So in this thread from December: https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...970042794#3970042794 I thought I had a couple of "Astra" barrels identified.

I finally got around to cleaning them and now I'm not so sure.

The top barrel pictured in my other post is not marked anywhere. I was hoping the markings were light and under the cosmoline. They were not.

The bottom barrel is marked 9MM & .38, I know that is an Astra barrel, I'm good there.

I'm back to trying to ID the top barrel.

It looks like an Astra barrel to me, but I'm not an Astra guy. The bore appears to be roughly .32 cal. A .32 ACP bullet compares well. However, it is chambered for a bottleneck cartridge.

I used a crayon to do a "chamber cast" and confirmed that it was indeed a bottleneck cartridge.

More pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/...04/shares/93rmD4v696

Just in front of the chamber, diameter is roughly .307". The shoulder is about .375". Kind of reminds me of 7.62 Tokarev or 7.63 Mauser or similar.

Any ideas on what the heck I have here?

Thanks.

.30 Luger?

Wiki says they made some Astra 400s in .30 Mauser.

Looked at this early this morning dug out my Astra Automatic Pistols book (excellent reference book by Antaris) and was stumped. Yes Astra made barrels chambered for the bottlenecked cartridges, but pics show flats near the muzzle end. Did not see in M1Garandy's pics. Looked throughout the book and still stumped. IMG_1167 by Tom C, on Flickr

quote:

Originally posted by Opus Dei:
.30 Luger?

Does not chamber.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Watson:
Wiki says they made some Astra 400s in .30 Mauser.

I see that too. Experimental apparently.

quote:

Originally posted by tjcj:
Looked at this early this morning dug out my Astra Automatic Pistols book (excellent reference book by Antaris) and was stumped. Yes Astra made barrels chambered for the bottlenecked cartridges, but pics show flats near the muzzle end. Did not see in M1Garandy's pics. Looked throughout the book and still stumped. IMG_1167 by Tom C, on Flickr

Most interesting. I wonder if my barrel was longer and has been shortened and recrowned? The crown on this barrel is totally different than my 9MM Largo barrel.

I also note the barrel profile is different in front of the chamber between the barrels in the book and my barrel.

Not an expert on Astra but do have enough experience with the 300 to know that this barrel is considerably too long for the 300. So that pistol can be ruled out.

This leaves the Astra 400, a rather early "military" model the bottleneck case and caliber estimate points to a 7.62 Mauser caliber, a distinctly powerful 30 caliber bottleneck round. BTW, per wiki that's a 86 grain bullet steaming along at 1450 fps. It was also the original caliber for the Mauser C96 which was picked up by the military in several countries leading up to and during WWI, so it's a logical choice for "military" pistol like the Astra 400. BTW, I don't believe that the 400 was ever adopted as a primary military arm, thus the asterick. I'll also note the 9mm Largo was a dodge around some country's bans on civilian use of "military" ammo and the 9mm Parabellum is definitely a Military caliber in many nations. Finally there is the matter of barrel length, the Astra 400 featured a 5.9 inch barrel length and your tape measure is showing nearly 6 1/4 inch. IMO the barrel you have is too long.

So lets sum it up. First the caliber is not one common to the Astra 400. I expect those 30 Mauser guns were samples for countries shopping for a new military handguns and all the rest were 9mm Largo. If you have a 30 mauser barrel it's very rare. Second, the barrel is too long for the Astra 400. The simple conclusion is that this is not for an Astra 400 or it is a one off custom barrel for the Astra 400. Yeah it can be a one off custom. However I just don't see that happening because the 400 is far from a match grade semi. Third, I don't see any grasping grooves on your barrel and these are common to all the Astra semis with a rear magazine. In summation I don't think this is an Astra barrel.

What it might be is a barrel for a cheap knockoff copy of the Astra 400. Yeah the Spanish copied a vast array of pistols from other countries but they also did knockoffs from Spanish pistols.

I'll also note that based on my 300 Astra was capable of exceptionally fine quality in their handguns at the higher end of manufacturers. My 300 has really well fitted slide and frame and barrel rattle is near zero. Were it not for that terrible trigger it would be capable of very good accuracy, probably much better than the original 1911.