Spanish Ruby "Vilar" Pistol...

Willius · Oct 6, 2011

I've got an old .32acp Ruby pistol manufactured in Spain for sale here in the U.S. and sold under the name "Vilar". Field stripping of these little pistols is pretty straight forward. My little pistol, however, has a little snag. After twisting the barrel to unlock the barrel from the frame, the slide catches on something in the frame, instead of sliding off. Can anyone with any knowledge about these pistols chime in about something I might be overlooking, or any commonly known issues or broken parts that would cause this? Thanks in advance for any replies.

mjwall · Oct 25, 2011

I also have a Spanish "Ruby" pistol that had the same issue. Mine was made by Beistugui Hermanos (brothers), and was called the Fabrique d'Armes de Guerre d'Grande Precision "Bulwark" model. Can be seen here- Gun Holsters and Gun Magazines by Triple K :: FABRIQUE D'ARMES, BULWARK, .32ACP, 8 RD MAGAZINE OR GRIPS . Here is what happened with mine. I bought it at a local flea market & the seller said that the trigger "Pulled hard" & didn't eject or feed correctly. It might have fed correctly if he had fed it .32 auto not .32 s&w. When I tried to tear it down I had the same issue as you- something was holding the slide on. Here is what I discovered when I finally after some hard work got it apart. The old steel sear on these gets weak after decades of use, and begins to bend over backwards. The problem is that the sear when bent is not tall enough to fully cock the internal striker hammer fully back, which is necessary to remove the slide. Sear cant fully cock the slide therefore the slide is obstructed by the striker. I eventually, using a punch, removed the striker pin (you will need to pull the pin on the magazine catch so you can reinstall the catch spring, its a bit tricky). As for replacing the sear, I found a parts spanish pistol but am looking into wether or not a sear from a more modern Star model d could be used. The controls for the Star D & my Ruby are amazingly similar.

RyanC73 · Jan 31, 2015

Willius said:
I've got an old .32acp Ruby pistol manufactured in Spain for sale here in the U.S. and sold under the name "Vilar". Field stripping of these little pistols is pretty straight forward. My little pistol, however, has a little snag. After twisting the barrel to unlock the barrel from the frame, the slide catches on something in the frame, instead of sliding off. Can anyone with any knowledge about these pistols chime in about something I might be overlooking, or any commonly known issues or broken parts that would cause this? Thanks in advance for any replies.