Description
Physical description
pistol & magazine (8)
grips are unchequered replacements
Label
The Astra 400 pistol was adopted by the Spanish Army as its standard service pistol in 1921. It was a somewhat unusual design in that it fired a powerful cartridge (the Spanish 9mm 'Largo' round) from an unlocked breech. To accomplish this safely, an unusually strong return spring and a heavy slide were employed, to retard the rearward motion of the breech-block upon firing. The spring surrounds the barrel, giving the pistol its distinctive tubular outline.
Astra pistols were made at Unceta y Cia, of Guernica in the Basque country. It was in this region that Spanish gunmaking was traditionally concentrated. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the Unceta factory was controlled by the Basque Republican Government. It survived the bombing of Guernica to fall into Nationalist hands in 1937.
This particular pistol was one of a batch of 11,600 delivered to the Euzkadian (Basque) government during 1936-7.
History note
The Astra 400 pistol, chambered for the Spanish 9mm Largo cartridge, was selected as the service pistol of the Spanish Army in 1921. The M1921 remained the standard military pistol until 1946. During the Spanish Civil War, both sides used this weapon. The Unceta factory at Guernica lay under the control of the Basque Republican government until it was seized by the Nationalists following the notorious bombing of April 1937. This pistol is one of 11,600 supplied to the Euzkadian Government, 1936-37. The Republicans also began production of this pistol at Valencia and at Tarrasa in Catalonia.
The pistol follows the standard design of Astra pistols of the period, being a blowback weapon, with the return spring concealed under a tubular barrel-shroud. It is extremely unusual for a cartridge as powerful as the 9mm Largo to be fired from an unlocked breech, and a very strong spring was required.
See: Antaris, L. Astra Automatic Pistols, Firac, 1988.
1. stamped on slide
2. stamped on slide
3. stamped on base of magazine
4. stamped on barrel
5. stamped vertically on right side of frame
1. UNCETA Y COMPAÑIA GUERNICA ESPAÑA PISTOLA DE 9m/m (38) MODELO 1921 (400)
2. Astra U/C trademark
3. Astra E/U trademark
4. 9m/m & 38
5. Spanish proofs
