Spanish Ruby Pistol W/ Capture Papers
 

You guys were so helpful with my hi power question, hopefully you can help me out here too!

I just picked up this 1914 Spanish Ruby pistol that I wanted to share with yall. I have been staring at this thing in a pawn shop for a month now. I hardly paid anything for it, but was fascinated with the capture papers with it. Does everything check out? I have never had capture papers before and I have no reason why anyone would fake capture papers for a .32 Ruby pistol.

My observations of the pistol so far are: 1. The wear holster has been carried in a pocket for a long time. The front magazine pocket is rather squished too. I do not think that one has been stored in there for a while. 2. The pistol is not french army accepted and looks to be a commercial type Beistegui Hermanos pistol. 3. The gentleman that signed the capture papers was a Lt. but I can not make out his name. Of course the shop had no other information.

Any information would be appreciated! I would be especially interested in knowing more about the holster.

Thanks!

The Ruby pistol is the Rodney Dangerfield of military pistols. In my opinion they can be just as interesting as anything else. Some serving in multiple wars. My understanding is not all of them received the 2 stars acceptance on the bottom of the frame by the grips along with some to have had what is known as the French rivet added to the slide to prevent taking the safety off when holstering. Yours appears to have neither of these, but I still suspect yours went into French service because of the faint BH in the oval on the left side of the pistol at that back of the frame. The magazines also had that on it so that the mags could be matched up to a particular maker of the Ruby do to the multiple makers making almost the same pistol but with differences enough to cause problems with interchanges. The holster I can't help you out with but it doesn't look French WW1. It could have been something paired up together to use in the time frame of WW2.

I honestly felt bad for the pistol sitting there. I had seen it a few times and figured it would look good with the rest of my collection. The capture papers will give me some fun trying to figure out the veterans name.

I collect for the history of the firearms and having NO idea where this pistol was facinates me.

Wouldnt the BH in circle just be a makers mark for Beistegui Hermanos?

I wish the holster had some type of stamp on it but I can not find a thing.

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?88044


This explains Ruby pistol questions.

Thank you for the link! I went ahead and posted over there.

Can anyone help me out on the names on the capture papers. I can not for the life of me figure out the gentleman's name.

He signed it twice so here are pictures of each....

Lt. George N? R? Burhar? Buyan?

We need a physician to translate!

You got further than me, I was thinking Ted or Leo but that is definitely a Geo.

The officer below him also signed first three letters then a period. (xxx.)

I wonder if I ask the shop where I got it if they had a last name of the person that brought it in if they could give me the info!

I would offer Bujay or Bujan.

Then try a Google on the options at hand. One might turn up something that relates the name to a World War era Lieutenant.

David

I've always been fascinated by the Spanish "Ruby" style pistols myself. The Eibar region of Spain was kind of like the "Khyber Pass" of its time, maybe better quality... :D

I looked at one 32 'Ruby' style blowback pistol similar to that one pictured above. It had strange grooves cut into the slide for gripping the slide to chamber a round...The grooves were square-cut (like a Channel-Lock pliers) and crescent shaped...I still can't quite figure out how they were cut in the slide...Seemed rather complex machining for what was probably a 'garage' shop... :confused:

Definitely "George W. Bryan" at least in my eyes... written hastily by a soldier who obviously hadn't had to write his signature very often... :) ...and was happy to have approval to get his souvenier to go home with him.

No luck with any searches on google. This may be a mystery forever. The form said it had to be made in duplicate, the original copy sitting in a file somewhere is probably much nicer.

Sheepherder, this little pistol is growing on me. It is so simple yet effective. I am impressed by the bolt stop/safety and how easy it is to disassemble. When I racked the slide for the first time the "flutes" on the barrel really jumped out. Quite cool!

Interesting thread. I have a similar pistol that my father brought back from France during WWII. I have the original paperwork stating that it and a Beretta are war trophies. The pistol I have is a long barrel Izarra (means Star, I believe, in the Basque language) and was made as near as I can determine between 1914 and 1918 for the French military. If I can successfully post a photo, you'll notice that there's a "button" that's been added to the slide just above the safety. The French military required it to prevent accidental movement of the safety when holstering the weapon. Since your gun doesn't have this button, odds are against it being a French military weapon. But who knows.

I see you've also posted on the Spanish Pistol Board so here's my thread on the same board: http://forums.gunboards.com/showthre...ghlight=izarra

I emailed the gentleman who has this site and he was very helpful with info on my pistol: http://www.carbinesforcollectors.com/starpage2.html

Good info here: http://www.star-firearms.com/firearms/guns/izarra/

And here: http://www.catalogacionarmas.com/public/parte3cap6.pdf

And here: http://www.forgottenweapons.com/othe...ns/eibar-ruby/

Here it is with the original grips:

Attachment 41468

And now with the grips my father made for it:

Attachment 41469

The slide rivet wasn't added until the 1920's when the pistols went through depot.

Martin, is that your mother's photo in the grip?:thumbup:

A knowledgeable expert in early Spanish firearms says that the button was required to be added before the pistols could be issued. And he confirmed the manufacture date as being somewhere between 1914 and 1918.

John: No, it's not. It'd be pretty cool if it was. However, it is a family member. I figure that my father didn't have a sweetheart or girlfriend when he joined and went to the European theater and that he used a photo of his kid sister instead. It's a photo of my aunt who was likely 15 or 16 in the photo. Still pretty neat.

Thanks for sharing! I am glad that there are other people who appreciate the history behind these captured Rubys as much as I do. I really like the extended barrel on yours. Makes it look really neat.

The more I handle the pistol the more it grows on me! I love looking at the capture papers too, so begins my quest for more pistols/rifles with papers!

If I don't space it out, I'll post a photo of the paperwork as well.

Here's a photo of the other pistol that's listed on the paperwork.

Attachment 41475

Thought I might add that the Izarra is a pretty decent shooter, all things considered. Though the last time I was at the range I had 2 or 3 failures to feed. And it shoots JHP just fine.

The Beretta is stone reliable.