Many firearm enthusiasts in the US still think that all Spanish arms were cheaply made and of inferior quality based on inexpensive Spanish revolvers (many were copies of S&W and Colt) fabricated in Eibar (a Basque, industrial municipality in Spain with a rich history of gunsmithing), which were imported to the US during the late 19th and early 20th Century. Compared to a real S&W, or a Colt; of course, they were inferior. But this doesn't mean they were garbage. These guns were built in rustic shops (not in factories) and the firearms were practically handmade. And yes, sometimes the quality was somewhat spotty. But doesn't this still happen with modern firearms from American companies? Back to the Spanish handguns; the Ruby pistols used by the French in WWI, which were made in Eibar, were of pretty decent quality for their intended use, and the top-loader Spanish revolvers made for the British in .455 were used by them during the Great War.
Now, Astra, Star and Llama are a different story. They were quality firearms, albeit some like the Astra 300, 400 & 600 were funky-looking--and they were called the "Plumber's Nightmare" in the U.S., LOL. But, everyone knows how Germans are about the quality of mechanical devices; think about this: the Nazis used a substantial amount of Astra 300 and 600 pistols in WWII--and to a lesser degree (because being chambered in 9mm Largo) Astra 400's. The problem with the Astra 400 was logistics; not quality. While the Astra 300's were chambered in .32 acp & .380, the Astra 400's were chambered in 9mm Largo--the Spanish Service Cartridge. For this reason Nazy Germany asked Astra to develop the Astra 600/43 in 9mm Para.
It is too bad that Astra, Star and Llama have gone out of business; they just could not compete with German, Austrian, Swiss and Eastern European firearm manufacturers (look at Turkey, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, etc.). But don't let it fool you; the quality of these three (particularly the first two) was there. And let's not forget how many Spanish Remington Block rifles and Spanish Mausers were made in Spain under license. Had Spain made inferior firearms, Remington and Mauser would not have given them the light of the day.
