I was having difficulty understanding them in spite of many years of collecting experience and all the published information on the M300 I could find. Now, with the gun in hand, the things that didn’t seem right when purchasing it were staring me right in the face. In addition to the serial number, it was immediately obvious by the E/U ( ESPERANZA Y UNCETA) slide logo and E/U logo grips that it was an early production gun. Unfortunately, very little is published on the early models. Astra began manufacturing the M300 in 1923, starting with serial number 350001. It was serial number 350032 in 9mm Kurz (.380 ACP). However, my instinct was to take the risk and purchase it anyway with a BuyNow, before another collector jumped on it.
I could also see there were other things that at the time didn’t seem right. The photos weren’t great, but I could see it was a very early serial number. One morning as I was searching various websites, I came across an M300 that caught my eye. The focus of this article is the very early Model 300s and a purchase I made a number of years ago. By the time production ceased in 1946, over 150,000 were produced, with more than two-thirds during the Spanish Civil War / WWII era.īecause production was so low in the beginning, the early pre-WWII M300s are much less common and hard to find. While the Model 300 (M300) began production in 1923, the volume was low until WWII, when Germany ordered large quantities of them for the Wehrmacht. Many thousands more were imported in the 50 and 60s, prior to the GCA of 1968. Many thousands were “bring backs” by returning U.S. Most collectors recognize the Astra 300 by its unique tubular shape and finely checkered hardwood grips.
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