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1948 Winchester 43 in 218 Bee
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Finally!
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Just because……NSFW
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After the fall of France in 1940, Germany occupied not just the country’s northern coast but also the entirety of its western coast, in a corridor stretching all the way to the Spanish border. A mere 60 miles to the west, the Basque city of Guernica was home to one of the greatest gunmakers in Europe: Unceta y Compañia S.A., better known as Astra. From the start of World War II, German industry had struggled to produce an adequate number of pistols for its armed forces. To cover this shortfall, the Wehrmacht purchased foreign-made guns, and after the fall of France, that included pistols made in Guernica by Astra.
In 1941, the Germans purchased 12,000 Model 300 and Model 400 pistols. During the three years that followed, most of Astra’s production was dedicated to German orders. While the Model 300 (in both .380 ACP and .32 ACP) succeeded in German service, it was just not big enough to be considered a proper sidearm. The Model 400 was large enough, but it also presented a big problem. Chambered for 9 mm Largo, a cartridge the Wehrmacht did not use in any other firearm, it gave supply officers a logistical headache; they liked its simple reliability but not its chambering.
In response to feedback from the Germans, Astra re-designed the Model 400 to chamber 9 mm Luger. Like the pistol from which it evolved, this new Astra made use of a steel slide, a steel frame, a fixed barrel with a concentric recoil spring, an internal hammer and the direct-blowback operating mechanism. A few other minor modifications were also made to include shortening the slide and barrel and reducing the width of the grip.
The new cartridge required a re-design of the single-stack magazine, but capacity remained eight rounds. The Model 400’s heel magazine release was replaced by a button on the left side of the grip, and an improved lanyard loop was added just behind it. Three features made it as safe as it was reliable: a thumb safety, a grip safety and a magazine-disconnect safety. Astra designated it the “Model 600/43” and sent 50 examples to Germany in early 1944 for testing and evaluation.
An exceptionally well-made pistol, the Model 600/43 impressed the Wehrmacht, and it quickly placed an order for 60,000 units. As part of a phased-production contract, the German government paid Astra up front for the first 41,500 guns. Deliveries began in May 1944, but they only continued for 90 days because, just as serial production of the Model 600/43 was getting underway in Guernica, Allied forces stormed ashore 500 miles to the north in Normandy.
By July 1944, the ongoing campaign in northern France had fundamentally changed the tactical situation in southern France, and, by the fall, the German occupation had ended. Only 10,500 Model 600/43s were delivered before that time, and they are easy to identify by virtue of the “WaA/D20” acceptance mark engraved on the right side of the frame. Astra went on to manufacture the remaining guns that Germany paid for and then continued by assembling another 18,000.
After the war, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Egypt, Thailand, Portugal, Chile, Jordan and Turkey purchased these Model 600/43s in small quantities. But the great irony of this story is that the largest postwar buyer of the pistol was the same country that brought it to life in the first place. West Germany’s Federal Police adopted it in 1951, and then West Germany’s army adopted it in 1956.
Although the Astra Model 600/43 may not sit at the top of the list of the most collectible German World War II pistols, that is exactly what the first 10,500 are. Even the examples that do not have Nazi acceptance marks are part of the story of Germany during the Second World War, as they would not exist were it not for the fact that they were brought into being at a time when everyone involved should have known that the “Thousand-Year Reich” wasn’t going to last.
Gun: Astra Model 600/43
Manufacturer: Unceta y CompaÑia S.A. (Astra)
Chambering: 9 mm Luger
Serial No.: 29058
Manufactured: 1945
Condition: NRA Very Good (Modern Gun Standards)
Value: $700
Jasper lives in the southern part of the Oregon Coast Range of mountains that runs along Oregon’s Pacific Coast and is home to a healthy herd of elk. Jasper grew up on and now owns his family’s rural farm in those mountains.
Having lived in the area all his life, Jasper is very familiar with all the forest service and logging roads that crisscross the various public and private lands above the valley floor. As both a farmer, who managed his own time as he saw fit, and as an avid hunter, he invested many hours, day after day, year after year, scouting those peaks, watching the movement of the elk, trying to anticipate where they would be during hunting season. His time investment paid off, as Jasper always bagged an elk each year.
Jasper believed in using every advantage he could get. As such and having earned his stripes as a big game hunter long before the advent of many of the current magnum cartridges capable of dropping a 900 lb. bull elk, Jasper shot a 300 H&H Magnum. Shooting “digger squirrels” every summer to maintain his proficiency, his marksmanship skills were practiced and sharpened regularly. He didn’t want to miss the chance on a trophy bull, regardless of the range.
One year while hunting with his son, Junior, they glassed a ridgeline about 500 yards across the valley from the logging road where their truck was parked. They spotted several cow elk moving down the hillside followed by a nice bull. As they watched the small herd moved down the grassy slope and into a thick growth of spruce trees, where the herd vanished. No more movement. Nothing exited that stand of trees.
After watching for a few minutes, expecting some movement but seeing nothing, the men drew up a plan. Jasper would move down the hillside in one direction to get closer to where the herd disappeared. Jasper’s son would set off in the opposite direction to try to better identify the exact location of the herd.
Just as Jasper reached his intended location, a nice bull stood up. Without hesitation, Jasper shot the bull, saw the bullet strike, and watched the bull go down. But less than 20 seconds later, Jasper watched that bull stand back up. Somewhat concerned that the shot didn’t anchor the animal as solidly as he thought, he fired again. Again, he watched the animal fall…and after a moment, he stood up a second time.
Jasper couldn’t believe his eyes. He knew he landed two solid hits in the vitals of the bull, but there he stood. Unable to dispute the fact that the animal was standing there, and not wanting to prolong the animal’s suffering, he shot a third time, and for a third time, watched the bull fall.
This time he stayed down.
Meanwhile, Junior tried moving quietly through the thick scrub and brambles towards where he and his dad last saw the herd. Suddenly, Junior heard his father’s first shot. Knowing his dad’s well-earned reputation as a marksman, he thought “dead bull” and mentally prepared himself for the chore of packing out the meat. Hearing the second shot somewhat surprised him. Could his old man be losing his touch? He never needs a second shot.
When Junior heard the third shot, full-on confusion set in. For a moment he wondered if the elk were shooting back.
Jasper began climbing down the hillside and across the valley to the opposite ridge, excited to see this resilient bull and running through the check-list for the hours of work ahead to dress, quarter, and pack the animal back to his truck.
Jasper arrived at the location about the same time as Junior, and discovered that Jasper had not shot one, but three elk bulls, all lying dead beside each other. They never saw the other bulls trailing the herd of cows while glassing earlier.
Not quite sure where he stood legally but knowing that he had not intentionally broken the law, Jasper was pretty sure that a game warden would have a hard time believing his story—hell, he could hardly believe it himself. Jasper and Junior used their tags, as well as his wife’s tag, for each animal killed and the family’s freezer was full of meat for quite a while afterwards.
The details were kept from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the story is repeated often amongst family and friends.
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Tiger Stripe M-48 Yugo Mauser
