The Ballester–Molina is a pistol designed and built by the Argentine company
''Hispano Argentina Fábrica de Automóviles SA'' (HAFDASA). From 1938 to 1940 it bore the name Ballester–Rigaud.
History
The Ballester–Molina was designed to offer the
Argentine Federal Police
The Argentine Federal Police ( es, Policía Federal Argentina or PFA) is the national civil police force of the Argentine federal government. The PFA has detachments throughout the country. Until January 1, 2017, it also acted as the local la ...
and
other armed forces a cheaper alternative to the "Sistema Colt Modelo 1927", itself a licensed copy of the
Colt
Colt(s) or COLT may refer to:
*Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age
People
* Colt (given name)
*Colt (surname)
Places
*Colt, Arkansas, United States
*Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
M1911A1
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for the ...
, built under the supervision of Colt engineers. Production of the Ballester–Molina began in 1938 and ceased in 1953. The ''Sistema Colt 1927'' was manufactured until 1966, outliving its intended successor by more than two decades.
The company's history dates back to 1929, when two
Spaniard
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both ind ...
entrepreneurs, Arturo Ballester and Eugenio Molina, established a branch of
Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...
in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, "
Hispano-Argentina S.A.". Years later, HAFDASA hired two engineers,
Frenchman
The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France.
The French people, especially th ...
Rorice Rigaud and Carlos Ballester–Molina, a relative of the founders. Rigaud became the chief designer of the firm, while Ballester–Molina was appointed
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
.
[Ballester-Molina]
/ref>
As the Ballester–Molina was designed to serve alongside the Modelo 1927 that was currently in Argentine service, it bears a striking resemblance to the Colt M1911A1. The Ballester–Molina and the M1911 share an identical seven-round magazine, barrel, recoil spring, and barrel bushing. Although many other parts appear identical at first glance, they are not; only the barrel and magazine are interchangeable. The Ballester–Molina is also known as ''HAFDASA'', after the initials of its manufacturer.
Use
The Ballester–Molina was predominantly used by Argentina's security forces. The Argentine Army
The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander- ...
adopted it as its standard sidearm in 1938. The Ballester–Molina is a short recoil
Recoil operation is an operating mechanism used to implement locked breech, autoloading firearms. Recoil operated firearms use the energy of recoil to cycle the action, as opposed to gas operation or blowback operation using the pressure of the pr ...
-operated semi-automatic locked breech
Locked breech is the design of a breech-reloading firearm's action. This is important in understanding how a self-reloading firearm works. In the simplest terms, the locked breech is one way to slow down the opening of the breech of a self-reloadi ...
pistol. The locking system is a near-identical copy of the Model 1911's, with the swinging lock used to unlock the barrel from the slide. The pistol has a two-stage, single action trigger, but unlike that of the 1911 trigger, it pivots rather than slide. The spring housing system is integrated to the pistol frame rather than being a separate part. The hammer
A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...
is locked by the frame-mounted manual safety
Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Meanings
There are ...
, and most notably there is no grip safety. Many examples for sale on the surplus market have seen heavy use but show little internal wear.
Some 10,000 to 15,000 were sold to the United Kingdom during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
In a September 2007 article in the Argentine gun magazine ''Magnum'', about the British-ordered Ballester–Molina pistols, gun writer and collector George E. Arbones' research and collection data seems to indicate the legend British-bought Ballester–Molinas being manufactured using steel salvaged from the German pocket battleship ''Admiral Graf Spee'' after she was scuttled
Scuttling is the deliberate sinking of a ship. Scuttling may be performed to dispose of an abandoned, old, or captured vessel; to prevent the vessel from becoming a navigation hazard; as an act of self-destruction to prevent the ship from being ...
in the River Plate in Montevideo harbor, Uruguay. Another specialist, Alejandro Gherovici, dismissed the legend saying the steel was likely supplied by the US under Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
.[ Arbones' article also details the use of those pistols by the British 8th Army and the SOE, and how he came to have his own British-marked Ballester–Molinas. Between 10,000 and 15,000 of all Ballester–Molinas were specially manufactured for Britain during ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. A number of pistols was issued to agents of the SOE, in order to avoid the use of British weapons for undercover operations in occupied Europe and behind enemy lines. In 2002 the publication nº150 of the Magnum Magazine written by Santiago P. Tavella Madariaga provides data on this myth and the manufacture of the British contract Ballester Molina pistol. British contract Ballester–Molinas are identified by serial numbers ranging from 12.000 to 21.000, marked with a "B" prefix (''i.e. B16343'').
Variants
A version of the Ballester–Molina chambered for .22 Long Rifle
The .22 Long Rifle or simply .22 LR or 22 (metric designation: 5.6×15mmR) is a long-established variety of .22 caliber rimfire ammunition originating from the United States. It is used in a wide range of rifles, pistols, revolvers, smo ...
was manufactured for training purposes. This version was identical externally to the standard Ballester–Molina, except for slide markings indicating the caliber. However, the .22 caliber version is blowback operated to accommodate the less-powerful rimfire cartridge. This version was produced in much smaller numbers and is much rarer today. The Ballester–Molina pistol also came with an extended barrel and a wooden buttstock.
Users
*
** EA
**FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
** GNA
** PFA
** PNA
*
*
*
*
* Italian Partisans - British-purchased examples supplied to partisans.
*
*
*
See also
*Obregón pistol
The Obregón is a Mexican designed semi-automatic pistol designed in the mid-1930s by the mechanical engineer Alejandro Obregón. It uses the same .45 caliber ammunition as the Colt 1911 and it resembles the 1911 in overall appearance, frame size ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*Hogg, Ian; Gander, Terry ''Jane's Guns: Recognition Guide'' London and New York City: HarperCollins Publishers. Fourth Edition, 2005.
*Arbones, Jorge E. "Magnum" Buenos Aires, Argentina magazine: "Ballester Molinas Peronistas y Ballester Molinas Inglesas," September 2007
External links
Hafdasa Website
Argentina's 1911
User Manual
Argentina's Ballester-Molina pistol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballester-Molina
.45 ACP semi-automatic pistols
1911 platform
.22 LR pistols
Hispano-Argentina
Semi-automatic pistols of Argentina
Short recoil firearms
Simple blowback firearms
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1938
World War II military equipment of Argentina