Working The Astra 400/1921

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In 1920, the Spanish government began trials for evaluation of anew pistol for its army to replace the 1913-1916 Campo-Giro. Two entries were considered: a Star pistol, essentially a 1911 Colt clone made by Bonifacio Echeverria and Co. of Eibar, and the Astra Model 400, a commercial handgun made by the firm Esperanza y Unceta y Cia. (Esperanza and Unceta & Co.) of Guernica, both in the Basque region in northern Spain.

The testing was performed in late 1920 and early 1921 and the Astra Model 400, designed by Pedro Careaga, was officially adopted as the Pistola de 9 millimetros modelo 1921 (9 mm Pistol Model 1921). Its commercial model number is 400, and I’ll use both designations in this article. The Astra 400/1921 has been considered an upgrade of the 1913- 1916 Campo-Giro pistol originally designed by Colonel Don Venancio López de Ceballos y Aguirre, the Count Campo-Giro.

It was a large blow-back action handgun chambered for the 9mm x 23mm Bergman- Bayard cartridge, called 9mm Largo by the Spanish. The Campo-Giro was also manufactured by Esperanza y Unceta y Cia., which perhaps gave them the inside track on the competition for the new Spanish pistol. About 130,000 Astra 400/1921 pistols were made from 1920-1950. It’s a heavy pistol and noteworthy because it is blowback operated instead of locked breach as was the case with so many of its contemporaries.

Regardless, the Astra 400/1921 was a very successful handgun, having been adopted by the Spanish Army, Carabineros (Customs and Border police), Navy, Air Force, and other organizations. Senor Esperanza left the business in 1926, after which it was renamed Unceta Y Cia and later Astra-Unceta & Cia.

During the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s, Astra 400/1921 pistols were supplied to left wing Republican forces who occupied the region around Guernica, to the Basque independent region of Euskadi in which was located the Astra plant, and later were produced for right wing Nationalist forces after they captured Guernica.

The Republican government made about 23,000 copies of the Astra 400/1921 in two factories in eastern Spain, one in Terrassa just northwest of Barcelona, and in a converted textile plant in Valencia. The 8,000-some Terrassa pistols were marked "F. Ascaso" in honor of Francisco Ascaso, a Republican hero of the Civil War. The 15,000 Valencia-made copies were marked An empty 450 Marlin brass case serves the purpose here.

Be sure to apply considerable counterforce to control the extremely strong recoil spring to prevent its launch. "RE" for Republica Española (Spanish Republic). These are uncommon, as are Carabineros, Naval, and Air Force marked examples. Following the Civil War, Astra continued to make 400/1921 pistols for Francisco Franco’s victorious Nationalist dictatorship government, and 6,000 of them for Nazi Germany.

Astra continued commercial production until 1950, four year after the Star Model A became the official Spanish armed forces handgun and the Model 1921 was relegated to surplus/substitute standard status. A total of around 106,175 Astra 400/1921 pistols were made, with an additional 23,000 or so Republican "F. Ascaso" and "RE" copies. The Spanish military inventories of the Model 1921 were sold to civilian wholesalers between 1956 and 1965, and again sporadically in the late 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.

The largest quantity of these were purchased by the famous Sam Cummings of International Armament Co. (later Interarmco and Interarms) in the mid to late 1960s. Sam Cummings is a story unto himself. It has long been claimed that one of the unique characteristics of the Astra 400/1921 pistol was its alleged

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25" and engage the safety catch in the rearmost notch hidden in the slide. This is the configuration necessary for removal of the barrel from the frame and slide. ability to chamber and fire a variety of cartridges other than the 9mm Largo. Three generations of gun writers have perpetuated this myth, which Sam Cummings initiated in advertising the Model 400/1921 pistols in the 1960s when 9mm Largo ammunition was next to impossible to find in the United States.

Interarmco ads stated that the Astra 400 was designed with a flexible "accommodating" chamber which could accept not only the 9mm Largo, but also the 38 Automatic (38 ACP, predecessor to Rotating the barrel disengages the barrel lugs from mating lugs in the frame.

The Astra 400/1921 is a blowback action pistol, and in the fully assembled configuration the barrel is fixed to the frame by the lugs. the 38 Super), the 38 Super, and 9mm Parabellum (9×19), as well as 9mm Bergman-Bayard (same as the 9mm Largo), and the 9mm Steyer. A. F. Stoeger imported several hundred Astra 400s in the 1950s, and they had the Unceta factory stamp "Super Power .38" on the left side of the slide at the rear.

Still chambered for 9mm Largo, but was the "Super" and "38" stampings intended to make a subliminal message to the owner/ buyer? Personally, I don’t think it was a coincidence. This was pre-GCA 1968 time and Astra 400/1921 pistols could be mail ordered directly at prices ranging from just over $10 to just under $20. American shooters and collectors took Cumming’s outrageous marketing claim as gospel and fired 38 Auto (ACP), 38 Super, and 9×19 in their Astras with mixed results.

Feed and firing issues with the 9×19 were common because the 9×19 case was 4mm shorter than the 9mm Largo case, which headspaced on the case mouth. That the 9×19 fired at all was a function of the Astra’s beefy extractor and its ability to hold the 9×19 case against the breech face which enabled the Astra’s firing pin to set off those cartridges. Grasp the serrations and rotate the barrel counterclockwise as far as it will go, a bit more than 90 degrees.

The slide and barrel can now be withdrawn forward off of the frame. References show that the 9x19mm standard round’s pressure is higher than that of the 9mm Largo, but the real danger is from the 38 Super and its considerably higher pressure. Even worse is the Winchester 9×23. The 38 Super case was the same length and very similar in other critical dimensions to the 9mm Largo such that it would usually chamber in the Astra 400/1921 pistols.

Repeated use of 38 Super, 9×19, and later 9×23 Winchester, 38 Super +P, and 9×19 +P ammunition led to instances of cracking of the slides of Astra pistols so abused. These cracks were manifested at the front and rear of the tubular slide, at or near the safety engagement notches on the left side of the frame, and the forward lower corner of the ejection port on the right side. Some slides were seen to crack almost in half at or near the ejection port.

The "flexible chamber" and the capability to fire different cartridges was pure marketing hogwash. Unfortunately, the story got told and retold; there is an American Rifleman short blurb online from 2006 in which an AR "expert" listed all the cartridges the Astra 400/1921 can allegedly fire, and as of this writing in 2022, the Wikipedia listing for the Astra 400 states "…A powerful pistol, original 9mm Largo Spanish military loads were on a par with 38 Super factory loads." Not true; not even close.

To illustrate the fallacy of the "flexible chamber," I like to draw From the top, barrel bushing lock, barrel bushing, recoil spring, slide (underside shown), barrel, and frame.

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The Astra 400/1921 employs four such L-pins for ease of take down. the comparison with the concept of firing 40 S&W cartridges in a semiautomatic pistol chambered for the 10mm round. Who would do that? To my knowledge, no one has advocated such a practice.

Unfortunately, it’s the same as loading a 9×19 cartridge in a pistol chambered for the 9mm Largo, and there are some current-day gun writers, particularly younger ones who contribute to Interwebz sites, who keep repeating the Astra 400/1921 multi-cartridge chamber legend. The take away: The Astra 400/1921 is chambered for the 9mm Largo, period. Advise your customers, gun club mates, and range acquaintances to NEVER shoot any ammunition in an Astra 400/1921 other than 9mm Largo.

The legend was just marketing When assembled, the firing pin is inserted into the firing pin spring. hype by an arms merchant who had thousands of pistols for sale with no ammunition. And we all know how hard it is to sell a firearm for which no ammunition is readily available. Disassembly Moving on to the subject pistol and its take down, first remove the magazine and rack the slide to ensure that the pistol is not loaded and no cartridge is chambered.

Next, take a rigid nonmarring tool and push in on the thin circular collar of the barrel bushing surrounding the barrel and protruding past the knurled barrel bushing lock. With the barrel bushing pushed in, rotate the knurled barrel bushing lock 90 degrees in either direction to align its lugs with slots in the slide.

Note, the recoil spring is extremely forceful in the Astra; make sure you apply sufficient counter force to restrain the spring, barrel bushing, and knurled bushing lock as you allow the recoil spring to decompress. Set aside the barrel bushing lock, barrel bushing, and recoil spring. Retract the slide such that the rear end of the frame is approximately in line with the flared bosses at the rear of the slide grasping grooves and engage the safety lever into the rear of two slots in the slide.

This positions the slide and barrel for removal of the barrel. To do so, rotate the barrel clockwise a bit more than 90 degrees to disengage the barrel lugs with mating lugs in the frame, and "park" the barrel’s lugs into a mating recess in the slide, which allows removal of the slide and barrel from the frame off to the front. The Astra shares this lugged, fixed barrel design with that of the M1903 Colt and other pistols which prolifically copied that feature, including the Spanish "Ruby" pistols.

The slide is disassembled by removing two L-headed pins found in a groove in the right side of the slide behind the ejection port. The shorter front L-pin acts as a pivot for the extractor, and the rear, longer L-pin retains the firing pin extension, firing pin, and firing pin spring. These pins are readily lifted out of the groove by prying with a jeweler’s screwdriver or some other suitablysized tool.

Be sure to restrain the extractor and firing pin extension when removing the respective Lpins because both are under compressed spring force and you want to avoid an inadvertent launch. To disassemble the frame, first remove the grip panel screws and grip 2 pencil points to the firing pin which has been inserted into the hole slightly beneath the trigger bar following compression of the hammer spring with an awl or other tool.

The firing pin keeps the hammer plunger and hammer spring compressed and removes force from the hammer strut, allowing the hammer pin and hammer to be removed. The hammer is shown in the forward position, ready for its axis pin to be pushed out.

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The hammer is loose, because the hammer spring force is restrained by the firing pin that was inserted in the takedown hole beneath the rear of the trigger bar. panels. I recommend that the hammer be removed next, because that entails unloading the powerful hammer spring and lowering the frame’s state of potential energy. To do so, move the hammer to its forward, uncocked position by reinserting the magazine to move the magazine safety lever out of the magazine well and allow the trigger to be pulled.

Restrain the hammer when doing this so that it does not snap forward against the frame crossmember. Once the hammer is forward, select a punch or awl and apply counter force to the cupped hammer plunger which acts as the seat for the hammer strut. I find an awl with its rounded handle is convenient. With the bottom of the frame against the bench, continue to apply force to the hammer plunger until the firing pin or another small punch can be inserted in the takedown hole in the side of the frame.

Withdrawing force on the awl will allow the hammer plunger to rest against the firing pin or other tool, removing any force from the hammer. Take a punch and drive the hammer axis pin out the right side of the frame. The right end of the hammer pin is headed and retains the loop in the rear end of the wireform slide stop spring. With the hammer pin partially out of the frame, the slide stop spring can be removed using a small needle-nosed pliers and set aside in the parts tray.

Push the polished in-the-white slide stop on the right side up through the top of the frame and set it aside too. Finish pushing out the hammer axis pin and then remove the hammer and its attached strut.

Take up the awl or punch again, apply counter force to the hammer plunger so that the firing pin or other The loop on the slide stop spring rests under the head of the hammer axis pin, and the straight end of the spring projects into a hole in the slide stop. tool can be removed from the take down hole, then carefully ease off the awl and allow the hammer spring to extend fully. Use a small screwdriver to lift the hammer spring and hammer plunger at the top, and magazine catch plunger at the bottom.

Another L-headed pin is located behind the trigger and beneath the trigger bar and retains the magazine safety. This pin has along L-shaped head, and the L-pin on which the trigger pivots has the same body diameter but a shorter length "L" head. It helps to start these pins out with a small diameter punch and a couple light taps from the right side, and then a small screwdriver or needlenose to lever them out from the left side.

Once the magazine safety L-pin is removed, take care to lift out the magazine safety lever and its coil spring beneath. The rotating pistol safety catch is removed next by ensuring it is in the disengaged position and by pushing on the "button" end on the right side with a brass punch. There is a detent plunger and spring in the frame that serve to retain the safety catch, so plunger. Remove the firing pin (projecting out at right) using the same or similar tool.

Slowly ease up on the punch to decompress the hammer spring.. Those components in this particular Astra 400/1921 needed such persuasion because of years of accumulated schmutz that effectively retained them in their recess in the frame.

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This pin has along "L" and is shown beneath the trigger guard. None of these pins are identical, so it is recommended that they be kept with their respective parts groups. you need to overcome the force of the detent plunger in the mating recess in the safety catch. Use caution when pushing out the safety, because the punch will retain the detent plunger and spring as long as it remains in the frame.

Withdraw the punch carefully and place a finger over the hole in the top of the frame at the right rear corner of the lugged area to prevent a parts launch. Note that none of the four L-headed retaining pins in an Astra 400 are identical, so it is recommended that they be kept with their respective parts groups.

If they get mixed up It is removed using a small slotted screwdriver or other appropriate prying tool. you can sort it out eventually—but ain’t nobody got time for that, and time is money, to load up the paragraph with metaphors. With the safety catch removed, the last of the four L-pins can be removed, this one being the trigger axis pin. As with the magazine safety lever retaining pin, start the trigger axis pin out as mentioned above, then use a screwdriver or pliers to lift it out the rest of the way.

The trigger is connected to the trigger bar by a peened-over pin and the joint contains a torsion spring; disassembly is not recommended unless absolutely required. To remove the trigger and trigger bar assembly, you must rotate the top of the trigger forward against the torsion spring force in order for the trigger itself to pass through the window in the frame and into the magazine well.

Use of a small screwdriver through the top of the window in the front of the magazine well allows force to be applied to the top of the trigger to rotate it forward. In addition, the rear end of the trigger bar needs to be sprung slightly out of the shallow recess in which it rests with the pistol assembled.

With the trigger tilted forward at the top, carefully Use a small screwdriver to lever the spring and plunger out the hole in the right rear of the frame lug area. guide the trigger and bar assembly to the rear and out of the frame. To remove the magazine catch and grip safety, take a small diameter punch and hammer, and with the grip frame on a bench block locate the small diameter pin on the left side of the frame beneath the lanyard loop.

The punch will not align straight with the pin because the lanyard loop interferes, but you need only tap the pin out maybe 1/8" of an inch because the right side of the pin is headed and can be pried with a screwdriver, or grasped with nonmarring pliers and removed. With the small pin removed, next press out the larger diameter pin directly above it. The grip safety has a flat spring and may pop out of the frame along with the magazine catch, so it’s best to control them as the larger pin comes out.

Reassembly Tips The trigger / trigger bar assembly is reinstalled in the same manner as which is was removed; the top of the trigger must be tilted forward against trigger bar spring force to be guided through the "window" in the frame, and the trigger bar must be kept relatively level, that is, extending straight back until its tail snaps into its recess in the frame. Use a small diameter punch as shown to start the magazine catch pin out to the right.

The magazine catch pin is headed and is readily pried out from the right.

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The grip safety has a captured leaf spring on its inner side and will fly across the bench unless restrained. The magazine catch fits into a mating slot in the bottom of the grip safety. Once the grip safety is removed, the sear and sear spring can be removed forward and out through the grip windows.

For reinsertion of the trigger axis pin, which is the small diameter Lpin with the short "L", use a small screwdriver as a lever through the trigger "window" in the front wall of the magazine well to get the trigger axis hole aligned with the hole in the frame, then insert the L-headed pin. The "L" section fills the recess in the frame for the pin head, and the head stops at the round bore for the safety lever shaft.

The sear and sear spring must be back in the frame before the grip safety and magazine catch are reinstalled. The sear and sear spring are The cracks can appear on either side of the slide; the crack at the forward end of the ejection port manifests in the left side of the frame in the safety notch. reinserted through either the left or right grip window in the frame. It may help to use small needle-nosed pliers or tweezers to guide the sear into place.

A dab of light grease such as Weapon Shield or RIG on the sear will reduce friction and smooth the trigger pull a bit. The short spring-loaded hinged fork at the top of the grip safety mates into the rear underside of the sear with a "snap." Then swing the grip safety into the frame, and insert the upper end of the magazine catch into the lower end of the grip safety. Install the upper, larger diameter pin first, then drive in the lower, smallerdiameter headed pin and tap it flush with a soft-faced hammer.

When installing the magazine safety behind the trigger, use a small punch to push the magazine safety down against its spring force so that its cross hole aligns with that in the frame, and install the other small-diameter L-pin, this one with the long "L" head that fills the rectangular recess in the frame.

After oiling the magazine catch plunger, hammer spring, and hammer plunger, reinsert them into the bore in the back of the frame, and use the small punch to apply coun- The trigger must be tilted forward to pass though the slot in the frame. The assembly is shown here being reinstalled in the frame, but removal is the same. ter force to the hammer spring such that the hammer plunger travels below the takedown hole in the frame.

Insert the firing pin or similar smalldiameter punch or tool to restrain the hammer spring components for re-installation of the hammer. After the hammer strut is in place in the hammer plunger cup, adjust hammer position so that the headed hammer axis pin can be inserted from the right. Just start the hammer axis pin into the hammer, then insert the slide stop in place from the top of the frame, and take the slide stop spring and insert its front end into the hole in the rear edge of the slide stop.

Slip the slide stop spring loop under the hammer pin head, and around the hammer pin body and align the short end of the slide stop spring with its hole in the right side of the frame. With the slide stop spring seated in place, then tap the hammer axis pin fully into the frame. The pin’s head captures the slide stop spring, and the right grip panel captures the hammer axis pin. Screw on the grips; this completes the frame sub-assembly.

To reassemble the slide, the shorter of the two L-pins retains The only two cartridges shown here for which the Astra 400/1921 is chambered are the two left-most: 9mm Largo and 9mm Bergman-Bayard. Do NOT use any ammunition other than 9mm Largo or 9mm Bergman-Bayard in the Astra 400/1921.

Astra 400 (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 1 Recoil Spring 2 Barrel 3 Extractor 4 Extractor Spring 5 Firing Pin Retainer Pin 6 Right Grip 7 Barrel Bushing Lock 8 Barrel Bushing 9 Slide 10 Safety Catch the extractor and its spring, with the "L" head pointing forward. Place the firing pin spring onto the forward end of the firing pin and insert them into the firing pin channel in the slide. The firing pin extension follows; make sure the notched end is inserted first.

Use a small needle-nosed pliers to rotate the firing pin extension so that the notch aligns with the hole for the longer L-headed pin. Once aligned, the pin is readily inserted into the frame.

The barrel is reinserted into the slide, and the lugged area is rotated 21 Hammer and Strut 22 Sear 23 Sear Spring 24 Extractor Pin 25 Trigger Pin 26 Trigger and Trigger Bar 27 Magazine Safety Pin 28 Magazine Safety Spring 29 Magazine Safety 30 Frame 11 Safety Detent 12 Safety Spring 13 Firing Pin Spring 14 Slide Stop 15 Slide Stop Spring 16 Firing Pin 17 Firing Pin Extension 18 Hammer Pin 19 Hammer Plunger 20 Hammer Spring 31 Left Grip 32 Grip Screws (4) 33 Grip Safety Pin 34 Magazine Catch Stop 35 Magazine Catch Pgr. 36 Magazine Grip Spring 37 Grip Safety 38 Magazine into the recess in the top of the slide to allow the barrel/slide assembly to be slid back on the frame rails.

Use this time to apply a few drops of gun oil or light grease to the frame rails. When installing the barrel/slide assembly to the frame, some wiggling of the barrel may be necessary for the barrel hood to line up and clear the lugged area of the frame, on which the edge of the chamber usually catches. Once the barrel lines up just right, the barrel/slide travel back another half inch or so and the chamber area covers the frame lugs when observed through the ejection port in the slide.

At this point, rotate the barrel so that the two sets of lugs mate and the feed ramp is at the 6 o’clock position. Lock the slide in place using the safety in the rear-most recess, with the rear end of the frame in line with the bosses at the rear end of the slide’s grasping grooves. Then insert the recoil spring into the slide around the barrel until seated, and place the barrel bushing and knurled barrel bushing lock on the forward end of the spring with the their lugs at 3 and 9 o’clock.

Apply counter force to the parts until the barrel bushing and its knurled lock are in the front of the slide, and spin the knurled lock 90 degrees, feeling for the "click" as the recoil spring pushes the knurled lock’s lugs forward against their mating recesses in the slide. Thousands of Astra 400/1921 pistols have been imported to the USA from the 1950s to the 2010s.

I have had three of them on my bench in as many years, mostly just giving them a once-over for new owners, and one came in the proverbial "box of parts" and needed reassembly. They may be heavy, ungainly, fire a somewhat unusual cartridge, and require a higher than usual effort to retract the slide. However, the 400/1921 also tends to be comparatively accurate when the bore and muzzle are in excellent condition, on account of the fixed barrel.

The pistol is robust and can provide years and thousands of rounds of service if only 9mm Largo ammunition is used. Reloading the 9mm Largo is simple, because 9×19 bullets can be used and new brass is available from Starline. For US firearms enthusiasts, the Astra 400/1921 meant an opportunity to own another piece of history from the turbulent 20th century, and at time of importation even in the 2010s, a low-cost opportunity.

With thousands in collections since the 1950s and still in secondary market circulation, you now have the information with which to work on them. AG