Astra 960

T

test drive

New member
Elderly friend next door decided to sell a few of his gun collection. Had a very nice Astra 960 .38 cal with 4 inch barrel. Sold it to me for $ 200. This thing is nice, pinned barrel, recessed chambers, fully adjustable sights, has the hammer strut adjustment ring in grip and a deep rich bluing like you used to see in the 60s and 70s. It looks just like a Smith model 27. This thing is really beefy kind of over kill for a .38. I compared it with a Astra .357 and except for stamping it's identical even the cylinder is the same length. I suspect they share the same frame along with the .44. Can't find much info for the 960 and thought maybe someone may know more about them. Seems odd they would make the 960 and 357 so identical maybe the 960 was requested by their police departments? Also I hear the 960 was not ment for export ? Any info would be appreciated.
 
I wish I could help more, but I will offer a word of caution. Companies often make .38 and .357 revolvers that seem identical except for the chamber, but in fact have critical parts of the .357 made of different alloys and/or with different heat treatment. In other words, a .38 converted to .357 might not last long.
Jim
 
No conversion intended simply a comparison. Just seems it would be more cost efficient to make it in 357 since .38s would be usable.
 
No conversion intended simply a comparison. Just seems it would be more cost efficient to make it in 357 since .38s would be usable.
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As James K stated critical parts may be made from different alloys(frame, cylinder, etc) to sustain the higher pressures created by .357 as compared to .38. The alloys themselves can cost substantially more, thus making the retail price substantially higher, even tho machining and assembly costs are the same. Thus it makes sense to make .38s with the lower cost alloys to make .38 only guns, substantially less expensive to that market wanting a .38 only firearm. You see the same thing today with modern firearms.
 
Since police use of revolvers is history for many nations, it may be irrelevant, but one reason for making two different (though very similar) guns is that many police forces, for whatever reason, mandated the .38 Special and banned use of .357 by officers. Plus the .38 is cheaper and the higher quality for .357 comes with a bigger price tag. To us, buying one gun, $20-30 difference is not significant, but when a city, state or nation with a small budget is buying 10 or 20 thousand guns that $20-30 amounts to a big chunk of change.

Jim
 
Astras are very quality S&W revolver clones. But there's very little cross over on parts. Guessing patent issues. Parts are hard to find but they are great guns.
 
James K said:
Since police use of revolvers is history for many nations, it may be irrelevant, but one reason for making two different (though very similar) guns is that many police forces, for whatever reason, mandated the .38 Special and banned use of .357 by officers. Plus the .38 is cheaper and the higher quality for .357 comes with a bigger price tag. To us, buying one gun, $20-30 difference is not significant, but when a city, state or nation with a small budget is buying 10 or 20 thousand guns that $20-30 amounts to a big chunk of change.

Jim
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This makes sense
 
As far as I know, there's zero drop in convertability between the Astras and similar Smith & Wessons.

The Astras use a coil mainspring, not unlike the J frame smiths, and I believe that all dimensions, including screw pitches and the like, are metric.
 
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