HELP!! Garcia Industries .380 ???

[Texan]

Went to a local gun show this weekend with the girl friend to find her a small .380 to carry. She just completed her CHL and now wants to pick out a pistol that is small but effective.

We found "the perfect" .380 but made a big mistake of laying it down and continued shopping. I'd convinced her that we'd just gotten there and should do some more shopping. Went back to get the gun and the gun had been sold and the owner had gone to make some calls and wasn't com'n back.

This is where I need the groups help. The .380 had a piece of paper in the box indicating it was manufactured by Garcia Industries. Now I know Garcia makes some damn good fishing reels but never knew they made guns. I've checked out various boards and can't find out anything about this pistol. The owner, when I first looked at the pistol, say something about the maker of the gun being a subsidiary of Garcia.

HELP!!!

o~\o

 

[ExtremeDooty]

I didn't know that Garcia made handguns.

Did you know that Ruger makes golf clubs?

Who comes up with this stuff?

 

[Stephen A. Camp]

Hello. If I remember corrected, Garcia imported Star pistols at one time.

Best.

 

[Tamara]

Indeed.

The frame of my Star SM Super is stamped "The Garcia Corp. Wash D.C."

 

[bpisler]

I would forget about the garcia import,breakage could be a problem and with hard to find parts any repairs could be expensive.Have you looked at the bersa line of 380?,very good pistols at a really good price.

 

[BluesBear]

Garcia didn't make firearms. Garcia was a major importer in the 1960s and early 1970s. Interarms took over for them in the late 1970s.

It could have been a Star or an Astra or a Llama or even a Bersa.

My first Rossi Coach Gun was marked Garcia. The two I have now are marked Interarms.

 

[fnforme]

Garcia DID make a copy of the .380 Colt Gov't Model. How do I know? I've held one. It was marked "Garcia Pony" IIRC.

I would pass on it. My grandfather has one of these that he says he bought back in the 70's (he thinks) and I compared it to the Colt .380 my father used to carry. The Garcia sure had a nice blued finish on it but my grandfather claims he can't get through a complete mag without a jam. He's not really a gun guy and wouldn't do anything like change mags or ammo to try fixing it, so take it for what it's worth.

I would recommend a Kel Tec if you're looking to go cheap. Something like a real Colt .380 or preferably a Glock 26 if you have the cash.

 

[BluesBear]

fnforme said;
It was marked "Garcia Pony" IIRC... My grandfather has one of these that he says he bought back in the 70's...

That's because the original Colt Pony was made by Astra. Astra was imported by Garcia. Astra also made the Colt Junior in .22 short and .25acp, which were sold under both names prior to the GCA-68. Afterwards only the Colt versions were sold.

The Colt Mustang, Series 80 and Series 90 .380 Government Models are slightly different from the Pony.

The GCA-68 changed the rules of importation of small pistols.

An American company sub-contracting production to a foreign company didn't have to conform to the same importation requlations.