Onena 9mm Largo Carbine

Onena 9mm Largo Carbine These carbines are briefly mentioned, but not by name, in the 1958 edition of WORLD'S GUNS which was the Golden State Arms catalog. They also recieve a brief paragraph in Chapter 14 of Frank DeHaas' BOLT ACTION RIFLES. They are portrayed in both references as a variant of the Destroyer Carbine. I do not feel that this is accurate as about the only thing they share in common with Destroyer Carbines is they are both chambered in 9mm Largo and made in Spain. In DeHaas' defense, he only had the Golden State Arms catalog for reference and did not have a specimen to examine. DeHass describes the carbine as follows:

"As shown in World's Guns, this Destroyer carbine has a checkered pistol grip stock and a half-length fore-end with a single barrel band. One sling swivel is attached to this band, the other is screwed into the butt. Chambered for the 9mm Bergmann-Bayard cartridge, it has a 7- or 10-shot detachable box magazine. The unusual feature of this one is that it has a tube mounted under the barrel which extends into the fore-end to hold spare cartridges. It is not a magazine tube, just a place to carry extra ammunition. The 20" round barrel has fixed open sights. The action cocks on closing, and the bolt has a knurled cocking piece. The safety is on the rear right side of the receiver. This carbine looks more like a sporting arm with its checkered pistol grip and short fore-end but is still described as the Spanish Military Police Carbine."

The specimen in my possesion differs from this description in that it has a 3 round magazine that fits flush with the bottom of the trigger guard.

I have discovered some information on the Onena carbine through internet investigation. These carbines were manufactured by Jose Luis Maquibar. Markings associated with this manufacturer are 'ONENA' and 'PM'. The model designation of the carbine is apparently 'ONENA', which is a Basque word that translates to English as "the best" or "the best manufacture". The PM stamp is the maker's mark for Jose Luis Maquibar. Further research has turned up the following facts from Leonard Antaris's STAR FIREARMS concerning a .22LR carbine (pg 589).

"The Onena was manufactured and marked exclusively for Star by Maquibar....Star had previously applied the same name to a bolt action tubular magazine rifle chambered for the 9mm Largo (Bergmann) that was made on a limited basis in the 1930s."

The action assembly is very simple, perhaps primitive. The barrel appears to be screwed into the receiver and the only thing securing the barreled action into the stock is the single bolt pillar that is dovetailed into the bottom of the barrel forward of the chamber. The magazine well is a rough casting and held to the bottom of the receiver with two sloted head screws. The rear screw is also the attachment point for the mainspring/trigger spring/sear. The trigger is not actually attached to the action in any way. It simply passes through the leaf spring and is held in contact with the receiver via spring pressure and a wide 'Y' shaped top. The sear is an integral part of the spring and is moved out of engagement via the rocking motion of the trigger on the spring. The safety is mounted on the right rear side of the receiver and is of a novel design. It is a half disk shaped piece of metal with the outer edge given a checkered finish for grip. To engage the safety you rotate the top of it away from the receiver. This pivots it on a screw placed within the length of the receiver wall, causing the bottom to protrude into the reciever. This blocks forward motion of the cocking piece. The magazine latch is a simple spring loaded lever that goes over the bottom of the magazine.

The bolt is in two pieces reminescent, at least in my opinion, of a Mosin-Nagant bolt. The rear section of the bolt is the cocking piece. The cocking piece has a knurled knob resembling a U.S. Krag cocking piece. The firing pin is held in the cocking piece with a well fitted pin, I didn't see the pin until I used a magnifying loupe to look for it. The firing pin is encircled by a coil spring and at the rear is a small bushing with a hole in it for bolt assembly. There is also a 'trough' cut into the lenght of the firing pin, this 'trough' keeps the cocking piece aligned with the sear. There is a small screw that goes through the bolt body and the collar on the firing pin and engages the 'trough'. The front portion of the bolt has only one locking lug, the base of the bolt handle. There is a fixed extractor pinned to the bolt. There is no ejector integral to the bolt or the receiver, this function is performed by the left lip of the magazine.

The magazine is constructed of polished steel with a welded floorplate; the feed lips appear to be hand formed and finished by hand with a file. The left magazine lip, as stated above, serves as the ejector. The magazine tube is the only part of the magazine that looks professional, I believe that it is a pistol magazine cut in half and reworked. The spring makes 5½ turns and is obvously cut from a longer magazine spring. The bottom end shows the start of another coil and the top appears to have been turned in with a pair of needle nose pliers. The follower is a simple piece of bent polished steel. The magazine may be disassembled by working the follower forward and up to remove it from the magazine body.

The barrel is 20" long and has 6 groove rifling with a right hand twist. The rear sight dovetailed into the barrel and is of a fixed 'V' notch type. The front sight is a simple square profile post that appears to be silver soldered into a recess in the barrel.

The storage tube below the barrel is held in place by a barrel band that slips over the front sight and is retained by two small screws passing between the barrel and storage tube. The tube itself is 11" long with an inner diameter of ½" and extends into the stock 1½". It is simply a hollow tube threaded on one end to accept the threaded cap (which has a slotted head). The back of the tube is open and relies on the bottom of the hole in the stock to enclose it. Eight rounds of factory 9mm Largo ammunition can be stored in the tube, but the ½" ID of the tube allows the rounds to rattle around like spare change in a tin can.

The stock appears to be hand made as there are visible chisel marks in the inletted portions. Fit of the stock, however, is excellent and appears to be fitted to this individual carbine as opposed to a specification type manufacture. Checkering of the pistol grip is 8 lines per inch and shows imperfections from the workmans skill. He did better than I probably could, but it's not perfect. The single bolt holding the receiver into the stock is a slotted head machine screw with a metal washer pressed into the stock, this is not a bedding pillar, simply a pressed in washer.

The trigger guard is a massive affair that encircles the bottom of the magazine well and is secured by three wood screws. This piece is finished on the outer side, but left as a rough casting on the inner side.

Markings on the top of the receiver and barrel are (in order from left to right):

Manufacturer's Marking: PM (Jose Luis Maquibar)
Serial Number: 484X
Model Designation(?): Onena
Late Eibar House Proof. Mark of admission to proof. Used after July 9, 1931-present.
Final Proof for Rifled Long Guns. Guns must be submitted in final form. One shot from each barrel with a 30% excess pressure load is fired.
Year of Proof Code: 1950
Final Proof for Rifled Long Guns. Guns must be submitted in final form. One shot from each barrel with a 30% excess pressure load is fired.

An advertisement from the 1958 issue of Golden State Arms World's Guns and Other Weapons.