Ruby 1914, 7,65 mm Browning (7,65x17 mmSR/.32 Auto)

Описание

Type: Semiautomatic pistol
Produced: 1915-1916(?)
Caliber: 7,65 mm Browning (7,65x17 mmSR/.32 Auto)
Action: Blowback
Trigger: Single action
Safety: Thumb lever (frame), slide lock
Magazine: 9 rounds, box single
Sights: Rear, open sight fixed, V notch; Front, ramp shape fixed
Grooves: 6 grooves, left-hand twist, one turn in 10.6" (270 mm)
Barrel length: 3.47" (88 mm)
Overall length: 6.1" (155 mm)
Muzzle energy: 129 ft-lb (95 J)
Muzzle velocity: 980 ft/s (298 m/s)

In 1914, just before the start of the WW I, Gabilondo started manufacture of a sturdy self-loading pistol based on the Browning Model 1903 and chambered for the 7,65 mm Browning/.32 Auto cartridge. Unusual for the time, the magazine capacity was nine shots instead of the usual six or seven. The pistol was intended for export to the Americas, and despite the small calibre it was designed with military and police sales in mind. Other Spanish manufacturers had copied the Browning since around 1905. The Ruby, apart from the extended magazine, appears to be a direct copy of a pistol called the "Victoria" made by Esperanza and Unceta. It used features patented by Don Pedro Careaga Garagarza (1884-1964) in 1911 and by the Esperanza and Unceta company in 1912. These patents may have covered the frame-mounted safety (instead of a grip safety), and an internal striker (instead of a hammer).
In 1915 Gabilondo sent examples of the pistols to the French government, who were hard-pressed for all sorts of small-arms, even in this early stage of the war. After testing was completed in May 1915, the French decided to accept the Ruby as the "Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimètre 65 genre "Ruby" and contracted Gabilondo to produce 10,000 pistols a month. By August the target had been raised to 30,000 and later still an incredible 50,000 a month. Despite its size, the company could barely cope with the initial contract and arranged for four partners to manufacture the Ruby for them.
The contract stipulated that each company would produce a minimum of 5,000 pistols per month. Gabilondo would produce 10,000 guns, carry out overall quality control and arrange delivery to the French authorities in Bayonne. As the number of pistols required increased, the company agreed to purchase any pistols in excess of the agreed number at the same contracted price. As demand increased Gabilondo recruited another three partners to help manufacture the Ruby. Estimates of Gabilondo Ruby production are between 250,000 and 300,000 pistols in total. While most Gabilondo contract pistols were of good quality, others were less well made.
After WW I, France sold the Ruby surplus to several European countries such as Finland (10,000 units, a.k.a. 7.65 PIST-19) or former Yugoslavia (5,000 units, a. k. a. UTZ/1933).
The Ruby pistol was used, after WW II, in French military campaigns in Syria and North Africa, and also in wars such as those in Indochina and Algeria and were even used by Vietcong and North Vietnam soldiers during the Vietnam War.
This model was alegedlly used by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, a royalist member of the French resistance during WW II, who assassinated Admiral of the Fleet François Darlan, the former chief of government of Vichy, France, and the high commissioner of French North Africa and West Africa, on 24 December 1942.
A. k. a. Pistola eibarresa.

Credits:
Author's knowledge;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_pistol

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