The Llama M87 was Gabilondo y Cia’s high-end competition pistols based on the M82 action, and made in both 9mm Parabellum and 7.65mm Parabellum. This was mechanically a copy of the Beretta 92 system, and it was adopted in basic form by the Spanish Army. For the commercial market, Gabilondo took all the upgrades that were being popularly made to IPSC competition pistols, and put them all in place as factory features for the M87. This included good adjustable sights, and excellent trigger, flared magazine well, single-action FCG with an ambidextrous slide-mounted safety and also a frame-mounted safety, extended barrel, and extended beavertail tang. This made for a very good pistol, but at a very high price ($1450 in the late 1980s). It never saw much commercial success, and the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 finally killed it commercially, as its magazines could no longer be imported.
Semiauto pistol
Bergmann-Mars 1903/1908 Pistol
The military breakthrough for Bergmann finally came in 1903 with a new locking system for the pistol, designed by Louis Schmeisser (who had also designed the previous Bergmann handguns). In 1901, Schmeisser developed the new […]
Machine pistol
Astra 902: Because More Rounds Are Better
The Spanish Astra firm introduced its C96 Mauser lookalike, the Model 900, in 1927 to take advantage of the strong Chinese demand for that type of handgun. When Bestigui Hermanos introduced a select-fire machine pistol […]
Semiauto pistol
From Service Sidearm to Match Gun: the Astra 400 Target Model
A very small batch of special target model pistols was made at the very end of Astra 400 production in 1945. They were fitted with Patridge front sights and adjustable revolver-style square-notch rear sights, much […]
Kudos to Beretta for making a similar “factory custom” 92 (but not a knockoff) for an identical price in non-inflated 2023 dollars!
A couple of decades before that, the Star Super A in 9 x 23mm Largo had a number of features that later became common on competition-type custom 1911s;
1. Loaded chamber indicator
2. Full figure-8 barrel bushing
3. Full-length recoil-spring guide rod
4. National Match-type firing-pin safety
5. Flared magazine well
6. No grip safety
7. High-profile fixed sights
8. Chamber cut to headspace on case mouth, standard for the rimless 9mm Largo round but a custom feature on .38 Super Auto-chambered 1911 competition guns to increase accuracy.
The Star Super B was the same except in 9 x 19mm. The difference was that the Super A made Major Caliber power factor qualification with standard 9 x 23mm service loads; the Super B required the heavy-loaded IPSC 9 x 19mm ammunition to “make Major”.
I think if I’d been competing back then, instead of a hot-rodded Colt .38 Super, I’d have just used a stock Star Super A and pocketed the change.
clear ether
eon
Can anyone tell where A welrod pistol can be purchased and/or sold,and an estimated price of a mkII