Hi guys, thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I'm here today at the Rock Island Auction Company
taking a look at an Argentine Ballester-Molina pistol.
This is a .45 calibre Argentine military service pistol.
This particular one is in absolutely gorgeous condition,
and is actually one that has ties to British SOE, or Special
Operations Executive, during World War Two, very cool.
Now a lot of people will probably know that Argentina adopted the
Model 1911 pistol around World War One, and it then adopted the
Model 1911A1 pistol as its Sistema Colt Modelo 1927 in 1927.
However, we're not gonna talk about the Sistema 1927 today, that's
a subject for a separate video. We want to focus on the Ballester-Molina.
So the story of this gun begins in the 1920s when a company called HAFDASA,
which as an acronym, is founded by two guys Arturo Ballester and Eugenio Molina.
Now HAFDASA stands for Hispano Argentina Fábrica de Automóbiles SA,
and this is actually an extension of the Hispano-Suiza company working in Argentina.
Ballester and Molina are agents for Hispano-Suiza,
and this is a company that manufactured vehicles and engines and that's what they start doing in Argentina.
However by the 1930s, late 1930, well, mid-1930s, they decide
to look into the possibility of manufacturing a pistol for the Argentine government, military and security forces.
And so they bring in a Frenchman by the name of Rorice Rigaud (R I G A U D) to act as their chief engineer.
And what they come up with, what Rigaud comes up with, is basically a modification
or a twist on the Spanish Star Model B and Llama pistols. So this isn't really a 1911,
however, in order to actually get Argentine military acceptance of the pistol it had to present
minimal additional logistical challenges for maintenance beyond the 1927 pattern pistols,
which is just an exact copy of the model 1911A1.
This had to have a lot in common with the 1911s,
and specifically it had to use the same barrels and the same magazines. And so it does, unlike Star Model Bs.
(Star Model Bs also aren't in .45, but enough of this, back to our Ballester.)
These pistols went into production in 1936 and they would stay in production through the 1950s.
So let me go ahead and show you this one and how it works. And then we'll talk about what happened to these.
So what differentiates a Ballester-Molina from a regular Model of 1911, or in this case a Colt Sistema 1927, which is exactly a 1911.
A couple of the initial visual differences. One are the grips.
The Ballester-Molina had these vertically serrated grips, not checkered like a Colt.
The Ballester-Molina has this interesting sort of interrupted pattern of slide serrations there.
Unlike the standard serrations on a Colt.
The Ballester-Molina does not have a grip safety, and it has a nice extensive beavertail built into the back of the frame.
It has an integral mainspring housing, on the Colt this is a separate removable part.
You can see that on the bottom here where this mainspring housing comes out.
And the Ballester has a fire control group taken largely from the Star. So it's a trigger that actually pivots instead of sliding backwards.
That's a little difficult to spot unless you already know what you're looking at.
But it is the other significant change from the Colt to the Ballester.
We've got a whole wall of text here on the left side of the gun, and this is actually the second pattern.
So this is Pistola Automatica, calibre .45. Fábricada Por HAFDASA, so made for HAFDASA.
International patents, Ballester-Molina.
The first 9,900 of these pistols were actually marked Ballester-Rigaud, named after Rorice Rigaud,
who is the French engineer in charge of their development. They changed in ... 1940 to Ballester-Molina.
By that time one of the head engineers in HAFDASA was Carlos Ballester-Molina,
who was actually related to both Ballester and Molina as the name suggests.
Molina was the brother-in-law of Arturo Ballester, and so second generation you end up with Carlos Ballester-Molina.
Anyway, they change at about 9,900 to his name, and they would remain Ballester-Molinas through the rest of production.
Rigaud left the company for reasons unknown.
Anyway, Industria Argentina, so Argentine.
The serial number is on the left side of what would be the mainspring housing, the left side of the rear of the grip.
Now this particular one has a second serial number on the frame where we would expect it on the 1911,
and it has a "B" prefix. This actually indicates this was part of a purchase that the British government made during World War Two.
Between '42 and 1944 the British bought 8,000 Ballester-Molinas specifically for British SOE use. That's Special Operations Executive.
In order to keep track of the guns they were all given a British inventory number in addition
to the regular serial number. So there's a total of 8,000 guns between serial numbers 12,000 and 21,000.
So not quite every gun in that range will be British,
but most of them are, and the ones that are will have this British number on them.
Interesting to note here that this one actually went through...
This would have been surplused in England at some point, because it has a British proof mark on the barrel.
In addition to using standard 1911 barrels, the Ballesters also used standard 1911 magazines.
So HAFDASA produced them, but they are identical and interchangeable with Colt.
Disassembly method is identical as the 1911.
You know, really from a practical handling perspective, with the exception of not having a grip safety,
the Ballester-Molina might as well be identical to a 1911.
It's just that the internal manufacture, and the fire control group in particular, has been simplified.
The Ballester-Molina would remain in production ... into the 1950s.
However, at that time the Argentine government had set up its own manufacturing organisation,
and it had decided to go back to use of the Model 1911A1.
Again, that's the subject for a separate video.
But ... basically it was the death knell for the HAFDASA company.
They had transitioned ... all of their eggs into the pistol basket,
and when they lost Argentine government contracts for the Ballester-Molina they were in serious financial trouble.
And despite some attempts to make .22 calibre pistols and some really pretty weird exotic stuff,
(which by the way I have videos on already),
despite that they would end up going bankrupt and out of business.
Now the pistols themselves would stay in service for quite a long time.
There were a total of 9,900 Ballester-Rigauds and then about 103,000 Ballester-Molinas manufactured.
They are the exact same gun, just different markings on the slide. And they would stay in service use at least into the 1980s.
Once the Argentine government finally decided to get rid of them, a lot of them were surplused and ended up in the US.
Some of those had been factory refinished, or arsenal refinished actually,
and Parkerised instead of having this original really nice deep blue to them. So you will find that on some of those pistols.
But despite some initial misconceptions that these are some sort of Spanish junk,
... the Ballester-Molina was in fact a very well built, high quality, nicely finished .45 calibre pistol.
And I think they're getting more and more recognition for their true quality these days.
So hopefully you guys enjoyed the video. If you're interested in this gorgeous SOE Ballester
you can find it in Rock Island's most recent auction catalogue. And whether you want it or anything else
you should take a look at the description text below, where you'll find links to Rock Island's Instagram page
and YouTube channel. Both of which have all sorts of cool stuff updated regularly.
Thanks for watching.