Identifying a Ruby-Type: Makers, Markings and the French Codes

5.1 The type in one paragraph

A Ruby-type is a 7.65 mm Browning (.32 ACP) blowback pistol of Browning’s 1903 pattern (Vol 4) with these four features together, as Forgotten Weapons lists them: a shrouded hammer, a “lumpy-looking safety lever above trigger”, “longitudinal grooves around the muzzle for disassembly”, and a “long 9-round magazine with heel release”. Everything else varies: “slide length, slide serrations, lanyard loop, sights, magazine release, grip panels, and exact frame profile”.¹ The French instruction adds that some in service took seven rounds, not nine (Vol 7).²

5.2 Six Ruby-types side by side

Look along the six for the shared features (the safety lever ahead of the grip, the long grip, the heel catch, the muzzle grooves), then at what differs:

• Slide serrations. Straight vertical cuts on 2, 3, 5 and 6; on 1 and 4 they are curved, following the slide’s rear contour.
• Slide length against grip. The commercial Vilar (6) has a visibly shorter slide in proportion to its grip than the wartime pistols.
• Lanyard fitting. All six have one at the heel of the butt, but its form differs: a ring hanging from a loop on 1, 2, 4 and 6, a flatter fitting seen edge-on on 3 and 5.
• Holster stud. Only the Orbea (2) has one, at the front of the slide.
• Legend. Every maker words it differently (below).

5.3 Ruby-type or something else?

Four pistols are mistaken for Ruby-types, and a Ruby-type for them:

Table 1 — Four pistols are mistaken for Ruby-types, and a Ruby-type for them

Pistol	What it shares	How to tell it from a Ruby-type
FN Model 1903 and Colt Pocket Hammerless	the whole 1903 pattern (Vol 4)	a grip safety at the back of the grip; the thumb safety at the rear of the frame above the grip, not forward above the trigger guard; maker’s legends of FN or Colt3
Star Model 1914	French service, 7.65 mm, Eibar make	an external hammer; a safety lever lowered against a stop; the French classed it as the second category, “genre Star” (Vol 2)2
Esperanza y Unceta Victoria (seven-shot) and other short-grip Eibar .32s	the same mechanism	a shorter grip for a seven-round magazine; Calvó: the Ruby differed from the Victoria “only by the greater length of its grip”4
6.35 mm Eibar pocket pistols (Baby-Browning types, Gabilondo’s Radium)	the same makers and names	a smaller pistol in 6.35 mm (.25 ACP); the Radium has no detachable magazine at all (Vol 1)4

The FN 1903 at Hrodna in Vol 1 shows the first row’s differences directly; the Star 1914 in Vol 2 the second.

5.4 Reading a slide legend

The left of the slide carries the maker’s legend, sometimes with a trade name, sometimes a generic one. The legends below were read from photographs for this dive, or are given by Calvó from his own photographs.

Table 2 — Reading a slide legend

Legend as stamped	Maker	Read from
GABILONDOS Y URRESTI – ELGOIBAR – RUBY CAL 7.65	Gabilondos y Urresti	RIA 5021/1012 (Vol 1); Hrodna pistol (Vol 1)
GABILONDOS Y URRESTI . EIBAR – RUBY CAL. 7,65	Gabilondos y Urresti, Eibar address	Calvó’s photograph4
LA INDUSTRIAL ORBEA – EIBAR / CAL 7,65	La Industrial Orbea	Musée de l’Armée pistol (Vol 2)
Fª DE MARTIN A. BASCARAN – EIBAR / “MARTIAN” CAL 7.65	Martin A. Bascaran	Saint-Étienne pistol
S.A. ALKARTASUNA / FABRICA DE ARMAS / GUERNICA, with ALKAR logo and “Mca Registda”	Alkartasuna	Legacy Collectibles 36083; also Calvó4
7,65 1914 MODEL AUTOMATIC PISTOL / BEISTEGUI HERMANOS	Beistegui Hermanos	Jaeger Platoon’s Finnish M/195
7,65 1914 MODEL AUTOMATIC PISTOL / M. ZULAICA & Cº EIBAR	Marcelo Zulaica	Calvó’s photograph4
PISTOLET AUTOMATIQUE CEBRA / BEISTEGUI HERMANOS Cª – ESPAÑA, with AZ logo	Arizmendi, Zulaica y Cía (under a Beistegui legend)	Calvó’s photograph;4 a Collectors Firearms pistol described the same way6
BONIFACIO ECHEVERRIA (ESPAÑA) EIBAR / PISTOLA AUTOMATICA / “IZARRA” CAL 7,65	Bonifacio Echeverría	Calvó’s photograph4
CAL 7,65 PISTOLET AUTOMATIQUE “DESTROYER” / I. GAZTAÑAGA – EIBAR	Isidro Gaztañaga	Calvó’s photograph4
JUAN ESPERANZA Y PEDRO UNCETA – GUERNICA … “ASTRA” MOD. 1915; and 7,65 1916 MODEL AUTOMATIC PISTOL / ASTRA PATENT	Esperanza y Unceta	Calvó’s photographs4
”Vilar” (script)	not established	Self Loader’s photograph, Commons

Three cautions follow from the table:

1. “1914 Model Automatic Pistol” is not a maker. Beistegui and Zulaica both used it; Forgotten Weapons’ list also gives it to Retolaza Hermanos.⁷ The maker’s name, if any, is on the line below.
2. A legend can belong to someone else. The Cebra was an Arizmendi, Zulaica pistol, yet carries Beistegui Hermanos’ name; Forgotten Weapons notes that some AZ pistols “may be over stamped ‘Beistegui Hermanos’”.⁷⁶
3. “Ruby” on the slide is not Gabilondo. Calvó: “not all pistols with the ‘RUBY’ mark have ‘Gabilondos y Urresti’ as their maker”.⁴ Trust the firm’s name, not the trade name.

5.5 The oval on the frame

Forgotten Weapons: pistols made for the French Army “typically had a one- or two-letter mark in an oval on the rear left of the frame. These letters identified the manufacturer, irrespective of trademark name.”¹ Two of the pistols photographed for this dive bear that out: GU on the Gabilondo, IO on the Orbea.

The same place on the frame carries other things, and the photographs show three:

• A trademark. The Alkartasuna carries its ALKAR mark in a circle (panel G), not the code AK that the internet list gives the firm.⁷ Whether Alkartasuna pistols for France carried an AK code as well, on another pistol or another side, is not settled by one example.
• An export mark. The 1920s Vilar carries an oval reading MADE IN SPAIN (panel I). It is a country-of-origin mark for export, not a French code.
• A code on the other side. A Collectors Firearms Cebra had AZ in an oval on the right rear of the frame and on the magazine base.⁶

So an oval is not by itself evidence of French service. The letters inside it are, if they are a code and if a legend or other mark agrees.

5.6 French service: stars, stud, magazine marks

Three marks point to French service. None is proof on its own.

• Acceptance stars: one on each side of the magazine catch at the base of the frame (plate, panel H). Forgotten Weapons says pistols formally accepted “were supposed to be marked with a star or pair of stars”, but “not all of them received this”.¹ One collector reports an IS-coded pistol with the holster stud but no stars.⁸
• The holster stud: a large rivet-like knob on the left of the slide, added after manufacture and often over the serial or legend (Vol 2).¹ Its date, wartime or early-1920s overhaul, is disputed.⁹
• Magazine base marks: the maker’s letters, sometimes with the pistol’s number. Jaeger Platoon photographs Finnish magazines stamped I in a circle and I.G in a circle; Forgotten Weapons’ photograph shows RH and a number (panel H).⁵¹ A magazine whose letters match the frame’s code belongs with that pistol; a mismatch is common and does not by itself mean the magazine will not work (TFB’s gunsmith’s pistol ran with a non-matching magazine), but it is the first thing to check if feeding is poor (Vol 7).¹⁰

The unsigned French collector text adds that pistols carry assembly numbers, distinct from the serial, on hand-fitted parts: barrel underside, safety underside, inside the slide near the firing-pin well, the left frame by the grip, the magazine catch, the trigger and the disconnector.⁹ That is unsourced but checkable on any pistol at the bench, and it matters: a pistol whose small parts carry a different number from each other has been assembled from several.

5.7 The maker codes, with what confirms each

The table below gives the codes of the “military manufacturers” from the list on Forgotten Weapons’ Vault page, which Forgotten Weapons itself calls “suggestive but not definitive” and says was “copied from a since-deleted web page” with “no source for the information”.⁷ English Wikipedia’s variants are noted where they differ.¹¹ The last column says what, if anything, confirms the pairing for this dive.

Table 3 — The maker codes, with what confirms each

Code	Maker (Forgotten Weapons list)	Trade names given	Confirmation for this dive
A	Gaspar Arizaga, Eibar	Arizaga, Pinkerton, Warwinch	none
AA	Azanza y Arrizabalaga, Eibar	A.A. Reims, Modelo 1916	none
AE	La Armería Elgoibaresa	Lusitania	none
AG	Francisco Arizmendi y Goenaga, Eibar	Ideal, Roland, Brunswig	none
AH, AR	Acha Hermanos	Looking Glass (thought post-war)	none
AK	Alkartasuna, Guernica	Alkar, Kapitan	one Alkartasuna shows its trademark, not AK, at that place
AL	Aldazabal, Leturiondo y Cía, Eibar	Aldazabal	none
AZ	Arizmendi, Zulaica y Cía, Eibar	Cebra (some over-stamped Beistegui Hermanos)	dealer’s description of a Cebra with AZ on frame and magazine6
BA	Berasaluce, Arietio, Aurteña y Cía	Allies	none
BC / VB	Victor Bernedo y Cía	Bernedo; Wikipedia gives VB only	none
BH	Beistegui Hermanos, Eibar	1914 Model, B.H., Bulwark and others	none
CU, CZ, RG, TM	unknown		none
EA	Eulogio Arostegui, Eibar	Azul, E.A.	none
EC	Erquiaga y Cía, Eibar	Fiel	none; Wikipedia “possibly EC”
EU	Esperanza y Unceta, Guernica	Model 1915/1916, Astra Patent, Brunswig, Victory	Calvó shows an EU logo on a nine-shot Victoria4
GB	Gregorio Bolumburu, Eibar	Gloria, Regent, Regina, Rex and others	none
GN	Garate, Anitua y Cía, Eibar	Express, Danton, L’Eclair and others	none
GU	Gabilondo y Urresti, Eibar or Elgoibar	Ruby, Ruby Extra, Radium, Bufalo, Tauler	photograph: GU oval on a GABILONDOS Y URRESTI pistol (RIA 5021/1012)
HE	Hijos de A. Echeverría, Eibar	Vesta, Izarra	none
I	Bonifacio Echeverría, Eibar	Izarra, Star	Jaeger Platoon: magazine with I in a circle “belonged to pistol with trade mark Izarra”5
IG	Isidro Gaztañaga, Eibar	Destroyer, Indian	Jaeger Platoon: magazine with I.G in a circle from a Gaztañaga pistol5
IO	La Industrial Orbea, Eibar	none	photograph: IO oval on a LA INDUSTRIAL ORBEA pistol (Musée de l’Armée)
IS	Iraola Salaverria y Cía	none	none (one collector’s IS pistol mentioned on Forgotten Weapons)8
JE	Javier Echaniz, Eibar	Defender	none
LC	Laplana y Capdevila	unknown	none
LH	Lasangabaster Hermanos, Eibar	Douglas	none
MA / MB	Martin A. Bascaran, Eibar	Martian	none; the Saint-Étienne Martian has no code at the rear left of its frame
MS	Modesto Santos, Eibar	Action, M.S.	none
RH	Retolaza Hermanos, Eibar	Liberty, Stosel, Titanic, 1914 Model and others	an RH magazine base (FW photo); its pistol’s legend not shown
UC	Urrejola y Cía, Eibar	U.C., Urrejola	none
VD	unknown (Wikipedia: Durango, “Vencedor”)		none
ZC	Zulaica y Cía, Eibar	Royal, Vincitor, Zulaica M1914	none

Sources: Forgotten Weapons’ Vault list,⁷ English Wikipedia,¹¹ and the photographs and descriptions cited.

The pattern of the codes is the maker’s initials, which is why the list “checks out” against most pistols. That also means a code can be guessed from a maker’s name, which may be how parts of the circulating list were built. Three pairings (GU, IO, AZ) and two magazine marks (I, IG) are confirmed by evidence for this dive; the rest are reported. A collector who can photograph a coded frame beside a legible legend adds a confirmation.

5.8 Wartime, post-war or commercial?

Table 4 — Wartime, post-war or commercial?

Feature	Wartime French contract	Post-war commercial (1920s)
Grip and magazine	long, nine rounds (some seven)	often shorter; seven or eight
Slide	standard length	often shortened (the Vilar)
Oval on rear left of frame	maker’s code, often	absent, or a trademark, or MADE IN SPAIN
Acceptance stars by the catch	if formally accepted	absent
Holster stud	if overhauled in French service	absent
Lanyard ring	usual	variable
Legend	maker, often “Cal 7,65”	trade names, sometimes English (“Automatic Pistol”)
Country-of-origin mark	none needed	MADE IN SPAIN or SPAIN, for export

Sources: the photographs in this volume; Forgotten Weapons;¹ the Collectors Firearms Cebra, whose frame is also marked SPAIN at mid-grip, which shows that a French-coded wartime pistol could be marked for export later.⁶

5.9 Tell them apart: a checklist

Table 5 — Tell them apart: a checklist

Look at	What you are looking for	Where
Safety lever	forward, above the trigger guard, left side: Ruby-type. At the rear of the frame with a grip safety: FN or Colt 1903	left of frame
Hammer	none visible: Ruby-type. External hammer: Star 1914 or a later Eibar model	rear of slide
Grip length	long, nine rounds: wartime type. Short: Victoria or commercial	grip
Legend	the firm’s name, not the trade name; “1914 Model Automatic Pistol” is generic	left of slide
Oval on frame	letters = possible French code; a logo or MADE IN SPAIN = not a code	rear of frame, usually left
Stars	one each side of the magazine catch = French acceptance	base of frame
Stud	round knob on the slide = French holster fix	left front of slide
Magazine base	letters matching the frame code, sometimes a number	magazine floor
Assembly numbers	matching numbers on barrel, safety, slide interior	underside and inside
Proof marks	Eibar proof house marks, if present	barrel, frame (not covered here)

The proof marks of the Eibar proof house (Banco Oficial de Pruebas) are not covered in this dive; no source on their dates was read.

5.10 What could not be established

• A primary record of the French maker codes; all but three pairings.
• Whether codes were applied in wartime or during the early-1920s overhauls.
• The meaning of AD and a crown over AN on the Saint-Étienne Martian.
• The Vilar’s maker.
• The dating of Eibar proof marks.

References

Footnotes

1. Ian McCollum, “Spanish Eibar/Ruby Pistols”, Forgotten Weapons, 19 October 2012, https://www.forgottenweapons.com/spanish-eibarruby-pistols/, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. French Army instruction on the 7.65 mm automatic pistols in service, as transcribed by Tir Sportif Chabris, https://tirsportifchabris.fr/blog/pistolet-ruby-7-65-demontage, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩²

3. John M. Browning, “Automatic firearm”, US Patent 747,585, granted 22 December 1903, https://patents.google.com/patent/US747585, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩

4. Juan L. Calvó, “Automáticas eibarresas en la Gran Guerra” (Eibar, October 2008), http://www.catalogacionarmas.com/public/39-ruby.pdf, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

5. Jaeger Platoon, “Revolvers & Pistols part 3: 7,65 mm Pistol M/19 ‘Spanish’”, http://www.jaegerplatoon.net/PISTOLS3.htm, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

6. Collectors Firearms, Houston, “WWI French Army ‘Ruby’ Pistol (PR56239)”, https://collectorsfirearms.com/156994-wwi-french-army-ruby-pistol-pr56239.html, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

7. Ian McCollum, “Spanish Eibar/Ruby Pistols” (Vault page with the maker-code list and its disclaimer), Forgotten Weapons, https://www.forgottenweapons.com/other-handguns/eibar-ruby/, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. Ian McCollum, “Serbian/Yugoslav Ruby Pistol”, Forgotten Weapons, 2 March 2022, reader comments, https://www.forgottenweapons.com/serbian-yugoslav-ruby-pistol/, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩²

9. Unsigned collector text on the Ruby pistol, Tir Sportif Chabris, https://tirsportifchabris.fr/blog/vue-eclatee-pistolet-ruby, consulted 2026-10-19. No author or sources. ↩ ↩²

10. Sam S., “TFB Armorer’s Bench: Commentary on The 1915 Spanish Ruby Pistol”, The Firearm Blog, 27 August 2023, https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2023/08/27/tfb-armorers-bench-commentary-1915-spanish-ruby-pistol/, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩

11. “Ruby pistol”, English Wikipedia, revision 1362866939, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ruby_pistol&oldid=1362866939, consulted 2026-10-19. ↩ ↩²