sold in Central and South America, as well as in Asia and Africa.
"Astra-Fareket", caliber 6,35 mm
The Astra 300 pistol is a Spanish Astra-Unceta self-loading pistol, a smaller version of the Astra 400 model. army. Magazine capacity, depending on the model, is 1922 rounds of 1922 × 1923 mm or 1928 rounds of 1930 × 7 mm. "Astra 7,65" - the first model, produced from 17 to 6, a total of 9 units were produced. "Astra 17" - a post-war modification of the "Astra-300", in total from 1922 to 1947 about 171 units were produced.
7,65-mm pistol "Astra" model 300 "lux", presented by the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K. E. Voroshilov to the son of M. V. Frunze - Timur Frunze
In 1937–1938 The USSR purchased a small number of Astra 300 pistols from the Spanish Republic. Richly trimmed, they were used as awards. In particular, the People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR K. E. Voroshilov handed over the M300 of the luxury model to the Soviet military pilots - the son of I. V. Stalin - Vasily Stalin; son of M. V. Frunze - Timur Frunze; son of A.I. Mikoyan - Sergey Mikoyan. Larger weapons, with significant "representative" dimensions, such as the 7,63-mm Astra pistols of models 901-903, were handed over either to military leaders or to the highest commanding staff from the NKVD itself.
Decorated Astra pistol received by Lieutenant General Otto Yliriscu as a gift from the Soviet Union. Immola Border Guard Museum in Imatra, Finland
PS
The author and site administration would like to thank Alain Daubresse for permission to use his photographs.
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