Automatic Pistols Assembly/Disassembly. J B Wood
Detach and remove the combination trigger and trigger bar spring.
7. Remove the trigger bar.
8. If necessary for repair, drift out the trigger pin and turn the trigger into the guard space for removal. The two pins above the trigger space are not removed in normal takedown.
9. Remove the screw and take off the left grip panel. Restrain the magazine catch, and drift out the catch cross-pin. CAUTION:Control the magazine catch as the drift punch is taken out. Note that the pin is a splined type, and must be drifted out toward the left.
10. Ease the magazine catch outward, and remove it.
11. Remove the combination magazine catch and hammer spring.
12. Drift out the hammer cross-pin.
13. Remove the hammer, ejector, and firing pin block safety lever upward.
14. If necessary for repair, the hammer strut can be removed by drifting out the cross-pin.
15. The takedown latch detent ball and its powerful coil spring are staked in place. This system is not removed in normal disassembly.
Reassembly Tips:
1. When installing the ejector, hammer, and firing pin block lever, move the cross-pin across in increments as you put in each part. Note that the hammer must stay vertical, to align the relief-cut in the hammer strut for passage of the pin.
2. Insert a drift punch of the proper size to hold the magazine catch in place, as the pin is reinstalled.
3. The trigger bar and the combination spring are shown here in proper reassembly positions.
Astra Constable
| Data: | Astra Constable |
| Origin: | Spain |
| Manufacturer: | Astra Unceta Cia. |
| Guernica | |
| Cartridge: | 380 ACP |
| Magazine capacity: | 7 rounds |
| Overall length: |
6 |
| Height: |
4 |
| Barrel length: | 20 inches |
| Weight: |
6 |
Astra’s double action medium-size automatic externally resembles the Walther, but its internal mechanism is entirely different. The Constable is also available in 32 ACP and 22 LR versions, with the latter, and the 380 chambering, being the most popular in the United States. The Constable has two things that the Walther lacks—an external slide latch, and a reasonable price. Quality of materials and workmanship are excellent.
Field Strip:
1. Remove the magazine and cock the hammer. The takedown-latch is located in the frame just forward of the trigger, with serrated wings at each side. Grasp the wings of the latch and pull it straight down, holding it there while the slide is drawn all the way back, lifted up at the rear to clear the barrel, and run forward off the frame.
2. Remove slide from frame and barrel, and remove recoil spring from barrel. Gun is now field-stripped.
Astra Constable field-stripped
Detail Strip:
3. With a drift punch, depress the firing pin (with the safety in the off-safe position) and nudge the safety toward the left side. If it is very tight, set the safety halfway between its tow positions (while keeping the firing pin depressed), and try leftward pressure again. Remove the safety from the left side. The firing pin and spring will be released, and can be removed from the rear. The extractor can now be taken off, and the combination extractor and safety spring and its two plungers removed forward, from the extractor recess.
4. Use a small screwdriver to depress the slide latch spring and ease it from under its shelf on the frame. The slide latch can now be removed toward the left.
5. The slide latch spring is staked in place on the inside of the latch, and removal is not advisable except for replacement.
6. With the hammer lowered, depress the