It's amazing that this was such an insanely popular handgun that 100s of companies around the world copied it... and it remained extremely popular for decades... but then became so rare and uncommon. They're every bit as good firearms as they were when they were made and there still has never really been many smaller firearms made since then. I know the Walther Model 9 and the Bernardelli (and maybe a couple others) might be smaller... but they're all still old guns that haven't been produced very much at all in the last 50 years. It's funny though, because every time I show guns like this (and the NAA mini's for example) their eyes light up and they get really interested in them. Have heard many people that never carried before say "I would carry every day if I had one of these"... and although it's not the most most powerful round, it's extremely effective and will save a person's like well over 99% of the time. (If I'm not mistaken, the firearm does not have to be fired in 98% of cases, so just drawing the gun is enough to stop the assault before the defender has to pull the trigger.)
It looks like a Spanish Astra. There were a few makers of the basic Browning before WWII, some in France and others in Northern Spain. Today I bought one like yours but with no markings other than a three digit SN on the left side. The grip panels are marked SAM, there is what looks like a chrysanthemum below that. The pistol came in a holster with a spare FN mag in a pouch.
I also have my grandfathers browning 6.35 mm from 1954. Never shot in over 60 years with a box of bullets from Germany . It is stuck in Bruno’s Aires unfortunately.
Tends to only misfeed when you jam the magazine in like you did in the video. If you do it with less force or just slide it in lightly, it should feed perfectly every time. Its not a combat pistol, its a back up pocket rocket and a plinker
The swinging safety over the trigger is the give away the gun is a product of Spanish (actually Basque) gun makers. It is a copy or take off of the Browning patent (not at all the same) made by FN of Belguim and Colt of the U. S. Not a bad overall design, but that era tends toward poor metallurgy and crude finishing of the interiors.
Thank you for such a detailed video, I've a very similar pistol, the only difference is the trigger mechanism, I don't know what I did wrong when I put back together because the safety lever keeps falling out, any suggestion? Thank you.
the exit of shell and bullet please turn the weapon 180 degrees -- use gravity , when firing it works earfectly because the bullet is already out of way
If you find one that fits (there are many)... but you would have to cut a notch in the back of the magazine where the heel style magazine latch can grab onto it. It's not hard to do either. You insert it into the gun where it should be and then score a line where the magazine latch should gran onto it. Then you file a notch there starting slightly too low and then insert and reinsert the magazine as you get closer and closer to the right spot until it grabs onto the magazine and holds it at the correct position. If you're not sure about the correct position, you can take the slide off and insert a factory magazine and see exactly how far up the top of the magazine fits in the frame. It's always better to start with the magazine fitting too high though, so the notch is too low, because you can always take off more metal to lower the position of the magazine... but if you start off with the magazine too low, then the notch you cut is too high and you will not be able to fix it (without welding it and starting over). It might sound complicated, but it's pretty simple. I just suck at explaining things.
