Spanish Ruby Pistol

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 11/4/2019 | R Reed

[w1n1]

Although the Ruby pistol became a procurement nightmare, it nevertheless armed French troops and scores of others throughout World War I and beyond.
The Spanish "Ruby" pistol is the result of France’s desperate need for arms in the early days of the Great War. By 1915, much of the French industrial heartland was under German control, and what remained under allied control was producing critically needed material such as rifles, machine guns, and artillery. As the conflict grew beyond even the most pessimistic expectations, the sheer volume of troops sent into battle literally exhausted the meager stores of small arms. To meet this rising demand for pistols for the trenches, the French contracted with the Spanish firm of Gabilondo y Urresti-Eibar for their Ruby semiauto pistol.

The Ruby made use of a prewar design largely copied (without license) from the Browning Model 1903. Among the changes are the deletion of the grip safety and a relocation of the manual safety closer to the trigger guard. The resulting Ruby is a direct blowback pistol chambered in 7.65 (.32 ACP). The pistol features an internal hammer and a frame-mounted safety that goes down for “FIRE.” The original magazine capacity was nine rounds.

ALTHOUGH I'VE NEVER OWNED a Ruby pistol, I’ve had several opportunities to fire them. Their best attribute is their simplicity. Unlike other pistols from the same time frame they are a “modern” design with a one-piece slide and breechblock and what we would consider conventional controls. The safety lever is relatively easy to use, as is the European-style heel mag release. The pistol does not have a slide stop/slide release. On some examples I have seen, a rivet was installed to keep the safety from moving to the "safe" position. My understanding is that this is a post WWI French military modification.

Surprisingly (based on reputation alone), the pistol fired 100 percent of the time, with no misfires, failures to feed, or failures to eject. This is not always the case with these little pistols as, in addition to their hurried manufacture, they have by now seen an additional 100 years of often hard use. Obviously, it is important to have a qualified gunsmith check out any Ruby-type pistol before attempting to fire it. Read the rest of this Spanish Ruby pistol.

[real saxophonist]

largely copied (without license)

Sorta like what 'AM Shooting Journal' does.

http://youwillshootyoureyeout.com/a-good-article-about-the-ruby-pistol/

[Artemis Webb]

It’s ugly.
Just sayin’.

[gundog]

Grip angle needs work.

[Parley Baer]

I can say that I actually own one. I inherited it.

[chuckles]

With the price of personal carry pistols today, why buy this POS for even $200? There are many choices for under $300 that are larger caliber with more quality. The only reason to have one is for collectors.

[Paal Gulli]

"Sorta like what 'AM Shooting Journal' does."

I don't understand why W1N1 is allowed to continue posting this pap here when clearly he/she/they/it is doing nothing but advertise for the Am Shooting Urinal, which in my humble but unerringly accurate opinion is the most worthless gun blog in existence.

Plus ASJ are plagiarists and habitually run what in essence is click-bait, headlines followed by nothing other than a link to the real story on another website.

[Antoninus II]

I own several. One with French armory acceptance marks. Another with Kanji on the slide.