Original French WWI Model 1916 Ruby Pistol Holster – 1917 Dated Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is an extremely scarce WWI-dated holster for the Ruby pistol. The self-loading Ruby pistol is best known as a French World War I sidearm, the Pistolet Automatique de 7 millim.65 genre “Ruby”. A very international piece of weaponry, it was closely modeled after John Browning’s M1903 design.

In 1914, just before the start of the First World War, Gabilondo started manufacture of a sturdy self-loading pistol based on the Browning Model 1903 and chambered for the 7.65mm Browning/.32 ACP cartridge. Unusual for the time, the magazine capacity was nine shots instead of the usual six or seven. Ruby-types continued to be used until the end of World War II, particularly by Spanish and French Maquis, as well as their Vichy opponents.

The holster is in great shape retaining its original securing strap and belt loop with the unique French suspender attachment. Under the flap, the French maker stamp is visible, with 1917 in the middle, confirming this as a WWI-issue Ruby holster. The holster has an SA stamped on the front. In 1919, Finland bought 10,000 Ruby pistols while in France, becoming the first semi-pistol issued to the Finnish military.

During World War 1 both French and Italian Armed Forces had shortage of pistols and were buying this quite heavy 7,65 mm blowback pistol manufactured around Eibar in Spain. During World War 1 France suffered from shortage of military small arms and found itself unable to provide enough pistols for its troops, hence it approved this pistol design manufactured by Spanish company Gabilondo y Urresti as Pistolet Automatique de 7 millimet. 65 genre “Ruby”. Original French order for Gabilondo y Urresti was for 10,000 pistols a month, but this ballooned first to 30,000 a month and later to 50,000 a month – much beyond the production capacity of the company. Hence Gabilondo y Urresti re-arranged production by getting four other Spanish companies as its partners for filling the contract. Ultimately France ended up making contracts with 45 Spanish companies total and Gabilondo y Urresti also had seven partner companies taking part in its contract. The Spanish companies involved were all small companies in Eibar and Guernica in Basque region, which became major production hub of this pistol during World War 1.

Having large number of small-scale manufacturers with varying production quality and quality control caused pretty serious problems. While there were blueprints and approved standard pistol design for this pistol, in reality manufacturers taking part in its production ended up producing slight variations of the pistol design and parts of pistols made by different manufacturers were not interchangeable – there was no spare part supply or even cannibalising parts from broken pistols to repair some of them did not necessarily work. When 7,65 mm x 17 ammunition used was also quite weak it was no surprise that France was willing to sell these pistols after World War 1, although the pistol also remained in French use in World War 2 and beyond. What is known the total number of pistols approved by French military during World War 1 was about 710,000. While French military was the main customer, there were also others. Serbia had received 5,000 Ruby pistols. Later Yugoslavia bought more between 1931 – 1933 – naming them as Pistolj 7,65 mm/VTZ 1933. French manufacturer Unique manufactured higher quality versions of Ruby pistol after World War 1.