In 1946, the Spanish military determined that it was time to retire the Model 400 in favor of a more modern design. The replacement for the Astra 400 was the Star Super A, a conventional locked breech Browning design. Starting in the 1960's, the American collector community was favored with the importation of surplus Astra 400's. WARNING: It is often suggested that the Astra Model 400, due to its unique chamber, was designed to fire a wide variety of nominally 9mm diameter cartridges, ranging from the 9mm Parabellum to the 9mm Browning Long to the .38 ACP to the .38 Super to the 9mm Steyr. THIS IS UNTRUE. The ONLY cartridge that one should attempt to fire in an Astra 400 is the 9mm Largo. Failure to do so may result in a spontaneous disassembly of the firearm and severe injury or death to the shooter.
Antaris, Leonardo M. , Astra Automatic Pistols, (FIRAC Publishing Company, Sterling, Colorado: 1988) Astra Automatic Pistols is available from IDSA Books.
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