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Never any need to apologize Jim. I love having these conversations. They are fascinating. Thanks for a great chat.

seamusTX wrote:My understanding, without going into the minute details of case dimensions, is that 9 mm Luger is 9 x 19 and 9 mm Largo is 9 x 23.

I am by no means an expert, and I have never even seen a round labeled as 9 mm Largo. - Jim

Jim, I'm certainly not saying you are wrong. In fact I may be the one in error. Is it possible that gun you're referring to is actually an Astra model 400, instead of the model 600 we've been talking about? If it is, it's REALLY a collectors item.

9mm Largo just may be another way of saying 9mm Bergmann-Bayard. In all honesty I've never seen a model 400, due to their rarity. Only the models 600 & 300.

Is the right side of the chamber marked " PIST. PATR. 08 " ? That should be on the model 600 in 9mm Luger.

Gosh I'd love to look at both guns. Not that I could tell you all about it. I just like to coddle old guns.

Oh! What is the German proofmark? It should be a funky looking "stick" eagle with some letters and/or numbers under it. the Germans used about 30 different known one's.

9mm Largo is the same as 9 Parabellum(9mm Luger). Just as 9mm Corto is actually 9mm Kurz, or .380 semi-automatic.

An interesting side story is that the Germans also contracted Astra for the Pistole Astra 400 for 12,000 pistols. The Germans took possession of only 4,500 on Oct. 18, 1941. Apparently the Germans didn't notice until trial testing had begun that the Astra 400 was chambered for the 9mm Bergman-Baynard cartridge, a much more powerful round than the 9mm Luger. The standard 9mm Luger round of the German Armed Forces would not function in the model 400, so the contract was suspended.

If it has Nazi proofmarks on it, rest assured it's chambered for 9mm Luger.

That's a very nice gun! I had its baby brother, the Astra 300 in 9mm kurz. The 600 has a magazine capacity of 8 cartridges.

The 600 is found with 2 different acceptance marks: the one you described and the Eagle above WaA251. The production of the 10,499 were produced between 16 May and 16 July, 1944 and were sent to the town of Irun on the French border for German troops then occupying France. The serial number range was 51-10500. A short time later an additional 28,000 were delivered to the border, but couldn't be accepted by the Germans as they were rapidly evacuating the area as a result of the Allied invasion of Normandy. Those 28,00 were returned to Spain and impressed into service there.

Serial # 51-3000(2,950 pistols) were delivered on 16 May
Serial #3001-8000(5,000 pistols) were delivered on 23 June
Serial# 8001-10500(2,500 pistols) were delivered on 16 July

The Heereswaffenamt was solely responsible for the development of the pistol. The German designation for the pistol was: Pistole Astra 600/43. The pistol weighs 35.5 oz. It's a blowback operated semi-automatic, with no positive locking of the breech. So a VERY hefty recoil spring is wrapped around the barrel, as you can imagine. It has a magazine safety, and the slide remains locked back after the last shot is fired.

Note: The above was transcribed from Major Robt.D.Whittington III book German Pistols and Holsters 1934/1945 Military-Police-NSDAP, copyright 1969. I used that book to build my collection of German pocket pistols of WWII.

Hope that helps.