Eric with IV8888 sits down and talks turkey with a beefy Spaniard made by Astra, the 9mm Largo caliber Model 400.
Designed and manufactured by Astra-Unceta y Cia SA in Spain, the Model 400 was an Art Deco-styled product of its time– the 1920s. Envisioned to replace the 9x23mm Largo caliber Campo-Giro pistol, the Model 400 used a fixed barrel coupled with a simple blowback action inside a massive frame and slide.
About the only modern gun that does this in today in a large caliber is the Hi-Point series pistol, only the Astra uses good old fashioned steel rather than Zymak and polymer, which means they are heavy (40+ ounces unloaded) and utilize a stout recoil spring to jam that slide forward and back into battery.
Over 100,000 of these guns were made in the Model 400 variant alone through the 1950s and Eric’s is almost a century old, making it an early model.
Still, it’s a piece of history in motion.
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