[gotime242]

Long story short - I am a pilot and over 2 years ago started flying for a guy who owned a learjet charter company. I became a close friend of his and the family, and actually ended up dating his daughter. He passed away last month due to cancer. Since i was already living with his daughter at a house we were renting, we decided to move back in with her mom to support her and to be there for any help needed.

He flew for the king of jordan from 1976 to 1989 as the lead pilot in the King's aerobatic team flying Pitts Specials. He became a close friend of the king and was at the palace a lot with his family. The king gave him this FN Barracuda to protect him and his wife with the two girls on the way (my current girlfriend and her sister). The FN is still with the family, and was brought back into the US 20 years ago when they came back.

So now, this gun (which was never fired after it was given) was brought out and is often a topic of discussion due to its awesome history. I recently inspected it, and cleaned it up and re-lubed it to make sure it would continue to last.

As some of you know, it is a DA Revolver with interchangable wheels....one for .357/.38 and another wheel for 9mm Luger. What is pretty rare about it..is it still has the 9mm wheel in the original box.

If anyone would like to guess the value of this gun, please feel free to share.

More Info on gun:
http://modernfirearms.net/handguns/hg195-e.htm

Info on the "Royal Jordanian Falcons"...King Hussein Bin Talal's aerobatic team.

http://www.rjfalcons.com/history.html

and this was my g/fs dad and the pilot i flew with, his name was paul (the only american ;) ):

http://www.rjfalcons.com/Team1981-1989.html

Pics:

http://i31.tinypic.com/29krxat.jpg

http://i27.tinypic.com/14o0y75.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/nfs5dh.jpg



Thought it was an interesting story, so i figured i would share.

Thanks!

[Trebor]

I can't make a guess as to value. Any documentation proving the story would help though, if the family were to try to sell it. Is there any paperwork with the gun that shows it was a gift from the King of Jordan? Provenence makes a big deal for this kind of collectible.

Short of that, documentation that your friend owned it, that your friend worked for the King of Jordan, and that he asserted this was a gift from the King, would help. If he never put anything like this in writing, type up all the facts and proofs, have his family submit the statement that he said it was a gift from the King, and have that notarized.

Personally, I think the problem would be finding a collector who was interested, especially in the U.S.

[gotime242]

Oh its not for sale, and they will probably never want to part with it. I just figured i would share the story and was just curious of the value.

[Dr.Rob]

Never seen one of those, trigger guard looks like it was meant for use as a knuckle duster instead of 2nd hand hold.

[saltydog452]

Thank you for posting.

salty

[john44402]

Cool gun with a great history.

[Jim Watson]

A Barracuda turns up every once in a while, but there appears to have been no great number of them sold in the USA. Not enough to make it into the Blue Book or Standard Catalog, at any rate. And I do not see them in several sources from the 1970s and 1980s.

As a gun, it is probably worth about as much as a good Smith & Wesson, but the extra cylinder would add a good deal. The story is interesting but without positive confirmation does not much count as provenance. Collectors warn each other to "buy the gun, not the story."

[Landpimp]

been looking for one for a bit now

and thats a great one with a great story

just a guess, but 700-100?

[JohnBT]

Now where did I read something about these? Hmmm.

Okay.

http://grantcunningham.com/blog_files/762ef54d9c3649eafd99c70790818f2d-9.html

He says - in 2006 - that there were 400 imported recently.

"Unfortunately I didn't find out about these in time to snag one from the distributor, so I had to content myself with paying retail. (Ugh. I feel so violated!) Still, for the $300 it cost, it really is a good deal - and with only 400 imported, it's not likely that another will show up next to you on the firing line!"

[gotime242]

Look at this:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=132456586

Bid of 999 with a buy it now of 2250....pretty crazy.

I guess the gun itself with only the .357 wheel is more common and only like 300-400 as you mentioned. Apparently the 9mm wheel is the collector piece, which is what would up the value.

Interesting...

[Jim Watson]

Looking at picture no 2 in that advertisement, I see what appears to be a proofmark on the cylinder right where the camera flash or flood glares and washes out the detail.

Is there anything like that on yours? If so, can you show a better picture or description? In particular, is it a crown over a circle with a letter "R"?

[Gunz]

I paid $300 new for one in the cosmoline mode. No 9mm cylinder came with it, but I found one online. The 9mm cylinder is rather rare.

They are of no real market value. They are Astra revolvers. Spanish, I believe. They shoot well enough, and are made to specification worth while in quality for FN to stamp their names on the contract gun.

Keep the gun as a great memory, but it is nothing special in the history of gun making.

That said, I have a Llama IX generation, made of soft metal, blued, fixed sights, which is terribly loose. It has zero market value. However, it is my first 1911 style pistol, and it went with me on many youthful hiking and road trips. It shot well enough, and it gave me comfort as a means of self defense in those years of youthful poverty.

These days, I own Ed Browns and Nighthawks, but that Llama IX is not for sale.:D

[Landpimp]

they are Belguim made FN's there was I think an Astra similar but not of the quality. Manhurian(frence) also did so...I think

the triger guard was to mimic the semi auto rage at the time, interesting idea, however I hate those darn things

I didnt even look on GB....my trick is NOT to look for what I am looking for....then it finds me ;)

[tekarra]

gotime,

Interesting story, thanks for sharing. I had an opportunity to buy a Barracuda about 20 years ago, but passed and hare regretted it since.

[Ron James]

Gunz is correct, they were not made in Belgium by FN per say. FN purchased what was left of Astra and decided since the equipment was there, the workers were there why not break into the revolver field. The Barracuda is a Astra under another name.

[JAV8000]

Good looking S&W clone. I kinda like that trigger guard, maybe because I'm a Beretta man.

[BlackHand1917]

The late King Hussein of Jordan was a big firearms enthusiast and loved to shoot handguns. Considering the fact that he survived a number of assassination attempts, it all makes sense. He used to have a friendly competition going with the exiled King Constantine of Greece, but Constantine had more time on his hands because he was not an active head of state, so he won versus Hussein most of the time!

[RDF]

To OP: You might be able to aid your search for documentation by writing the FN company with the S/N of the pistol. They might be able to find out if it was sold to an Official Jordanian agency. That would go a long way to proving the family's personal story.

Ralph