Revolver ONÁ de Orbea Hermanos

Being a S&W enthusiast and collector, I have always had a liking for the copies of these excellent guns. Many notable companies made their initial forays into revolver manufacturing by copying the weapons developed in other countries. The Belgians and the Spanish are most generally thought of when considering ‘copies’ – but it is interesting to note that the first Webley revolvers chambering self-contained cartridges, were copies of the S&W no 1and 2 Rimfire models! (Ref Zhuk)

The fascinating thing from an historical point of view, about Spanish antique firearms is the scarcity of reliable information. Many documents and historical references were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War – so to find any interesting historical connections when researching an antique Spanish arm, I find particularly satisfying.

Extracts from ‘Spanish Army Handguns’ about system ONÁ. (Good in Basque)

“It is recommended by Royal Order of October 6^th, 1884, the revolver “modelo nº 7, de Orbea Hermanos”, (model number 7, of Orbea Brothers).

Its mechanism was of double action. Although it was not regulation firearm, it was used in big quantities by the Officers of the Spanish Army. It was adopted by the Guardia Civil until by Royal Order of October 5^th, 1922, it was substituted by the Star pistol, in 9 mm. Largo”

While many poor quality copies were produced of the S&W DA by other Spanish gun makers, under the general description of ‘ONÁ,’ the quality of Orbea Hermanos revolver was such that they were one of only two Spanish makers to receive a pistol contract from the British Army during the First World War, which in itself must be looked upon as a testimonial to their quality. Ref Hogg.

Up until 1916 the British Army were desperate to acquire revolvers - which our own hard pressed industries could not produce fast enough – so they purchased quantities of these S&W type top brake revolvers in British calibre .455 and military style of finish. This ‘Pistol OP No1 Mk1’ was declared obsolete for British service in 1921.

Britain could not produce nearly enough Official Pattern handguns for her needs, and turned to foreign suppliers who could provide acceptable ones chambered in .455; the most numerous and well-known such “Foreign Objects” (in War Department parlance) were the S&W “Hand Ejector” and Colt “New Service” models.

The other primary source for such “substitute standard” handguns was Spain. Here is a portion of the relevant text from Chapter 5, “Foreign Objects, 1900-1945”, in Chamberlain and Taylerson’s “Revolvers of the British Services, 1854-1954” -

”The Ministry of Munitions’ reasons for buying Spanish .455 inch revolvers, for British service, have been generally enunciated in their American context.” (Note: the main criteria referred to by that statement were (1) the existence of sufficient manufacturing capacity to produce large numbers of firearms, and (2) that the source country was not involved in the war as a belligerent.) “Thus there was a need for handguns, which U.K. industry could not meet, and at Eibar there was a Spanish revolver industry credited with an output of some 430,000 assorted revolvers during 1909. Further, one pattern of Spanish service revolver was readily adaptable to the .455 British round.”

”The British service version of that Spanish revolver strongly resembles a Smith & Wesson “.44 Double Action” revolver of the 1880’s, and its pattern was but one of several such ( ONÁ) recommended to Spanish officers by the Royal Decree 9 of 6 October 1884) which introduced an 11 m/m Spanish centre-fire service revolver cartridge.” (.44 Russian)

As you will gather from the above, the Spanish revolvers do not equate to any British pattern.

The text goes on to indicate that the pistol orders placed with “Orbea y Cia.” (“Orbea Hermanos” - Orbea Brothers), of Eibar, Spain, were handled by that firm in syndication with two other Eibar manufacturers: “Garate Anitua y Cia.” and “Troc##@$%$%a Aranzabal y Cia.” Apparently a total of 30,000 revolvers were contracted for.

Created in 1847 under the name “Orbea Hermanos” (Brothers) this company was dedicated at first to the manufacture of arms. Like most Spanish arms companies they were forced to cease manufacturing arms at the end of the Spanish civil war. Cannily, they turned their tooling over to the manufacturing of bicycles – and to this day continue as one of the worlds leading suppliers of quality bikes.

The revolver for sale here today is the forerunner of those mentioned above – it has a 6 inch barrel; would have been manufactured in the 1890’s - and is devoid of any distinguishing marks – but it is plain from the design that it was manufactured by ORBEA HERMANOS Y CIA EIBAR. Ref Zhuk.

Proof marks were not introduced in Spain until the 1920’s so there are none on this gun, and serial numbers were also a rarity – as indeed were any markings except assembly numbers.

The cylinder and frame of this revolver are marked with the assembly number ‘87’ and the cylinder displays an ‘A’. The number ‘28’ is stamped on the frame and the barrel latch – probably sub assembler marks; there may be similar marks on the internal mechanisms.

Cosmetically the gun retains most of an old re-blue – exhibiting thinning in the places you would expect from the acid action of the hands. There is some general pitting - particularly on the cylinder, presumably from poor storage at one time, but generally this is a smooth gun. Decent chambers and bore, exhibiting some pitting as you would expect with the age of this item, and the rifling in the barrel while worn, is still clearly visible, and would probably clean up better.

The grips are old replacement and in very good order –see pics – and by old I mean 60/75 + years old in their own right, not modern replacements. See Pics.

This is a well worn and used gun and mechanically is only fair to good. Everything appears to work: ejection system, single/double action, and indexing. The frame lockup is excellent and cylinder lock up is very reasonable for its age.

These revolvers saw heavy use all over the world – being used obviously extensively in Spain both with the military, the Spanish Guardia Civil and of course civilian use. Existing and ex Spanish colonies also used them extensively – as well as military uses the police forces of may South American countries were armed with these ‘Spanish Smith &Wesson’s’…

Prospective purchasers should note that this particular gun will have seen considerable use over its long working life – it has been the subject of repairs in the past, noticeable are the ejector pawl and the barrel latch – extended to help keep the cylinder in place - see Pics - there may be more internally, but the old girl still functions – amazing to hold and wonder – what and how may other hands have held her and in what parts of the world…

By no means a perfect specimen - but a genuine antique, over 110 years old, full of character, it carries the marks of its long working life with dignity.

This revolver is chambered for the .44 Russian revolver cartridge. This is an obsolete calibre. The age of this item, plus the fact that this calibre is regarded as ‘obsolete’ - means that it complies fully with UK legislation, and no license is required, as long as it is held as curiosity or ornament.

No Reserve.

Any questions gladly answered.

Please add £15 for P&P Inc insurance.