It's a Ruby handgun, which was made by the Spanish under multiple contracts for the French army during WWI. There is almost no parts standardization to speak of, to the point that buying an extra magazine for one of these guns is a craps-shoot. It may not work in a given Ruby.
The one give to me was likely a surplus purchase after the Great War by my father's great uncle, Roy.
Roy was a cop, and a colorful character, and dad says he never remembered seeing Uncle Roy without the Ruby tucked into his waistline. Roy had some interesting adventures with this little pistol, that still survive in family lore. I will keep the Ruby happily as a legacy gun, and a testament to just how basic a firearm can be, and still provide service through a century.
The Ruby was a cribbed copy of a wildly-successful-at-the-time design, the Colt Pocket Hammerless.
As I recently posted, I put one of these on Lay-away. The finish is about gone, but the counter-guy let me field-strip it, and the internals are in great shape. Someone used the hell out of it, but took good care of it, too. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, other than carry it; the Pocket Hammerless is a Grail Gun for me. Once I have it home, I'm going to get to a range and shoot the hell out of it. Once I determine that it is reliable, I plan to carry it regularly. This gun, in its condition has little collector value, and I want a shooter, anyway. It may become a candidate for a re-finish. Possibly in Nickel. I will pick up an extra magazine if I can find one, and depending on how it shoots, I may order a set of Wolff springs for it. I may end up replacing the sights, but I want to shoot it first, to see if I can acquire them okay. I have heard that the rear sight dovetail and front sight stake-hole are the exact same as on 1911's, so finding a set of sights may not be too hard.
Whatever I do to it, I'm looking forward to giving the old pony a good home, where it will have a purpose again.
7 comments:
Mark Twain had one.
Ha! That's great!
Don't Bubba the Pocket Hammerless.
Please.
Think about the children!
McThag- I hear what you're saying... I definitely want to carry it. What would you do? I know that a gun with no finish will rust in a matter of hours if carried in the summer, due to sweat. Seriously, what are the options? And don't tell me "carry a less valuable gun". Like I said, I bought it to use it.
Too cool by far on both. I'd consider a refinish by one of the restorers out there who could replicate the old finish.
I'm leaning that way, too, Murph. After McThag made me check my enthusiasm against my common sense, I'm considering saving up and having a quality restore done. I wonder if Clark Custom would work on it...
Bubba would put tritium sights on if they are indeed the same as 1911...
Getting it parkerized isn't Bubba, though. I'd go park over blue just because it's tougher.
If it's a shooter and a carry gun, then it's purity for collecting is moot. I had a 1903 refinished just because I wanted it to look better.
And it was far enough gone that the loss of originality didn't hurt the value a whit. It honestly didn't help it either.
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