Loads for an Astra in 45 Colt?

by Remington40x , SE PA, Wednesday, November 06, 2019, 09:35 (1844 days ago) @ stonewalrus

I'm not an engineer nor an expert on metallurgy, but I do have some experience with Spanish side by side shotguns, including those manufactured by some of the more respected makers, some of whom are still active today.

There was a period when Spanish doubles were beautifully finished, but the heat treating, particularly of the working parts, was (to put it politely) inconsistent. The result was a gun that looked and handled beautifully, but wore very quickly, particularly important parts like sears and hammers.

Those problems seem to be resolved and I've heard little complaint about the quality of Spanish guns for the last 30 years. Nevertheless, I make it a practice not to try to hot rod the loads in any of my Spanish doubles and I treat them much more carefully than doubles from most other countries which I own.

All this is a long-winded way of saying that it's probably not a good idea to push older Spanish firearms of any type to the max. I'd treat the Astra as a nicely finished revolver with possible soft parts and try not to stress it excessively until I had evidence to the contrary.