Modesto Santos
This pistol, for the marks, was made in 1931 for Modesto Santos, a gun maker of Eibar in Spain, but it was sold by other gunsmiths, among them Fernando Ormaechea (FO) who use anagram "F.O." within an oval.
Of this factory knows very little, because it was totally destroyed during the Spanish Civil War between 1936-1939.
I don’t know why have it a smooth barrel, for me is a mystery.
Jesús Madriñán (Espagne)
Note of Webmaster:
The unrifled bore could be a simple will to copy FN at lower cost. It is obvious that the machining of groove in a barrel is expensive, moreover, it is one of the reasons which made that many weapons sold in Spain came directly from Belgium “in white” to be marked at will by the salesman, arms manufacturer or simple commercial of weapons.
Some “finished” the weapons and did extremely well it (see the heading “copies of Belgian weapons”), others were satisfied to sell them on their behalf without shame!!
This process was very current in France and Spain. The principal reason being that the weapons manufactured “at home” in Belgium, from this very particular system, were much less expensive!
Alain
