Colt / Walman .25acp

T

TheGageinator

Inactive
I have a Walman 25ACP vest pistol that i am working on, anyone here with a colt 1908 model or similar 25acp vest pistol? I am needing some parts, and would like to compare measurements with someone. Ordering parts for this pistol is difficult, but the more Colt 1908 is very similar and easier to get parts for. i would like to compare parts, and see if some colt pieces will work in my gun!
 
if the colt firing pin is larger in most dimensions, i can machine it down wherever i need to . mine was fairly corroded and broke off. could i weld another pin on the end? i have not tried welding anything that small! haha

Here are the firing pin dimensions in Inches. i can provide any clarification

Firing pin

#1 RED .742 from bottom to top not including pin
#2 GREEN .255 inch round
#3 BLUE .315 guide notch tall incl. wide of body
#4 ORANGE .392 guide notch long

.200 Inner Diameter

 
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If you can machine one down in all dimensions, you can make a new one.
Welding the pin won't work, but a new tip can be silver brazed in place.
You would have to make sure the sear is good first.
 
FWIW, Walman was a tradename used by Arizmendi & Goenage or later Francisco Arizmendi,of Eibar, Spain. Typical of Spanish production of the 1910-1940 period, the guns are nicely finished, but made of poor quality material and show much hand labor (as that firing pin does).

The Colt part won't work. The other dimensions are close, but the sear lug is much too far forward; the Colt firing pin has a short lug. (FYI, the Browning 1910, 1922 and Czech DUO firing pins are interchangeable with the Colt, so they won't work either. That Walman is unusual among Spanish pistols of the time in using a striker rather than a hammer.

I think your best bet might be to make a firing pin yourself if at all possible; having a gunsmith do the work might well cost more than the gun is worth.

(I noted the need for a firing pin spring guide, but I see it there, so will delete that part.) Note that the firing pin itself (the tip of the pin) is used as the ejector, which means it has to be at least 1/4 inch long to stick out the front of the recoil shield when the slide comes back.

Fitting needs to be careful. If the firing pin and guide combined are too long, they can break out the rear of the frame when the slide comes back rather than the slide stopping on the front of the frame.

Good luck.

Jim
 
No one seems to have noticed that your pistol was sold in Austria in (apparently) 1913. The proof crest and date are stamped on the slide and it looks like yours was the 22,244th pistol to have been proven in that year.

Also, this is just a guess, but the firing pin that you currently have looks to be home made.
 
Note that my comments above were made on the assumption that the firing pin shown was in the gun and did work before the tip broke. I have seen Spanish pistols with "factory" parts of equal crudeness, but if that part is some home-made piece that did/does not work, then the first job is to determine what will work and the proper dimensions. And that could not be done long distance.

Jim
 
Looking at a photo of a dismantled Walman in Mathews Firearms Identification, the dimension #4 does not go all the way back to the rear of the striker, but the striker tab is definitely further forward than a Colt, FN, etc. striker. Technically, the striker could be shorter in the rear portion.

You may want to look into a striker from a "PIC" aka Gecado, Hawes, Falcon, Reck LaFury, Hy Hunter Stingray, etc., or possibly from a Beretta 1919 .25.

The first batch are strikers that are overall shorter than what you have, but the difference is behind the striker tab and doesn't matter. The 1919 Beretta is pretty close in over all configuration.

A Rino Galesi aka Rigarmi might work, too.

Unfortunately, I have way no of obtaining actual measurements, so you would have to see one in the flesh.
 
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