Welcome to the forum

 

Welcome aboard. The A-70, A-75, A-80, A90 and A-100 are all nice pistols but a little out-of-date. I (a little out-of-date myself) am a big fan, finding them all good, reliable, accurate shooters at the range. It has been my observation that many folks judge a pistol by its value purely as a defensive weapon. These pistols are too heavy (by today's standards) to be a service weapon and too large for concealed carry, so they don't get much discussion. I, on the other hand, judge mine by whether they make me smile when I see them or shoot them which these do.

 

i conceal my a75's appendix no problem.

 

I think the reason that series of Astra pistols receives little attention is that they have little or no provenance to anything. I have never heard of a military or Spanish Civil Guard marked A-75. As described above, they are heavy compared with modern small pistols and limited in capacity. No doubt the A75's weight makes them pleasant to shoot, but various clever tricks on polymer guns mean that they have similar felt recoil with less weight.

 

I bought my first Astras a couple of weeks ago, but they were the children of the ones shown. (.25 ACP) Astra made good stuff and If I saw one of those at a decent price it would follow me home.

I just don't get all of the agony over the weight of a handgun. My 1911 weighs 2# loaded. Big whoop! That is about the weight of a bag of three Whoppers. Hell I could probably take another 6 or 7 ounces without it bringing me to my knees. If I run out of ammo I can still beam someone over the head with it; don't try that with an LCP.

 

Very kind, thank you for the welcome message, curly1 !

 

Phil Morris, that is quite a collection - I sure appreciate you sharing. Seems like there's a case to be made for their use in home defense, low recoil, reasonable capacity. Solid dependability is a key feature - although I don't have the round count to assert that just yet. But, gives me a good feeling.

Thanks for the welcome, and again for the show!

 

The Astra A75 was arguably the best gun in the bunch listed above. I liked the design for its simplicity, and its feel in the hand. It was made both in 9mm and .40, using the same magazine.

But it really didn't have a place: it was too small to be a duty gun, and too heavy to be a pocket gun. The Star Firestar shared the same problem. Unfortunately the A75 appeared only when Astra was in its death throes, and the finish was a bit rough; it soon became an orphan.

Astra made a small number of lightweight A75s with aluminum frames, offered only in 9 Parabellum, not .40. That was a more attractive proposition, and I bought one from EAA. Every so often I run a couple mags through it, just to enjoy it.

M

 

I appreciate your insights, MGMike, and your comments ring true. I don't know enough to discuss the finish, and I'd say mine feels nice, but I do pick up just a faint hint of roughness, that I'd attributed to design. For me it played well, swarthy European kinda thing, maybe...it did come in an EAA case, very green.

All this talk of "no place for it" just makes me more protective of this crisp, tightly manufactured piece.

I need to make some time for this one at the range.

Thank you, MGMike!

 

The only thing I didn't like about the A75 was that, to make room for the double-action trigger mechanism, Astra substituted the S&W-style, relatively small, side-locking/unlocking cams in place of the hefty closed-loop barrel underlug used in the A70 (and in the Star Firestar). I've never been confident of the durability of that design, especially when used in a lightweight frame: steel cam surfaces working directly on aluminum.

I continue to suspect that it was a gun more suited for extensive carry than extensive shooting. I keep those cam surfaces on my gun scrupulously clean AND slathered with anti-seize compound.

M

 

Great tip, even, as you say, for all-steel versions. I am not familiar with "anti-seize compound" but i will be soon. Thank you, gain, Mike.

 

i love them a lot. here are two videos of my 9mm and my 40:

 

Enjoyed the show, both videos, thanks! (Liked and subscribed, too!) God bless you. Goodnight!