The Ruby: A WW1 French Service Pistol Made in Spain 

I know I'm a little late, but I'm always looking for more information on these guns, as my story is very similar to your client's. Just a few things for your information pool: 1. The inscription on the slide reads: "7.65(mm) short, 9 strokes" referring to the caliber and magazine size. 2. This is not a spanish Ruby, as you mentioned. The Unique pistol line was manufactured by Pyrenees Arms, in Hendaye, Fr. As you also touched on, the demand for these was high, so they did subcontract. Much like the mid-century US comparison Hi-Power / JC Higgins, however, arms manufacturing in France in the 20s - 30s was on a much smaller scale. Instead of large box store chains like Sears that every city had, every town/city had proprietary gunsmiths. I know of about 31 sub contractors that made these. 3. These were made with encapsulated recoil spring-guides, with caps retaining the spring. They can be removed as one piece, which would have alleviated the issue you had at the range. 4. You're making the reassembly more difficult than it needs to be. Put the spring and slide on first, then add the barrel. 5. Mine is an 8 shot, but I also have the same issue with the second bullet getting caught. Other than that, my experience with mine has been the same as yours. Great video. I wish we would see more of these. Like you said, there's 500K+ of these still in circulation.

Just got a 1915 one for 300 bucks even earlier this month! Thanks for the good video!

2:25 Most of the French heavy industry was focused on making rifles, machine guns, shells, brass turned bullets, etc... but they still had to arm the personnel of artillery, train, HQ, POW guards, etc... with something, the Ruby was that something. 9:00 7.62 Court 9 coups "Unique" => 32 short 9 Shots "Brand name"

i believe that the unique name was an after war model made by unceta & cia to be sold by a company in france. the original french contract ruby was actually a copy of an esperanza y unceta pistol on which gabilondo extended the mag. i have an "izarra", which means star in basque, and an esperanza y unceta that both served in wwi. they both have matching letter codes on the mag and tang and rivets added by the french to keep the safeties from being moved by the holster. they both are very good pistols but they were made by astra and star, which were the best of the spanish gunmakers, in my opinion. i do have 1 llama that i trust- my mini-max 2, their last gasp. i also have a llama 38 that seems to be alright. oh yeah, i had rimlock with one of the 2 ruby/eibars once, and it was no fun at all clearing and dangerous, to boot.

Miss your posts on Cas City. My Ruby was in the possession of a veteran's family it, and a 1943 P38 had been in a box stored away. Both Guns had been at some point rattle can painted black, the Ruby's original grips were coated with gloss polyurethane. Both guns and an old Iver Johnson 32 Cal (also painted) were brought to my frendly FFL for consignment. I believe the Ruby was Interwar period produced, and at some point was imported as it has a later required "Made in Spain" stamp, but no actual Import vendor name anywere. I paid $100 for it and striped the black paint and polyurethane off. What was under the paint was 90% original blue ..the paint had persevered it. I also stripped the P38 for its new owner, it however had no remaining original finish. After I was rewarded for my time in that service, my Ruby was $50 out of pocket. It shoots quite well with 32 ACP Ball ammo.

I just found a non military version of one of these (the Paramount) for 130 dollars at a gun shop only 3 minutes from my house. I snapped it up because of this video

That looks like a Unique 17 7.65. Post WW1. The Unique was based upon the RUBY design but made in France and of better quality. You will find some with German acceptance stamps. But these were used throughout WW2 and even as a secondary in Vietnam by French and French Colonial troops.

For some reason these were very common in the Philippines up to the 1960s.....so too did backyard made clones and lookalikes of these genre of simple pistols start popping up. They aren't common now but they do rarely pop up in the news and in court hearings.

Thanks for the video Tinker! And to Jake and Karen for loaning you the pistol. Neat piece of history 👌

Your comment on the ninety round problem is correct...I had a ruby in the early 80s...loved it...had 2 mag.s...wish I still had the little baby

I love the look of this, the Colt and FN, and being left handed, the safety is in a better place for me, as it falls under my index finger's reach like on the Beretta 1935/5 and the SIG P210. Not that I'd carry one now, but it would be an option outside of revolvers and Walthers for a left handed character I'd place back in history.

I think the French wanted pistols due to Trench assaults which could be wielded easier than the long barrel Lebel and Berthier rifles. Very interesting video. Thank you for your efforts in producing these. Really enjoy your channel just found today and subscribed.

The "Ruby" pistols were made by several companies with most being to a somewhat low standard, though some are relatively well-made. There were numerous gun makers in the Eibar Spain area cranking copies out. Magazines may not interchange between brands though that was one of the French requirements for military acceptance; it seems they never checked that. 17 round magazines could be had with some of these. The lesser ones are not particularly reliable and most don't like HP's so stick will ball ammo; also reliability problems are usually magazine-related. Not uncommon to find these with the wrong magazine made by someone else and most are worn out by this late date.

Very cool old pistol pard !🤠🤠

excellent presentation. I certainly would not pay the prices that you mention when I could buy a cheap ruger or keltec and have a new gun of a more modern design. The NRA had an article on them not too long ago for WWI trench warfare and maybe that is kicking up the price with collector. And of course for collectors it seems each one that you encounter may differ from the last one. Good tip on threading brass bolts/screws into threaded steel holes. edit a keltec 3AT is MSRP $340 on the keltec site and the ruger is likely not so different.

The story that goes with the one I have is my Grandfather, my Mom's Father brought it back from the Great War, WW1. the slide is stamped FABRIQUE D'ARMES de GUERRE CAL 7.65 and below that Paramount 32. Interestingly the lower has only has Spain stamped on one side and the number 33 on the other. The slide and barrel have 28 so not matching but fits and functions as it should. No I have not fired it and odds are won't. Just curious if you had any thoughts on if it.

Good vid. Love shooting my Ruby.

Would polishing the feed ramp help? Another great video, thanks.

It's basically an over-sized Astra Cub..... an Astra Bear.

very informative, and appreciate your research how much did you charge for your restoration service

Always wanted a 32 but i never could find one unless i was broke

What is the use of jhp bullarts in .32 ACP? The Ruby was not designed around jhp. boolarts.

Someone ought to make a modern day equivalent, you know a basic bare bones gat for the masses. Oh yea they do its called the G2.. probably works better too. 😆

👌👌👍👍

triste démonstration !