Selected Handgun Detail

Manufacturer
	Astra-Unceta y Cia SA More Info

About the Gun

The Model 600 is a large single-action blowback service pistol with Astra’s tubular slide, a concealed hammer, a grip safety, and a frame-mounted thumb safety. It is a shortened Model 400 rechambered for 9 mm, with checkered walnut grips and fixed blade-and-notch sights. The magazine catch is a button on the left of the frame rather than a heel release.

Production

Production ran from 1944 through 1946.

Market value

MSRP at production was around $50. Current used market value for examples in good to very good condition ranges $450–$750.

Cartridge Specifications
Cartridge:	9 mm Luger
Alias:	9 mm Parabellum
More Info

Analysis

Astra built the Model 600 in 1943–1944 after Germany asked for a 9 mm version of the Model 400. The 400’s long Largo chamber had given German 9 mm ammunition trouble in service; the 600/43 used a shorter slide and barrel and a Navy-pattern magazine catch. Fifty sample guns went to Germany in early 1944. Deliveries of the accepted contract ran from 16 May through 16 July 1944: 10,450 pistols in serials 51 through 10,500, inspected at Hendaye and stamped WaA/D20 on the right tang. The border closed after the Allied advance in France, so the rest of the prepaid order stayed in Spain. Astra finished the run anyway. About 59,400 were built. Small postwar lots went to Portugal and other buyers; the bulk of the leftover stock was sold to the West German Federal Border Guard in 1951 and later passed into Bundeswehr use before the Walther P1 replaced it. Used 600s are common. First-contract WaA guns in the 51–10,500 range bring more than the later unmarked police and export pistols.