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  #1  
Old 10-12-2018, 06:10 PM
jw mathews jw mathews is offline
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Default Spanish copy of M&P Revolver

Below are photos of an older (late 1920s-'30s) copy of an S&W M&P. This gun was made by the Orbea firm in Eibar. The company began before 1880 as Orbea Hermanos (Brothers) but sometime after 1922 the name changed to Orbea & Company. The firm ceased making guns in 1930..

This revolver is marked as follows:

Bbl left side: CAL 38 LARGO
Bbl Top: ORBEA Y CIA SENC EIBAR (ESPANIA)

The caliber is .38 Special. The "Y" following Orbea means "AND" and "CIA" is the abbreviation for "COMPANY." I do not know the meaning of "SENC," and will welcome a translation from anyone who does know what that means.

There is also an export stamp on the right side of the frame forward of the sideplate FABRICADA EN ESPANIA meaning "Made in Spain." I think this was a factory marking.

The most interesting mark is on the backstrap, identifying this revolver to the Provincial Police of Buenos Aires (Argentina). If anyone is curious as to how this we l-traveled gun came to the USA, there is an import stamp on the sideplate just above the trigger: Vam Dist. Co, Wooster OH. Apparently, a group of surplus revolvers was imported into the USA sometime during the 1970s.

The barrel on this revolver is 4-1/4" long, and the grip frame is slightly longer than an S&W K-frame by a quarter inch or so, as can be seen in Photo 3. That photo shows a standard S&W Service Stock lying on the Orbea frame with the bottom of the frame clearly exposed.

The lockwork of this revolver is a copy of the S&W 1905 Third Change, with rebound slide/internal coil spring, spring-loaded plunger in front of cylinder stop with screw in front of trigger guard and leaf mainspring with strain screw. There does not appear to be much in the way of a hammer block, & I would avoid keeping a revolver of this type with a live round under the hammer.

This particular gun has a very worn finish but the bore is ok
Attached Images
File Type: jpg DSCF0001.jpg (75.9 KB, 71 views)
File Type: jpg DSCF0002.jpg (75.1 KB, 63 views)
File Type: jpg DSCF0003.jpg (71.8 KB, 58 views)

Last edited by jw mathews; 10-18-2018 at 08:06 PM.
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  #2  
Old 10-12-2018, 07:24 PM
shouldazagged shouldazagged is offline
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Have you shot it? How is the trigger? The accuracy?
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Oh well, what the hell.
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Old 10-12-2018, 07:29 PM
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Nice write-up.

One correction, though: Orbea didn’t close.

They re-oriented their focus and are still in business globally, nowadays known as manufacturers of high-end bicycles.

Looking at their company website, they are still quite proud of their gun-making heritage.

Us - Orbea, yesterday and today — Orbea
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Old 10-12-2018, 10:23 PM
2152hq 2152hq is offline
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The import marking was not required until 1986. So I'd guess the import into the US was since that time.

Don't know if VAM is still around but they were on Mechanicsburg Rd in Wooster Ohio back then..
They imported and sold a lot of stuff.

VAM Dist imported quite a large number of handguns in the late 80's and early 90's from mainly Argentina and some other Central & S/Amer countrys.
Included STAR Model P semiauto pistols (45acp), Argentine Mod 1927 Sistema Colt pistols, some Ballester Molina 45's, a few 1933 Colt commercial Argentine contract pistols and misc Police Dept marked and commercial Spanish made revolvers. These last revolvers probably Police confiscated weapons or older out of date use weapons.
I had a Star Model P with their import mark on it that IIRC came from Guatemala Natl Police.

This revolver is probably one of those imported by VAM in that time period.

Nice looking Revolver. I've always found the Spanish handguns interesting. I had quite an accumulation of early STAR and ASTRA semiautos for a time.
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Old 10-17-2018, 07:54 PM
Svg21 Svg21 is offline
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Looking at their company website, they are still quite proud of their gun-making heritage.

Thats exactly what t is in their site, just confirmed that.
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Old 10-18-2018, 07:54 PM
jw mathews jw mathews is offline
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Thanks to all the above posters. I will correct my OP accordingly, a I need to add some letters anyway at the beginning of Para 3.

The gun does not belong to me so I have not shot it. I will contact the owner at some future date to see if he has shot it. He had cleaned the mechanism before I took the photos..

Last edited by jw mathews; 10-18-2018 at 08:08 PM.
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