The Spanish Destructor – A Big Name for a Little Gun

I have to give it up for the Spanish around the turn of the century. They knew how to name their guns. The Destroyer was my first exposure to Spanish hyperbole. The Destroyer carbine was a 9mm Largo rifle, a pistol caliber. My second exposure was the Destructor pistol, which I recently acquired. The Destructor, also occasionally called the Destroyer and the Protector, is a micro-sized .25 ACP pocket pistol.

The Destructor, the Protector, and the Destroyer

It’s worth noting that the Spanish reused names for their guns. You’ll find Destroyers, Destructors, and Protectors in various calibers, sizes and designs. These little guns are essentially clones or copies of the Browning FN 1905 and the Colt Vest Pocket Pistol. The Spanish have a long history of copying pistol designs, making small changes here and there to make each design their own.

This process continued for most of the Spanish Arms industry until Astra and Star went out of business. The Spanish Destructor looks a lot like the Browning 1905, but there are a few notable differences. The Spanish eliminated the grip safety, moved the manual safety forward of the grip, and positioned it above the trigger.

Later on, the baby Brownings from FN would make some similar changes, but the safety placement isn’t identical. The safety on the Destructor also doubles as a manual slide catch when pressed upward. This is known as an Eibar safety and was common on small Spanish pistols.

The Original Destroyer

Guns like the Destructor originated from the Gaztañaga Destroyer, designed by Isidro Gaztañaga in 1913. These pistols all descend from the original Destroyer and were typically built in the Basque region, a haven for weapon production in Spain. The original Destroyers were known for being issued to Fifth Columnists during the Spanish Civil War.

Fifth Columnists were secretive by nature, so ultra-small pocket pistols were easy to carry and conceal from Republican forces. The little pistols were chambered for the rather meek .25 ACP cartridge, but they were about as small as an automatic pistol could get for the era. To be completely fair, they’re still quite small by today’s standards.

It’s important to remember that in 1913, guns this small in cartridges like .380 ACP weren’t chambered, and shrinking a Browning tilt action to that size also wasn’t going to happen. Due to reliability issues, the .25 ACP was preferred over the .22LR.

The .22LR has become much more reliable in terms of ignition, but that hasn’t always been the case. The .25 ACP was designed to be the smallest possible centerfire pistol caliber to ensure reliable centerfire ignition.

My Destructor

Why is .25 ACP ammunition so expensive? It’s a pricey little cartridge that ensures I can’t shoot this gun or my other .25 ACPs very often. It’s sad because this little gun is a lot of fun to shoot. We wouldn’t call the .25 ACP a man-stopper; it’s a quaint little cartridge. I wouldn’t want to catch one, but I also wouldn’t choose the little cartridge for self-defense.

Recoil is barely there. It’s loud and snaps, but it’s still fairly comfortable to shoot. There are a number of two-finger grip pistols, but the Destructor is so small it’s really a one-finger grip gun. I can wrap my middle finger across the grip, and that’s it. That lack of a decent grip makes the little gun feel a bit snappy, even with the meek .25 ACP.

I’m fairly surprised that the Destructor isn’t prone to slide bite. I can tuck the part of my hand that fits on the gun up nice and high, and I don’t get bitten. The little gun shoots smoothly and pain-free.

What about Accuracy?

I’ve become a pretty solid shooter with small guns. With the P32, the LCP, and similar firearms, I can put rounds right where I want them within 10 yards. That’s not the case with the Destructor. It has almost no sights at all. Technically, there’s a front sight, but it’s just a tiny nub that aligns with the smallest slot one could imagine as a rear sight.

It’s nearly useless. Shine a little sunlight on the thing, and it disappears. It might as well be a Seecamp that lacks sights altogether. In short, the gun isn’t what I’d call precise. Missing the bull’s eye is one thing, but having your shot group produce no discernible pattern is another. The rounds just kinda seem to land where they land.

The Destructor patterns like a shotgun at 25 yards. It could be the sites or the lack of grip, but honestly, Spanish weapons have never been known for their accuracy. I have a Firestar, a Ruby, an Astra-80 among others and none have ever impressed in the accuracy department. Producing an accurate pistol doesn’t seem to be a big concern of the Spanish.

If I were essentially a saboteur during the Spanish Civil War, the Destructor wouldn’t likely be used for gunfighting but reserved for close-range executions. Vasily Blokhin certainly didn’t have any issues with a.25 ACP pistol.

One Helluva Name

The Destructor name is hilarious for a .25 ACP pistol this small. That’s one reason I bought it, along with its micro-sized price. It pushed me to learn a bit about the Spanish Civil War and the Fifth Columnists, and I’ve enjoyed shooting it. I can’t think of a reason I’ll ever need it, but I like having it, and sometimes that’s enough.

(Plus, I have a thing for Spanish handguns that I can’t quite explain.)