Argentina's Open-Bolt Pocket .22s: the Hafdasa HA and the Zonda

  / forgottenweapons  

Originally made by Hafdasa (Hispano-Argentina Fábrica de Automóviles S.A.), the HA pistol is a .22 Long Rifle caliber, semiauto only, open bolt pocket pistol. It was produced in the 1950s, right at the end of Hafdasa's existence (coincidence?). When the firm shut its doors, a group of employees took the basic design, improved it in a few ways, and creased a new company called Armotiv SA to produce it under the name Zonda.

The Zonda has a floating firing pin instead of the HA's fixed one, and a creative safety machinist which simply cams the magazine down when engaged. As an open-bolt gun, if the magazine is too low for the bolt to pick up a cartridge, it cannot fire.

Both the HA and Zonda are quite rare today, as not many were originally made or sold.