Month: March 2021

Many good ideas have come along in the field of armaments, but some of them stand out. A few endure for decades. Lately, I’ve been reflecting on a particularly attractive style of handgun that has been a good idea since World War I.

I’m referring to the Model of 1917 revolver, as made in typical versions by Colt and Smith & Wesson and chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. Many handgunners are familiar with this model, but let’s review the details for those late to the party. In 1911, we developed and adopted the excellent Colt service semi-automatic pistol in a new caliber.
It was the now-famous .45 ACP. Rimless—in order to run smoothly through a single-column, seven-round magazine—the .45 ACP actually did have a rim. It was no wider than the body of the cartridge, but had a circumferential groove for the pistol’s extractor to pull the fired cartridge out of the chamber. This cartridge and its extractor groove positively impacted the quick development of the 1917 revolver.

There would have been no need for this type of revolver if there were enough 1911s to meet the demands of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War I.

Sadly, the number of handguns needed could not be met by America’s total manufacturing capability at the time. The Springfield Armory had to stop making 1911 pistols and convert the factory to produce M1903 Springfield rifles.

There is also that persistently repeated story that the 1911 magazine was made from a special imported tubing, which became unavailable as the war progressed and America entered it in 1917. We might have been able to build more, but they would have been useless without magazines—allegedly built from a special tubing made in Germany.

So, the Ordnance guys came up with a good idea. Both Colt and Smith & Wesson had working production lines, capable of spitting out thousands of large-frame revolvers in big calibers. In short order, the two legendary competitors had made a few necessary tooling changes and pressed the GO buttons on their production lines. Over the next few months, each factory produced and delivered slightly more than 150,000 rugged, rough-finished, DA/SA, six-shot revolvers.
They fired the same cartridge as the .45 semi-automatic pistol. The thing that made it work was a crescent of thin, but strong, sheet steel with three recesses, spaced to match three adjacent chambers in the revolver’s cylinder. Two of these so-called half-moon clips held a total of six rounds. Tens of thousands of these sturdy revolvers were used in the various battles of The Great War. My late father carried one—a Smith & Wesson 1917. I fondly recall him finding a half-moon clip in an old desk at the armory where he worked and patiently explaining its history to his gun-struck son.

In the inter-war years, many of the 1917-model .45 revolvers found their way into civilian hands. The Border Patrol used some of them, as did many (low-paid) peace officers of the Depression era. Both makers actually built post-World War I, civilian-finished versions of the same 5.5-inch, large-frame wheelguns.

For those who were fussy about loading the sharp-edged moon clips, Peters Cartridge created the .45 Auto Rim cartridge. This interesting round put a thick rim on the .45 ACP cartridge, so it could be used in a ’17 revolver without the clip. In the late 1930s, Auto Rim ammunition was popular enough to be loaded by Winchester, Western, Peters, Remington and U.S. Cartridge. It was another good idea for a sometimes near-forgotten type of gun.

A few of the 1917s were used to good effect in World War II, but more were relegated to use with Guard and reserve troops. After the war, Colt chose to cease production of its large-frame New Service model revolvers, including the .45 ACPs. Smith & Wesson underwent a total overhaul of its product line and came out with a series of new models. It was a period of dynamic expansion for the old-line gunmaker. In an effort to fill the demand for a bullseye target gun, Smith & Wesson created the 1950 Target model.
It was a target-sighted version of the same basic revolver as the 1917. An even fancier (and heavier) version came along in 1955. That model is still in limited production, and the company has made the same basic revolver in a number of different barrel lengths and configurations. The guns have been well-received, largely because of yet another good idea.

In the mid-1970s, a small Mid-western company called Ranch Products began making some new variations of the half-moon clip. Its first was a two-round “third-moon” clip that police officers liked. These little pairs slipped easily into the dump pouches on their duty belts. But, the small firm hit the jackpot with the full-moon clip, which holds all six rounds needed for a speedy reload.

Compared to the wide variety of speedloaders that were coming into common use at the time, the .45 ACP in full-moon clips was a superior performer. It was more compact, lighter and went into the gun faster. As the shooter needed to eject his empties, a stroke of the ejector rod forced a single object—the clip with spent cases—out of the gun as a unit.

Still, the single-biggest reason I like the Smith & Wesson .45 revolvers is because they are Smith & Wesson .45 revolvers. They have the same general trigger action as so many other wheelguns I have carried and used. The cartridge delivers all the power that I really need in a defensive firearm. Guns from the 1950s have that classic five-screw, tapered barrel, long-action style of the company’s Golden Age. My favorite is a 1950 Target out of Sam Fowler’s shop in Orange, CA. It has what I call a “hard way” action job—cycled and fired tens of thousands of times. Recently refurbished with a recut forcing cone after it began keyholing shots, it’s like a new gun.

Unknown adventures await this fine example of fightin’ iron.

This article, “The Best from Spain,” appeared originally in the September 2003 issue of American Rifleman. To subscribe to the magazine, visit the NRA membership page here and select American Rifleman as your member magazine.

The most common question I am asked is, “Which Spanish shotgun is the best?” It’s very difficult to answer, and I usually begin with “That depends … .”
Forty years ago, the answer was easy. The AYA Model Senior, a clone of the Purdey built on a Beesley self-opening action, was acclaimed as the finest gun made in Spain. It was so good there was no serious competition. Today, the Senior is no longer made, and other makers have come forward with other models, all vying for the title left vacant when the Senior was discontinued in 1988.
The fine-shotgun industry in Spain is relatively tiny. There are a half-dozen small companies that, between them, produce about 3,000 guns a year. Of that number, two-thirds would be termed high-quality guns, and only a handful—100 to 200—would be absolute “bests.”
The smallest company is Pedro Arrizabalaga, with four craftsmen, two apprentices, and a total annual production of 40 guns. The largest is AYA, with about 18 employees, and annual production in the high hundreds.

This matched pair of Grulla Royals, in the author’s opinion, deserve the name they bear, and he regards the Royal as the finest gun made in Eibar today. One of the first such sets was made for Spain’s King Juan Carlos.

Most of the company names are tongue-twisters—names of Basque origin that reverberate down through five centuries of gunmaking in the Basque Country of Spain, centered on the town of Eibar and, to a lesser extent, its neighbor Elgoibar.
Ignacio Ugartechea. Sarriugarte. Aranzabal. Arrizabalaga. Tough to spell and tougher to pronounce, but there is no mistaking the quality of the guns produced when you pick one up, feast your eyes, and throw it to your shoulder.
With the exception of Arrizabalaga, all the companies make a range of guns of different grades or types. The side-by-side sidelock is the most common today, all based on the Holland & Holland action. A couple of companies also make boxlocks, and a couple make over-unders. Almost without exception, every company makes one model that is its very, very best gun—and it is these masterpieces we are looking at here.

Armas Garbi DeLuxe
Armas Garbi is a company with a half-dozen craftsmen, founded in 1959, that turns out about 150 guns a year. Of these, only 40 are the top-of-the-line Deluxe, a gun that retails in the United States for about $25,000.
William Larkin Moore, who has been Garbi’s exclusive importer here for almost 30 years, says that in all that time he has sold only a handful of Deluxes in the United States. Almost all of them stay in Spain, where they go to members of the nobility, friends of King Juan Carlos I (a longtime Garbi admirer) and others who shoot driven red-legged partridge on the plains of Castile.
For many years, the Deluxe sported deep-relief engraving complete with gargoyles on the fences and a naked cherub on the sidelock, but in recent years the company has been allowing its high-dollar customers to choose their own favorite engraving. So now, you may see a Deluxe with traditional Purdey-style rose-and-scroll, or elaborate game scenes in bulino or “banknote” engraving.
The one thing that does not change is the basic specifications, which include barrels of the finest nickel-chrome steel, to ensure the greatest strength combined with fine handling and balance, exhibition grade walnut for the stock and fore-end, and fastidious attention to every tiny detail. The Deluxe is available in any gauge, made to each customer’s individual tastes. This is true of almost every Basque “best,” so I will not repeat it every time.

The No. 1 Deluxe is the best side-by-side produced by Spain’s AYA today. It’s offered as a rounded action (above) or in the traditional style.

AYA No. 1 DeLuxe
AYA, 40 years ago, was the largest gun company in Spain, with 500 employees, a large factory, and annual production of 20,000 guns. Today, after a failed consolidation of the gun business in the 1980s, AYA has been resurrected as a small custom shop. It produces many of the same models as before, but mostly they are the higher grades. There are boxlocks and sidelocks, over-unders and side-by-sides.
The late, lamented Senior is no longer made because the frames and lockwork for a Beesley-style action are unobtainable. When the Senior was discontinued in 1988, it retailed in Spain for $15,000. At the time, the Garbi Deluxe sold for $14,000. Today, a Senior would sell for $30,000-plus.
AYA’s best side-by-side today is the No. 1 DeLuxe, a gun with a family history dating from the 1950s. At that time, the King brothers in England were just beginning to import AYA guns to the United Kingdom. They began by helping the company to produce guns in a style that would appeal to English tastes. Among the guns they helped design were the No. 1 with its Purdey-style engraving, the less expensive No. 2, and a boxlock styled on the Westley Richards.
In the mid-’90s, Edward King suggested building an extra-special gun in that would take the place of the Senior. It would have exhibition quality wood, and the gun would be finished, engraved, case-hardened and blacked in England by English experts. This gun became the No. 1 DeLuxe. It has H&H-style broad-scroll engraving, which sets it apart from the traditional No. 1 that is much less flamboyant.
For the American market, the No. 1 DeLuxe is completely finished in Spain. It is available in a rounded action as well as the traditional style with bead and drop points. In either form, however, it is a spectacular gun.
Bryan Bilinski of Fieldsport, AYA’s premier American importer, says the No. 1 DeLuxe causes excitement everywhere it goes, and one look at the gun will tell you why. It retails in the United States for about $8,900.

Pedro Arrizabalaga
Pedro Arrizabalaga has been in business since 1944. Today, there are just four partners and two apprentices working in the company. Like Purdey, they make only one grade of gun—the best—and there are no identifiable models. Every Arrizabalaga is made to measure, to the individual tastes of the client.
The walnut used in an Arrizabalaga gun is just short of exhibition grade, and the client can either choose his own blank, instruct the company to pick one out according to his taste in wood, or even provide his own. Similarly, the engraving can be anything the client chooses, from standard scroll to bulino game scenes.

The interior surface of a Pedro Arrizabalaga lock is as much a work of art as the exterior.

Arrizabalaga has its own ideas about what constitutes a “best” gun. They usually have a self-opener, and the guns are not lightweights. A 12-ga. will rarely come in at less than 6 lbs., 12 ozs. These are guns built to the ideal for driven-game shooting, expected to fire thousands of rounds a year.
Pedro Arrizabalaga has been called “The Purdey of Spain,” and in many ways the company deserves the title. Ironically, though, it is not the most expensive gun by any means. An Arrizabalaga retails here, through their exclusive importer, New England Arms, for about $12,000 and up—half the price of the Garbi Deluxe. Is it half the gun? Most emphatically not.

Arrieta Model 931
The firm of Manufacturas Arrieta, in Elgoibar, is a family-owned company now run by the third generation of Arrietas, Juan Carlos and his cousin, Asier. Arrieta has the most extensive network of importers, including New England Arms, Orvis, and Griffin & Howe. The company is the most familiar name in Spanish guns after AYA.
Arrieta makes a complete range of sidelock side-by-sides, and nothing else. They retail here from about $2,500 for the Model 578, to an estimated $25,000 for the Model 931. The gun shown on p. 77 is a rounded action with engraving like a 931, although it is far from typical. It is a 12-ga. built on a 16-ga. frame, and weighs 6 lbs., 4 ozs. with 28” barrels. It is intended for shooting light loads only, and it is an exquisite creation.

Grulla Armas Royal
Grulla Armas has become one of the largest of the Spanish gunmakers, and it is certainly the most progressive and adventuresome. It produces guns that are equal to or better than anything else made in Eibar.
From its antecedents as Union Armera in the early 1980s, Grulla has come a long, long way. In the 1990s, it introduced a new, “best” model called the Royal, and it certainly deserves its name. One of the first matched pairs was made for King Juan Carlos, and the company has several notable English clients. In fact, the majority of Royals are sold in the United Kingdom.
The gun can be engraved with any of three types of scroll—Purdey-, H&H- or Churchill-style. With Churchill engraving, the gun sells in Eibar for $13,500. It should be noted that the rapid appreciation of the Euro over the last year has increased every Spanish price, so the numbers given here are approximate at best.

Grulla, the maker of the side-by–side at top, is one of the largest Spanish makers, and the most progressive. The author regards Ugartecheas, such as the 1030 (above), as excellent for the money.

Jose Luis Usobiaga, Grulla’s managing director, has spared no effort over the last decade, not only to upgrade the company’s products overall, but to make the Royal as good as any gun ever made in Spain, and comparable to an English “best.” To that end, he has studied the features of the great English guns and incorporated many into the Royal, including set screws on the major pins.
Kemen Armas
Kemen is unlike the other companies in that it specializes in over-unders, notably competition guns. The company was created by the Sarriugarte brothers, and it traces its ancestry to the venerable firm of Francisco Sarriugarte.
The Kemen is a boxlock gun with a detachable trigger group, and can be built in any configuration for competition or game shooting. Kemen guns are customarily built with choke tubes, floating rib, pistol grip, Monte Carlo stock, and all the other wrinkles of trap and live-pigeon guns. They are available in either 12 or 20 gauge Kemen has now introduced a side-by-side, also a boxlock with a detachable trigger group, and these retail in the neighborhood of $17,500.
The over-under is Kemen’s flagship, however, and in its higher grades it is spectacular. As you move up, the guns sport sideplates and the engraving becomes more and more elaborate, although the Suprema AX, the most expensive of all (about $29,000) has exquisite Purdey-style rose-and-scroll and exhibition walnut. The firm’s Extra Gold “B” retails for $19,000.

Ugartechea does some things differently on its sidelocks, including offering them with coil springs instead of a V-springs. Many prefer V-springs, however, because they are traditional.

Ignacio Ugartechea
Ignacio Ugartechea makes both boxlocks and sidelocks. The com­pany’s most expensive model is a rounded action called the Model 1042. There is a traditional-action gun, the Model 1030, which has arcaded fences like the Woodward. These are both fine guns, and for the price are perhaps the best buy in Spain.
For years, Ugartechea’s prices did not change, and to look at the list, you would think there was a zero missing. But it’s no mistake. Generally, however, while the Ugartechea guns are excellent for the money, they do not make the list of the creme de la creme from Eibar.

At Arrizabalaga, like with many best gunmakers, the techniques used in finishing and fitting the stocks are often family secrets passed down from generation to generation.

So which is the best gun of them all? I honestly don’t know. I believe it would vary from gun to individual gun, because each of the top ones is a unique creation. If you differentiate by cost, however, it becomes much clearer. For the price of a Garbi Deluxe, I could buy a matched pair of Grulla Royals, or three Pedro Arrizabalagas.
In my personal opinion, based on the guns I’ve seen, the very finest gun coming out of Eibar today is the Grulla Royal. It has everything—styling, sophisticated features, and workmanship. That was not true 10 years ago, when the Garbi Deluxe reigned almost alone, and it may not be true 10 years hence. But I believe it is true today.

Arcaded fences are uncommon in Basque country, but they are standard on the Ugartechea Model 1030 side-by-side shotgun.

The competition among the fine gunmakers of Spain to produce a gun that will be acclaimed the “very best” is quite intense. Today, for the first time really, there is no clear-cut winner. So if you ask me which is the finest gun made in Spain, the best I can say is, “That depends … .”

I am an inveterate gun store browser. A good portion of the wear and tear on my aging knees must have come from kneeling in front of glass front showcases in order to better see the Colt New Service in the back corner. The only real problem with this happy habit is the amount of time and gas it takes to travel from one gun shop to the next.

However, I have found a way to scan multiple gun stores in search of something I need (or want) and do it from my office in a quick session. Of course, I am referring to the phenomenon of online auction or purchase of firearms. It is a perfectly legal practice by which the registered transfer of ownership occurs between two FFL dealers, sometimes thousands of miles apart.
Easily run programs allow you to see what is available in the way of, say, .44 Special Colt Shooting Masters. It is an interesting way to look for guns of specific types. This blog is not about online gun buying as much as it’s about a recent purchase I made and the unique set of features I had to unravel.

First of all, I buy shooters. The so-called “safe queens” usually hold little interest for me. I am more likely to be looking for solid working condition Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger revolvers for use in various custom gun projects. Some solid bargains have come my way and a scratch, dent or spot of rust, easily repaired in the refinishing process, often drops the bottom line in my favor.
I get a lot of fun out of bringing a classic of yesteryear back to work or using it as the basis for a one-of-a-kind custom gem. Here, I’ll offer a bit of necessary background information and then dig into a very interesting new resident of my collection. It came from a gentleman in Texas, who accurately described every feature and flaw in his online listing.

The gun is a S&W, an old-line gunmaker who used a unique process for almost every gun made in its first 100 years of production. As a control measure in the fitting part of the manufacturing process, the company stamped the gun’s serial number on five major assemblies (sometimes six or seven) that make up a gun.
The number is on the frame (butt flat), barrel (forward of the threading), cylinder (rear face), extractor (inside face) and yoke (rear flat). Sometimes, they also marked one or both grips. To a latter day buyer, this tells him that all of these assemblies are complete and original. This also suggests that the gun has had a clear service life.

It must have been a tedious system to keep going, so it is understandable to see it stopped in the late ’50s. This was at about the time the company started assigning model numbers to their various models. Revolvers from then to now have the model number on the frame cutout for the yoke.
Still in what can be described as very good condition, the arm is a Model 27-2 and so marked. It is built on a so-called “three-screw” frame with a 6.5″ barrel, standard hammer and target trigger. The Model 27 was always an elite revolver, right from its 1935 origins as the legendary Registered Magnum.

Every Model 27 got a special touch in the checkering applied to the entire top surface of the gun. From the rear sight down the top of the frame, across to the slim barrel rib and all the way down to the front sight ramp, there is crisply applied metal checkering. The price was right and Model 27s of better than just shooter grade are hard to find, particularly when they have the puzzling enigmas like good ol’ #N92819.
The right side of the barrel is marked “.38 S&W Special Ctg.” The company never made Model 27s in that caliber. Also, there is no checkering on the barrel rib or on the long leaf of the rear sight.

More puzzling yet, there is a serial number on the barrel and… it doesn’t match the gun!
I think we can conclude that the original barrel was removed and replaced with a barrel from another revolver. In the immediate post-war era, Smith & Wesson returned to producing an N-frame revolver in .38 Special called the Outdoorsman.
It dated to the early 1930s and was the basic framework for the Registered Magnum. When it made its post-war re-appearance, the Outdoorsman got the ’50 Target features of several highly-sought-after N frames in .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .44 Special and .45 ACP.

That’s why we have the curious situation of a barrel, manufactured in 1953, serialized (#S97081) and installed on a frame. It was shipped as a finished gun to Rex Firearms in New York in late May of that year. At some completely unknown point in time, it was removed and re-installed on a different model and caliber revolver.
Actually, the only real difference between an N-frame target barrel in .38 Special and one in .357 Magnum is the caliber marking and checkering on the magnum tube.   Records tell us that the original gun (#N92819) was part of a shipment of 27 miscellaneous Smiths that went to Watkins-Cottrell in Richmond, Virginia. All of the forgoing is factual. My observation is that of a sound and sturdy N frame S&W with some apparent contradictions and no great wear. It shoots good.

Why did all of this happen? I have to speculate on this one. My first speculation was that the gun was owned by a peace officer who worked for an agency that would not permit those nasty Magnums, either ammo or gun. The original .357 Magnum cylinder is in the gun, but the barrel marking would be “legal.”
If that one is true, he did not fire it much. Another possibility is that something happened to the original—bent, bulged, cracked—and this was the only possible replacement at that time and place. It’s also possible that the owner wanted to make it a .38, because that cartridge is associated with match accuracy to a greater degree than the .357.

However, the history of the gun, as well as the history of the cannibalized barrel, offer a more credible possibility. The original 1973 gun had the unique and desirable 3.5″ tube, and our anonymous owner wanted a longer barrel. Yeah, you’d best believe I’d love to find that snubby tube in somebody’s parts drawer, but I’d never be able to identify it, because they quit serializing major parts well before this barrel was made.
Stay tuned for more in the story of how a plain model 27 ‘Smith came to national attention.