OBREGON (MEXICO)
Fabrica de Armas Mexicanos of Mexico City made the 1934-patent Obregon pistol between 1934 and 1938. It resembles the Colt ·45 M1911A1 at first glance, with the same general outline, hammer, and grip safety, but an unusually long combination slide latch/safety catch lies on the left side of the frame and the front half of the slide has a tubular appearance. The magazine differs slightly from the
Colt design; some Obregons can even be found with a safety which locks the hammer when the magazine is removed.
The reason for the tubular slide becomes apparent once the gun is
dismantled: instead of relying on the familiar Browning swinging link, the breech is locked by rotating the barrel—reminiscent of the Savage or Steyr. The barrel is located in the frame by cams riding in helical tracks, while a third lug engages in an angular slot in the slide. Recoil of the slide is resisted by this third lug until the rearward movement, transmitted through the helical cams, has revolved the barrel about 20° and aligned the locking cam a longitudinal slot. The slide is thus free to move back and open the breech. Delay is added to the system by torque created by the bullet engaging the rifling grooves, which opposes and thereby slows barrel rotation.
It is generally accepted that less than a thousand good-quality Obregon pistols was made. Although encouraged by the Mexican government, it was not adopted for military service and the pistols were all sold commercially.
Obregon: Maker: Fabrica de Armas Mexicanos, Mexico City. Type: automatic pistol (recoil operated). Chambering: ·45 ACP. Length overall: 8·50in/216mm. Weight, unladen:40·0oz/l.135gm. Barrel: 5·00in/127mm, rifled. Magazine: seven-round detachable box.
OCULTO (SPAIN)
This name was used on double-action hinged-frame ·32 and ·38 revolvers, copied from the Smith & Wesson New Departure pattern by Orueta Hermanos of Eibar in the 1920s.
Oculto: Maker: Orueta Hermanos, Eibar. Type: hinged-frame revolver. Calibre: ·38. Length overall: 7·48in/190mm. Weight, unladen:
18·2oz/515gm. Barrel: 3·23in/82mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
OJANGUREN Y MARCAIDO (SPAIN)
Trading in Eibar from the 1890s onward, records of this company are few, but it appears to have been formed to make Velo-Dog revolvers. This continued into the period of the First World War, when the company turned to modern designs based on contemporaneous Smith & Wesson's.
Ojanguren y Marcaido disappeared about 1930, victims of the economic climate.
Brow: This pseudo-hammerless solid-frame five-shot Velo-Dog revolver was usually offered with a folding trigger, though some will be found with a conventional trigger and guard. Gate-loaded, and with a rod ejector, it was introduced between 1905 and 1910 in 6·35mm Auto, 7·65mm Auto and other chamberings, bearing the calibre mark on the barrel and an encircled 'OM' monogram on the frame.
Cilindro Ladeable: A revolver made in the 1920s, copied from the Smith & Wesson Military & Police model, this can be identified by CAL ·32 LARGO on the barrel and the 'OM' monogram on the grips. The left side of the frame also carries a monogram, surrounded by TRADE MARK, a near-copy of the contemporary Smith & Wesson marking.
Cilindro Ladeable: Maker: Ojanguren y Marcaido, Eibar. Type: solid-frame revolver. Chambering: ·32 S&W Long. Length overall:
9·84in/250mm. Weight, unladen: unknown. Barrel: 6·00in/152mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
El Blanco: This designation applies to two revolvers dating from the 1920s. The ·22 rimfire six-shot Modelo El Blanco had a solid frame and a side-opening cylinder adapted from the Colt Police Positive. El Blanco Modelo de Tiro (·22 or ·32) was similar but larger, and had adjustable sights for target shooting.
El Blanco: Maker: Ojanguren y Marcaido, Eibar. Type: solid-frame revolver. Chambering: ·22 LR rimfire. Length overall:
10·63in/270mm. Weight, unladen: unknown. Barrel: 6·00in/152mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
OM: Revolvers with this title were made during and after the First World War. Copied from the S&W Military & Police model, they differed only in chamberings—from ·22 LR to ·38 Special. All are marked with the 'OM' monogram on the frame.
Puppy: This is simply a six-shot ·22 Short rimfire version of the Brow pattern described above.
Velo-Mith: This name was used by several Spanish makers to identify a six-shot hinged-frame advance on the Velo-Dog design. The general appearance—pseudo-hammerless, with a folding trigger—follows the Velo-Dog type, but the barrel is usually flattened and reinforced to resemble the fore-end of an automatic pistol. The hinged frame has a top latch locked by a thumb-piece above the hammer shroud, and automatic ejection is customary. Ojanguren y Marcaido produced Velo-Mith revolvers in 6mm, 6·35mm, 7·65mm and ·380.
Velo-Mith: Maker: Ojanguren y Marcaido, Eibar. Type: solid-frame revolver. Chambering: 6·35mm Auto. Length overall:
6·02in/153mm. Weight, unladen: unknown. Barrel: 1·77in/45mm, rifled. Magazine: five-chamber cylinder.
OJANGUREN Y VIDOSA (SPAIN)
The relationship between this Eibar-based company and Ojanguren y Marcaido has not been discovered; evidence suggests that it began as a separate entity, producing automatic pistols, and then absorbed the remains of Ojanguren y Marcaido about 1930. O&V revolvers are virtually identical to O&M models, the points of similarity in small details being beyond coincidence and arguing production on the same machinery. The company disappeared, with many others, during the Spanish Civil War.
Apache: This was the usual 6·35mm Eibar-pattern blowback, dating from the early 1920s. The grips bear a motif of a head wearing a beret, obviously an allusion to the Parisian 'Apache' gangs. See remarks under Crucero, below.
Apache: Maker: Ojanguren y Vidosa, Eibar. Type: automatic pistol (blowback).
Chambering: 6·35mm Auto. Length overall: 4·41in/112mm. Weight, unladen:
13·6oz/385gm. Barrel: 2·13in/54mm, rifled. Magazine: seven-round detachable box.
Fabrica de Armas Mexicanos: Obregon.
Ojanguren y Vidosa:
7·65mm Crucero.
Crucero: This name covers a revolver and a blowback automatic. The revolver is identical with the Apache, made by Fabrica de Armas Garantizada and sold through Ojanguren y Vidosa; it is almost certainly the same weapon under a sales name. The automatic pistol is an enlarged Salvaje, an Eibar type in 7·65mm calibre. The slide is marked PISTOLA AUTOMATICA CRUCERO EIBAR (GUIPUZCOA) ESPANA MARCA
REGISTRADA JUNIO 1917, while the grips carry a ship motif and the 'OV monogram.
Furia: This is a better-than-average Eibar-pattern 7·65mm blowback pistol bearing the slide marking PLSTOLET AUTOMATIQUE FRANCAISE FABRIQUE A ST ETIENNE (ACIER GARANTI) and FURIA embossed in the top of the grips.
Claims to French origin are placed under suspicion by the appearance of the Indian-head trademark of Ojanguren y Vidosa of Eibar on the lower part of the grips. It is suspected that the Furia was made in Spain for sale in France in the early 1930s. The feature which singles it out from legions of Eibar-type guns is the curved butt back strap swelling at the base to fit the hand, an unusual refinement in this class.
Furia: Maker: Ojanguren y Vidosa, Eibar. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: 7·65mm Auto. Length overall:
5·71in/145mm. Weight, unladen: 21·3oz/605gm. Barrel: 3·15in/80mm, rifled. Magazine: eight-round detachable box.
Ojanguren: This name covers most of the revolvers made in the 1930s, models based on Smith & Wesson patterns and identical with those made by Ojanguren y Marcaido. They can only be distinguished by the encircled 'OV' trade-mark, very like the preceding 'OM' pattern, and the names on some barrels. Two ·32 models were made—one with a six-inch barrel and a square butt, and another with a three-inch barrel and a round butt.
The latter is labelled 'Model de Expulsion a Mano' on the barrel. Two square-butt patterns were also made: the Militar y Policia in ·38 Long Colt calibre and the ·38 Special Legitimo Tanque with adjustable sights.
Salvaje: This is almost the same as the Apache, but with a more rounded slide. The grip shows the head of a Red Indian, with feathered head-dress, beneath SALVAJE.
Tanque: An original design of 6·35mm blowback automatic, this has a solid block running most of the length of the underside of the barrel. The block fits into the frame, being retained by a screw at the front. The oddly shaped slide tapers away from the barrel to leave a prominent rib. The slide is marked 6.35 TANQUE PATENT and the grip motif shows a two-man Renault tank.
Tanque: Maker: Ojanguren y Vidosa, Eibar. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: 6·35mm Auto. Length overall:
4·25in/108mm. Weight, unladen: 10·9oz/310gm. Barrel: 1·77in/45mm, rifled. Magazine: six-round detachable box.
OMEGA (SPAIN, GERMANY)
1: A 7·65mm Eibar-pattern blowback automatic made by R.S.
Industria Armera of Eibar, probably during or shortly after the First World War.
2: Applied to 6·35mm and 7·65mm Eibar-type automatic pistols manufactured by Armera Especialistas of Eibar (q.v.).
3: A ·32 solid-frame swinging cylinder double-action revolver made by H. Weihrauch (q.v.) of Mellrichstadt in the 1960s.
4: Used as Omega Model 100 on the Model 22K ·22 rimfire revolver made in the 1950s by Gerstenberger & Eberwein (q.v.) of Gerstetten-Gussenstadt.
ORBEA (SPAIN)
Orbea Hermanos, founded in Eibar in 1859, were amongst the earliest Spanish pistol manufacturers and the most inventive; the Museu de Armas of Eibar owns a gas-operated automatic revolver made by this firm in 1863. A piston beneath the barrel, through a system of levers, cocks the hammer, rotates the cylinder and ejects an empty case. The gun was never made in quantity and was
doubtless highly temperamental, but it reflects credit on its designer and establishes Eibar as a likely birthplace of the automatic pistol.
This burst of originality came amidst production of Lefaucheux-type M1858 pinfires and the Kerr-pattern M1862 cap-lock navy gun, but was followed by a run of unimaginative copies. The brothers produced a copy of the ·44 S&W No.3 Russian Model for the Spanish army in the late 1870s, easily distinguishable from the American-made guns by the lack of a web beneath the barrel, then made the 11mm 'Revolver Smith y
Wesson reformado no.7' adopted in October 1884. Thereafter, Orbea Hermanos continued to turn out revolvers based on S&W or Colt patterns, later adding automatic pistols to the range.
Colon: This ·32 revolver, based on the Colt Police Positive, appeared in 1925. It had a four-inch barrel and a round butt.
Colon M1925: Maker: Orbea Hermanos, Eibar.
Type: solid-frame revolver. Calibre: ·32. Length
overall: 9·25in/235mm. Weight, unladen: 15·3oz/435gm.
Barrel: 4·13in/105mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
Iris: Another Colt copy, available in ·32-20, ·32 Long and ·38 Special, it differed from the Colon in having a six-inch barrel and a square butt.
Model 1915: This six-shot 10·35mm revolver, based on the ribbed-barrel Smith & Wesson top-break pattern, was made for the Italian Army in 1914-18. The butt frame ended in a sharp beak bored to receive a lanyard ring, the grips stopping short to expose the beak. These revolvers were sold as war-surplus after 1918 and are sometimes found with the names of Italian gun dealers stamped into the frame.
M1915 [Bodeo type]: Maker: Orbea Hermanos, Eibar. Type: solid-frame revolver. Calibre: 10·35mm. Length overall: 9·76in/248mm. Weight, unladen: 29·3oz/830gm. Barrel: 4·72in/120mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
O.H.: This graces a range of revolvers which, though lacking individual names, all carried the 'OH' trademark on the frame.
Springfield Armory:
10mm Omega..
Orbea: OH 1905.
Copied from the S&W Military & Police pattern, with 4in or 6in barrels, they had round or square butts. Chamberings were the usual ·32, ·32-20, 8mm French and ·38 Special, plus a few accepting 5·5mm Velo-Dog—the only known modern-style revolver using this round. Most O.H.
guns post-date the First World War; some are marked MODEL 1925, though they do not appear to differ from unmarked examples.
O.H.: Maker: Orbea Hermanos, Eibar. Type: solid-frame revolver. Chambering: ·38 Special. Length overall: 9·76in/248mm. Weight unladen: 29·6oz/840gm. Barrel: 4·80in/122mm, rifled. Magazine: six-chamber cylinder.
Orbea y Cia: This company is believed to denote a re-organisation of Orbea Hermanos in the early 1930s, but then terminated by the Spanish Civil War. This would account for only a single rarely-seen pistol bearing the name.
The 6·35mm Orbea automatic offered unusual construction. The barrel terminated in an oddly-shaped block, carrying the front sight, which was held to the frame by a screw passing up in front of the trigger-guard. This block was externally formed to match the slide which, consequently, was shorter than normal. The recoil spring was carried in the top of the slide, an internal striker was used, and a grip safety replaced the standard manual type. The slide was marked ORBEA Y CIA EIBAR ESPANA PISTOLA AUTOMATICA CAL 6,35.
ORTGIES (GERMANY)
Although German, Heinrich Ortgies lived in Liege for several years. There he designed an automatic pistol, patented in 1918. He returned to Erfurt after hostilities had ceased to begin making the 7·65mm Ortgies pistol. Success was considerable, even in the depressed post-war market; upwards of 10,000 were made. However, Deutsche-Werke (q.v.) of Erfurt made the inventor an offer too attractive to refuse, taking over the patents, stock and tools. Ortgies himself appears to have taken no further interest in firearms.
The Ortgies pistol was an extremely well made and finished striker-fired blowback automatic, with an 87mm barrel and an eight-round magazine.
There were three patented features: the method of attaching the barrel, the disconnector, and the method of attaching the grips. The barrel was formed with a flanged lump beneath the chamber which engaged in a claw-like seat in the frame; the barrel could be removed by turning it sideways through 90° to disengage the claw. A spring-loaded stud protruding from the frame was pressed down by the slide, disconnecting the trigger except when the slide was fully home and the breech closed; a recess in the slide allows the stud to rise and re-connect the trigger to the sear when the action is fully shut. The wood grips were held by steel spring-clips inside the butt frame instead of the normal screws, reached by removing the magazine.
A grip lever—the only applied safety device—remained locked when depressed until a button at the top of the left grip was pushed to release it. The grip-safety spring also drove the striker, so that squeezing the grip safety gave the striker additional power to deliver a firm blow.
The original Ortgies-made models are marked ORTGIES & CO. ERFURT ORTGIES PATENT on the slide, a bronze medallion with an 'HO' monogram being let into the grips. These medallions were retained by Deutsche-Werke for some years, together with 'Ortgies Patent'. Both these acknowledgements were subsequently dropped, probably marking the expiry of Ortgies' interest in his patents.
Ortgies: Maker: Heinrich Ortgies, Erfurt. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Calibre: 7·65mm Auto. Length overall: 6·50in/165mm.
Weight, unladen: 22·6oz/640gm. Barrel: 3·43in/87mm, rifled. Magazine: eight-round detachable box.
O.W.A. (AUSTRIA)
Osterreichische Werke Anstalt of Vienna operated between 1920-5, little else being known. Its only product was an original design of 6·35mm automatic, patented in 1920; the patent was granted in the name of 'Staatliche Industriewerke', suggesting that OWA may simply have been the former Vienna arsenal.
The OWA pistol bears a superficial resemblance to the Pieper/Steyr drop-barrel models; however, though the barrel does tip downward,
construction is quite different. The entire slide is pivoted at the front of the frame, released by a large catch at the rear. The slide is extensively cut away behind the barrel to allow a separate breech block to move; this is slotted to pass around a pillar in the back of the frame, on which the slide catch locks. The recoil spring lies above the breech block, while a hammer in the frame comes up through the slotted portion of the block to strike the firing pin. A sliding safety catch on the left side locks the hammer.
The maker's name appears only on the grips, as an 'OWA' monogram. The only other markings on the slide and frame are MADE IN AUSTRIA and PATENT ANGEMELDET.
OWA: Maker: Osterreichische Werke Anstalt, Vienna. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: 6·35mm Auto. Length overall:
4·72in/120mm. Weight, unladen: 14·5oz/410gm. Barrel: 1·97in/50mm, rifled. Magazine: six-round detachable box.
OYEZ (BELGIUM)
The Oyez Arms Company of Liege made a 7·65mm automatic pistol prior to 1914, apparently by copying the contemporaneous Pieper tip-down barrel models. It is not yet known if Oyez and Pieper pistols differ internally. However, as the Pieper design did not appear until 1912, Oyez may have begun production under licence in 1913 and closed down after the German invasion of Belgium in 1914. This would account for scarcity.
Oyez: Maker: Oyez Arms Co., Liege. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: 7·65mm Auto. Length overall: 5·71in/145mm.
Weight, unladen: 21·9oz/620gm. Barrel: 2·83in/72mm, rifled. Magazine: seven-round detachable box.
P
P.A.F. (SOUTH AFRICA)
Pretoria Arms Factory operated briefly in the 1950s, making this well-made 6·35mm automatic, based on the Baby Browning though lacking the grip safety. Early models had raised sights, reduced to an aiming groove in the slide top on later guns. The slide carried a badge of two crossed cartridges above 'PAF' in a wreath, repeated in the grip mouldings, and ..JUNIOR VVERVAARDIG IN
SUID-AFRIKA/MADE IN SOUTH AFRICA in three lines. Some 10,000 are said to have been made, but they are rarely seen outside the country of origin.
Junior: Maker: Pretoria Arms Factory. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering:
6·35mm Auto. Length overall: 4·53in/115mm. Weight, unladen: 13·4oz/380gm. Barrel:
2·17in/55mm, rifled. Magazine: six-round detachable box.
P.A.F.: ·25 ACP Junior.
PAGES (FRANCE)
In 1880, V.F.E. Pages of Paris patented a unique multi-shot pistol, though it is unlikely that many were made. None is known to survive. Two arms ran forward from an open-frame butt to support the top and bottom of a block carrying six short superimposed barrels. Behind these barrels was a bank of firing pins, alongside a vertical shaft carrying six cams. Behind this was sufficient space between the two arms for the fingers of the hand, with a trigger in the upper part. The block of barrels could be swung open to load, probably with one of the 6mm palm-squeezer rounds.
Pulling the trigger caused the vertical shaft to make a part-turn, cocking and then releasing the first firing pin by way of the first cam. The next trigger pressure turned the shaft to bring the second cam into engagement, continuing until all six barrels had been fired in sequence. The Pages system was practicable, but the resulting weapon was cumbersome and failed to challenge contemporary pocket revolvers.
PANTAX (ARGENTINA)
Made by E. Worther of Buenos Aires, this small ·22 LR automatic pistol has the appearance of a Frommer 'Stop' copy, with a similar tubular receiver and an external hammer in the frame. However, it is a simple blowback. The date of production is unclear; the design should suggest the 1920s, but the condition of the specimen examined suggested the 1950s.
Pantax: Maker: E. Worther, Buenos Aires. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: ·22 LR rimfire. Length overall:
Pantax: Maker: E. Worther, Buenos Aires. Type: automatic pistol (blowback). Chambering: ·22 LR rimfire. Length overall: