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Posted: 4/10/2010 8:36:03 AM EDT
[#1]
Double-action?
I own a couple Spanish Rubys, they are pretty much a simplified clone of the Browning blowbacks such as the Colt 1903. They have an internal/enclosed hammer and are not really DA...not having a second strike capability. The Rubys don't have any huge collector value, although some were used by the French and Italians during WWI. These are worth a bit more than the commercial models. These were made by a dozen or more companys, to pretty much the same pattern. Some were 9 shot, and others 6 or 7 shot. |
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Posted: 4/10/2010 8:58:05 AM EDT
[#2]
Everything you always wanted to know about Ruby pistols.Blatantly stolen from WikipediaRuby pistol From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cebra marked Ruby-type pistol manufactured by A. Zulaika, Museum of the Polish Army, Warsaw The self-loading Ruby pistol is best known as a French World War I sidearm, the Pistolet Automatique de 7 millim.65 genre "Ruby". A very international piece of weaponry, it was closely modeled after the American John Browning's M1903 made by the Belgian Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, and was produced by over 50 Spanish companies, but primarily by the Spanish Gabilondo y Urresti firm (the official "Gabilondo Ruby"). [table] [td] Contents
[edit] Gabilondo and the RubyIn 1914, just before the start of the First World War, Gabilondo started manufacture of a sturdy self-loading pistol based on the Browning Model 1903 and chambered for the 7.65mm Browning/.32 ACP cartridge. Unusually for the time, the magazine capacity was nine shots instead of the usual six or seven. The pistol was intended for export to the Americas, and despite the small calibre was designed with military and police sales in mind. Other Spanish manufacturers had copied the Browning since around 1905. The Ruby, apart from the extended magazine appears to be a direct copy of a pistol called the "Victoria" made by Esperanza and Unceta. This pistol used features patented by Pedro Careaga in 1911, and by the Esperanza and Unceta company in 1912. These patents may have covered the frame-mounted safety (instead of a grip safety), and an internal striker (instead of a hammer).[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-ReferenceA-0][1][/url] In 1915 Gabilondo sent examples of the pistols to the French government, who were hard-pressed for all sorts of small-arms, even in this early stage of the war. After testing was completed in May 1915, the French decided to accept the Ruby as the "Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimètre 65 genre "Ruby" and contracted Gabilondo to produce 10,000 pistols a month. By August the target had been raised to 30,000 and later still an incredible 50,000 a month. Despite its size, the company could barely cope with the initial contract and arranged for four partners to manufacture the Ruby for them:
The contract stipulated that each company would produce a minimum of 5,000 pistols per month. Gabilondo would produce 10,000 guns, carry out overall quality control and arrange delivery to the French authorities in Bayonne. As the number of pistols required increased the company agreed to purchase any pistols in excess of the agreed number at the same contracted price. As demand increased Gabilondo recruited another three partners to help manufacture the Ruby. Estimates of Gabilondo Ruby production are between 250,000 and 300,000 pistols in total. While most Gabilondo contract pistols were of good quality, others were less well made.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-ReferenceA-0][1][/url] [edit] Ruby-type pistols by other makersAs the French became more desperate, the procurement process spiralled out of control. Eventually Gabilondo contracted with another three companies and at least 45 other companies contracted with the French directly to produce Ruby-type pistols in a variety of calibres, barrel lengths and magazine capacities.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-1][2][/url]  Liberty marked pistol manufactured by Retolaza Hermanos,French Military code stamp AH, Caliber 7.65mm Browning/.32ACP. French officials quickly became aware that few of the Spanish Ruby-types had interchangeable magazines, and insisted the manufacturers mark the base of all magazines. This was to prevent the possibly fatal consequence at the front line of either not being able to insert a new magazine, or having a loaded magazine detach from the gun in action.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-jagerplatoon-2][3][/url] Many Ruby-types were plagued by poor finish and incorrectly hardened steel parts which after a short period of use wore so badly that pistols fired on full-auto. On other pistols, the safety mechanism wore out. The good quality Rubies were reliable and accurate, [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-Shooting_Times-3][4][/url] although some users were disconcerted by the lack of a visible hammer. About 710,000 Ruby-types were accepted by the French from all sources and by 1920, about 580,000 were still serviceable and in French army stores. Many other allied nations, and some of the new nations created after the War such as Finland and Yugoslavia also used Ruby-type pistols..[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-ReferenceA-0][1][/url] Gabilondo ceased production in 1919 and switched to more advanced models, but other firms continued to produce the Ruby-type until the Great Depression wiped out many arms producers Ruby-types continued to be used until the end of World War II, particularly by Spanish and French Maquis, as well as their Vichy opponents.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-ReferenceA-0][1][/url] [edit] Advantages and DisadvantagesThe Ruby-type pistol is very intuitive to operate, even for novices. The slide stop doubles as a safety and field stripping is remarkably simple. The small size and large magazine capacity was an advantage, making it a popular "backup" weapon for troops involved in trench warfare, as well as the standard issue weapons for telephonists, stretcher bearers, machine-gun, tank, and mortar crews, and rear-echelon personnel of all descriptions.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-hernandez_2003-4][5][/url] The comparatively weak cartridges these pistols were chambered in gave little recoil, making them easy for novices to master accurate shooting with. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol#cite_note-Shooting_Times-3][4][/url] The primary disadvantage of these pistols (apart from quality control issues) was the relatively weak cartridges they were chambered in, which gave the pistol little stopping power. The reliance on only one type of safety, and the lack of a visible hammer made these pistols very dangerous to carry "cocked and locked". Early models could come off safety when holstered in a tight-fitting holster and a large protruding stud was added to the slide in order to prevent this. In later years, Ruby-types became notorious for the lack of standardization of parts between different manufacturers, resulting in a widespread incompatibility of spare parts that made the Ruby-types difficult to maintain. Some of this is due to the persistent confusion over exactly who made which Ruby-type pistol. [edit] Influence of the RubyThe Ruby directly influenced the design of the FN Model 1910/22, which was a nine-shot version of the M1910 developed for Yugoslavia (who had previously been issued Ruby-type pistols). Finland, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Romania, France, Denmark, and Germany also adopted this pistol at various times. Several commercially made French pistols by M.A.B and Unique were heavily influenced by the Ruby. [edit] List of Ruby-type manufacturers"Official" Rubies
Ruby copies under direct contract to the Allies
[edit] See also</td]> |
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Posted: 4/10/2010 5:24:22 PM EDT
[#3]
Ha ha ha,,,,wikipedia
That article lists just about every crap Ruby made Gabliondo Y Urresti-later to be known as Llama, Esperanza Y Unceta-also later known as Astra, and SA Alkartasuna-also known as ALKAR, a group of employees from Esperanza Y Unceta that went and formed a seperate manufactory to meet demand,,,these were the original big three manufacturers for the French contract pistols. As demand increased, other subcontract firms were brought on to manufacture parts and magazines and eventually whole pistols with quality standards slipping dramatically as more and more of these substandard firms came online. The French trashed the vast majority of the garbage pistols, retaining and continuing to issue Ruby pistols for service and Police use well into the 1950s The Finnish also ordered and issued fairly large quantities of Ruby pistols. The big three best were comparable in quality to Colt and FN pistols in all but final finish and they suffer the same issues of spring fatigue after all these years, generally the most common parts replacement for Colt and high quality Ruby pistols, the internal hammer fired guns break far fewer parts than the FN striker fired pistols. Genuine French Issue pistols will ALL be 9 shot, single action internal hammer fired with magazines that will interchange between different manufacturers guns. 7 shot pistols that were shipped in an attempt to increase sales were rejected and returned. Many of these substandard companies continued to offer their products on the commercial market after the first world war and in an attempt to garner larger sales and some version of guns were offered with a trigger cocking double action mechanism. After the war Esperanza Y Unceta went on to produce the ASTRA 400/1921 as well as Ruby type pistols under the Victory and Liberty tradenames as well as the ASTRA tradename. Urresti went on to other manufacturing of varied products and Alkartasuna built pistols under the ALKAR tradename until the factory burned down in 1921 or 1923 when they ceased operations for good. This is a French issue Alkartasuna "Ruby" 
The holster is actually for a Chinese Makarov so ignore it. I have two original magazines for the Alkar and four spares of different makers that are still useable and reliable after ninety years. The substandard late war and post war commercial copies have done much to tarnish the reputation of both Spanish manufacturers in general and the big three original Ruby makers, these guns were much better than people tend to believe. |
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