Astra, Unceta y Cía

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Astra Unceta Y Compañia SA was a factory producing pistols in Gernika .

Company history

The pistol manufacturer was founded on July 17, 1908 under the name Esperanza y Unceta by Juan Esperanza and Pedro Unceta in the Basque center of arms production in Eibar . In 1913 the factory was relocated to a new building in Gernika in order to continue the production of the Campo-Giro from 1912 there.

Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War , ASTRA workers were on the side of the republic, while the owner Pedro Unceta sympathized with the coup plotters. Pedro Unceta did not like the government that was elected in the Basque Country in 1936, which is why he fled to join the putschists. On April 26, 1937, Guernica was bombed by the Condor Legion and the Italian Legion . A few days later, the putschists occupied Guernika and with them Pedro Unceta moved back into his company and started production for the putschists. The republic produced Astra models in two plants in the south. One was from July 1937 the Fábrica Nº 290 of the Industrias de Guerra de Cataluña in Terrassa , where 8,000 copies of the Astra M400 called el puro the cigar, which was later renamed F. Ascaso after Francisco Ascaso , were made. The Astra 900 produced there bear the CNT mark . Another replica of the Astra M400 was made 15,000 times by the Subsecretaría de Armamentos del Ministerio de la Guerra south of Valencia in Alginet from January 1938 to 1939. There the symbol RE was for República Española .

Augusto Unceta-Barrenechea

Augusto Guillermo Unceta Barrenechea, the owner and manager of Unceta y Compañia , was shot dead on October 8, 1977 by an ETA commando along with two bodyguards from the Civil Guard .

bankruptcy

On May 27, 1997, at the same time as the company STAR, Bonifacio Echeverría was declared bankrupt and the company closed. Essential weapon parts such as barrels or pistol frames were scrapped, and spare parts were retained. A successor company under the name ASTAR continued the tradition of both companies.

Model history

Campo-Giro

In 1913 the factory was relocated to a new building in Gernika in order to continue the production of the Campo-Giro from 1912 there. The Spanish army accepted 13,178 copies of different vintage variants up to and including 1913–1916. The 1913 model was mainly sold in the private market. This weapon was used in the Spanish Civil War.

Astra 700 - Ruby

During World War I , the company delivered 150,000 Gabilondo Ruby , a replica of Gabilondo y Urresti, to the French and Italian armies. Initially, the company called the pistol Victoria or Model 100, the magazine held nine .32 ACP and there was a model with a caliber of 6.35 mm. After the First World War, 4,000 model 700 pistols were sold. The weapon, which resembled the Ruby , had a reputation for being precise and solid.

Astra 300

After a tender by the Spanish army for a successor weapon of the Campo-Giro 1920. Astra Unceta brought the Astra 200 and Astra 300 onto the market with its STAR competitor , Bonifacio Echeverría . The Astra 300 caliber 9 mm was produced from 1920 to 1967.

Astra 200 FN model 1906

The model 200, a replica of the FN model 1906 , was produced 234,105 times in various versions up to 1967. Production was stopped due to product liability .

Unceta y Compañia

In 1926, Juan Esperanza left the company and founded the defense company Esperanza y Compañía (ECIA) in Markina. The handgun manufacturer in Gernika was now called Unceta y Compañia . In 1927 Unceta received an order from the Spanish army to modernize its armament.

Astra - Mauser

Unceta was a licensee of the Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken AG for the Astra 900, the Astra 300, the Astra 400 and their short form the Astra 600. Unceta supplied the so-called Mauser or Solothurn as part of the Sino-German cooperation to China and Latin America . In 1931 the Astra China Company was founded in Shanghai. The Astra 900 was manufactured from 1928 to 1936 . The Astra 600 was manufactured from 1942 to 1948 , but was no longer delivered from 1944, but only after May 6, 1945. 29,000 model 600/43 pistols were delivered to police in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1951. The largest part went to the Federal Border Police

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ El País 09/10/1977 Unceta-Barrenechea fue alcalde de Guernica
  2. ↑ Company history Star / Astra (accessed October 17, 2009)
  3. ↑ Bernardo Estornés Lasa - Auñamendi Entziklopedia ASTRA-UNCETA Y COMPAÑÍA
  4. ↑ Reinhard Scholzen : The checkered history of a Spanish pistol in the German Federal Border Guard. In: Police today 4/5, 2012, pp. 121–128.

Web links

Commons : Astra-Unceta SA  - Collection of images, videos and audio files