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Destroyer Carbine

11K views 28 replies 11 participants last post by  MGMike  
#1 ·
Bought a Destroyer Carbine but unfortunately the bolt is missing. If anyone should hear of a bolt for sale please help in my quest to make the rifle whole. When I receive the Carbine I will post a target to see how it prints ( will use bolt from one of my other Carbines). My hopes rest with Adondebaes and his next trip to Spain where the government probably routinely destroys the Destroyer. (Did I make a funny?)
 
#2 ·
I've had a buddy here in the US looking for a destroyer bolt for going on 10 years. lol Yeah, Adondebaes is about the only hope, but I think there's just as much hassle getting a bolt out of Spain as the whole gun.
 
#3 ·
Joe You always bring such sunshine into my life :crossfingers: If worst comes and I do not find one I can swap bolts around with my other two Destroyers. I just could not pass this up Sarco found some rifles but not the bolts, bought a rifle for $125....if necessary I will part it out (ouch!) for guys that might need a part or two. My hope is to make it functional....I had most of a bolt a year or so ago but cannot remember if I gave it away or it is somewhere here in my treasures...so far it is well hidden.
 
#4 ·
Well, the bolts in those tend to be finicky about switching from rifle to rifle too, as if i remember right I cannot switch bolts between my 9mm largo, and 9mm P destroyers. Those guns were all hand fit, and sometimes poorly at that.
 
#5 ·
Mike, Joe is right.
In Spain, bolts as considered fundamental parts, and as such destroyed with the firearm they belong to.

It would be more easy if it were a mag, a sight, or even a firing pin.

However, not all is lost. I have some friends that might be capable of finding one.
 
#6 ·
Adondebaes, Thanks, the two 9mm Largo Destroyers that I have work with the bolt in either but are smoother with the correct bolt, I will pick up the rifle on Saturday and fire it in my basement test barrel if one of the bolts appears to head space well enough. As you know the bolts normally have a bit of movement but lock up ok on a cartridge. I had some parts of an extra bolt around here but cannot find them....probably gave them away which I often do. Funny all the parts I have given away and even paid postage to do it, when I needed a part recently I got to pay for it.:confused:
 
#7 ·
i saw these in their ad in firearm news and about bought one. i had a little trouble with getting ffl info to them and called to try to straighten things. they only had about 50 of them in. they got the info but by that time i had second thoughts as i doubted i could find a bolt. if adondebaes can scrounge a couple,i would buy one if any are left.
 
#8 ·
The main problem regarding the bolts is that in Spain they are considered " fundamental parts ", therefore, when the gun is destroyed, ( destruction of guns in Spain is another issue we could talk for several days ), they also destroy all " fundamental parts ". All " non fundamental " parts, such as stocks, firing pins, springs, trigger mechanisms, sights ... do not need to be destroyed by law, and can be stripped off the gun before the destruction takes place. Sometimes they do, sometimes they dont. Unfortunately most often they don't and the gun is thrown complete to the melting pot of a steel manufacturing company or to the crusher.

So finding a bolt is quite difficult, but sometimes you might find a compassive police officer that might be willing to sneak one, but is never a sure thing. Obviously this makes getting them in big quantities totally impossible.

For the same reason if somebody sells a Destroyer, he or she has to sell it complete. There is no selling only the gun without the bolt, unless you can prove to the police that you have somehow lost the bolt and filled a police report about it.

So, how those 50 guns ended up in the US
without the bolt ?
Some military warehouses keep the rifles separated from their bolts. Due to the administrative chaos that Spain is, the police or the army are no exception, and with the passing of the years those bolts were probably moved, covered by a dusty tarp, or only God knows what. One good day, someone found the carbines without the bolts and decided to sell them for real cheap to an exporter, without even bothering to look for the bolts. The rest of the history is easy to imagine.

What will happen to those 50 bolts ?
One day they will find them, and from that point they could do anything, most likely they will destroy them, but depending on who finds them they could even end up being sold in the black market.
 
#9 ·
Adondebaes, That is a shame about the destruction of firearms but out own idiots in charge are destroying them from coast to coast. I bought a FI Model D like new in the box from the property room in an Ohio PD ( via Gun Broker). I could have walked to Ohio and collected my purchase in person for the time, trouble and cost of having it shipped after winning the auction. As I remember that small pistol cost about $100 by the time the small priority mail box arrived and almost a month shipping time. Governments are so fearful their name will be mentioned in a crime that most destroy everything from a P 38 can opener to a Sherman tank.
The Destroyer I got from SARCO will be set in the rack with it’s two brothers and used for parts if no bolt materializes, at least what I have is saved from the vultures.
 
#11 ·
Ha found the bolt.....well not the bolt as I never had the bolt body now that I remember...but I found the collar, safety, cocking piece and firing pin. Not much good except as replacement parts without the missing body and extractor. :(
 
#13 ·
Comrade, The chances of finding a bolt are slim and none....unless someone parts out a rifle and sells everything separately. There was such a posting on epay about a year ago and I purchased a barrel reasonably, however he disassembled the bolt and sold each piece separately. Loss of a nice rifle so the fellow could turn a few bucks.
 
#14 ·
Anyone have a good suggestion for a Butt Plate for the Destroyer Carbines? I recently got one but the butt plate is rusted through, I didnt know if the followers on here might know of a small rifle butt plate that might fit as I dont want to use leather
 
#18 ·
I wanted to reach out here for some help with an issue I am seeing with the bolt on my Destroyer. I have cleaned it through and lubed everything up that I can and I am seeing with the bolt in the rifle as I push it forward the seems to be getting a groove cut into it by the small hook piece located in the receiver. I am including pictures. The Green and Black circled areas are where the groove or cut is. The Red circled part is what I believe is doing the cutting or grooving, I apologize if I dont have the correct name for the part, I also dont know if this just needs to be adjusted or modified or ? Any help would be appreciated

 
#29 · (Edited)
... I have three Destroyers and the bolts in all three vary somewhat in appearance.
That might be because three (maybe four) different Spanish manufacturers made them, with no requirement of interchangeability, nor necessarily to the same drawings.

If we want to be totally honest, the Destroyer carbines are a neat concept, a handy little bolt-action 9mm. But the design stinks, and workmanship is even worse, not remotely comparable to Astra or Star. Those Destroyers alone are enough to give interwar Spanish guns a bad name.

Now I do have a Destroyer whose former owner, a departed friend and talented wood worker, restocked into a svelte Mannlicher sporter, with Neidner-style buttplate and grip cap, and a blind-box magazine holding four rounds. Fancy wood, the works. But apart from a beautiful reblue, he left the action mechanically as-is, with its awkward bolt and Daisy-grade trigger. And the bore looks like it was button-rifled with a section of rat-tail file. It's led me to wonder: Why did he waste his time?

A project of this sort really deserves to be built on a stray used Sako .222, Zastava Mini-Mark X, or CZ Fox action, and a nice barrel blank, with a magazine box cut from a Czech vz24 SMG chambered for 7.62mm Tokarev, which is long enough for 9mm Largo or .38 Super.

Come to think of it, I might just try that.

M