Retolaza Stosel

About the Retolaza Stosel

The Retolaza Stosel is a Spanish blowback-operated semi-automatic pistol chambered in .32 ACP, built by Retolaza Hermanos of Eibar. Like most Eibar-made automatics of the period the .32 ACP "Stosel No.1" of 1914 was an inexpensive 'Ruby-type' copy of John Browning's FN/Colt Model 1903 pocket pistol, with a concealed-hammer striker action and a single-stack 9-round detachable magazine. It was one of the many cheap Eibar automatics sold under topical trade names during the WWI boom; the firm's smaller 6.35mm Stosel — believed to be an earlier Retolaza pocket pistol following the Browning 1906 vest-pocket pattern — preceded it.

The Stosel takes its name from Russian general Anatoly Stoessel (often spelled Stosel), briefly famous for his defence and surrender of Port Arthur in the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War. Retolaza Hermanos, among the pioneers of automatic-pistol making in Eibar, followed the Spanish industry's habit of naming cheap pocket pistols after topical events and figures, alongside its other trade names such as Liberty, Paramount, Titan and Titanic.

Retolaza Stosel specifications

The original 6.35mm Stosel is regarded as Retolaza's first automatic and may predate most of the firm's other models; the .32 ACP version is usually marked "Stosel No.1 1914". Specifications follow the standard Eibar Browning-1906 pattern and several dimensions are estimated from comparable Retolaza pistols.