Old Spanish .38
Hey all.
I friend of mine was given a revolver and was wondering about it. I'm stumped but figured someone here would know about it.
The revolver had belonged to his grandfather.
It's a 6 shot .38 cal revolver, side break cylinder. On the barrel it's stamped ".38 Sp." then CT(something) the third character being a "E" "e" "G" or "6".
On the other side of the barrel is "Orbea Bros. Spain"
On the frame behind the trigger it is stamped "Merca Registrada"
The handle is the number 54200
I haven't seen the gun but he says it's about 80% and appears fully functional but he hasn't attempted to fire it yet and is going to take it to a gunsmith before he tries.
Thanks for any help.
I friend of mine was given a revolver and was wondering about it. I'm stumped but figured someone here would know about it.
The revolver had belonged to his grandfather.
It's a 6 shot .38 cal revolver, side break cylinder. On the barrel it's stamped ".38 Sp." then CT(something) the third character being a "E" "e" "G" or "6".
On the other side of the barrel is "Orbea Bros. Spain"
On the frame behind the trigger it is stamped "Merca Registrada"
The handle is the number 54200
I haven't seen the gun but he says it's about 80% and appears fully functional but he hasn't attempted to fire it yet and is going to take it to a gunsmith before he tries.
Thanks for any help.
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Yep......sounds like an Eibar Region Spanish copy of the Smith Hand Ejector, or Model 10.
It probably read .38 Sp. CTG (for cartridge).
Many thousands of these (of varying quality) were made. Good idea to have it checked out by a 'smith. At the same time, have him check whether it's actually .38 Special or .38 S&W.0 -
Most likely .38 Special, although it does not hurt to check. Hermanos Orbea was a Spanish gunmaker in the Eibar region from the late 1800's through the Spanish Civil War. They did not resume production after the war.
Orbea produced a number of revolver types copied from Smith & Wesson designs: break-top revolvers similar to the S&W Model 3, and swing-out designs similar to the S&W Ladysmith and Hand Ejector (like yours). They also produced the typical Browning-pattern semi-autos in 7.65mm and 6.35mm.
Orbea also produced some original design guns prior to 1900, such as a gas-operated automatic revolver that never really got into production.
The Orbea guns are generally of better quality than the typical Spanish copies of the period, but you should still have it checked thoroughly before attempting to fire it.
Values are uniformly low, with most specimens topping out at the $100 mark.0
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