Hoping to find info about Bayard 1908

**sgreen10** · February 17th, 2016, 06:06 AM

So yesterday I purchased a Bayard 1908 in .32 acp. It was an impulse buy, I'm a big fan of early 1900's handguns, especially in .25/.32/380, and the price seemed to be reasonable.

Well after making the purchase (waiting to pick it up today) I went home to try and find out as much info about the gun as I could. Didn't think much of it prior to buying since I remember how much and easy to find info on my Savage 1917s was.. Well I can't seem to find much more than a quick write up on two gun blogs and barely a wiki page on the things.

Does anyone on here have any idea about these guns? I was also hoping to get an idea of if I got a good deal, over paid, or paid about right, and again I think there was maybe a total of 6 listed on gunbroker and couldn't really find any other places.

pics coming a bit after 10am, and any info would be sweet thanks

**sgreen10** · February 17th, 2016, 04:39 PM

so turns out it is not a .32acp but chambered in .25acp

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**Emptymag** · February 17th, 2016, 05:29 PM

Have you tried a Google IMAGE search?

In the past, I have sometimes had more luck browsing images and clicking on them to see where they lead, often getting me web pages that I may have overlooked otherwise through a "normal" search.

**Hawk** · February 17th, 2016, 05:31 PM

I can tell you "FEU" is French for Fire.

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/ba...5-acp-pr11388/

http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/ba...-auto-pr29666/

**Noah_Zark** · February 17th, 2016, 06:05 PM

sgreen10:

There is plenty out there on the historical aspects of the 1908 Bayard pistol in 6.35mm Browning (.25 ACP). As for value range of them, maybe not so much because there are likely not that many in circulation as compared to a 1903 or 1908 Colt, for example.

The 1908 Bayard is a blowback design semiauto manufactured by the Belgian Pieper firm, which also made pistols of its own design (see "1907 Pieper," a tilting-barrel semi-auto). The notable feature about the 1908 Bayard is its "slide above barrel" design, which was directly copied by Smith & Wesson in the 1960s for it Model 61 Escort .22LR pocket pistol, and the later Model 422/622 .22 LR sporting and target pistols. The barrel is fixed low in the frame, and the slide is kept fixed to the frame by means of a "key" which straddles the barrel and which itself is kept in place by the recoil spring. The recoil spring is contained in a hollow cylinder above the barrel.

1908 Bayard disassembled:

S&W 422 disassembled:

Note the similarities in features between the two.

As for the street value of a 1908 Bayard in .25 ACP, WHEN I see them, which is infrequently, prices tend to range between $200 and $500, the latter being for examples in TOP condition. There are three 1908 Bayard pistols listed on Guns International at the moment, ranging from $495 to $795, and listed by a dealer who is known for "aggressive" pricing. By that I mean, if you come back to GI in three years and do a search, the same three guns from the same dealer will likely be there. Realistically, if you paid between $250 and $300, maybe $350 for your Bayard, IMO you did fine. If you go to sell it, I would not expect a quick sale even between $250 and $350 because these tend to be in a niche market with a relatively small number of collectors. You'd have to find the "right guy."

HTH,

Noah

Edit to Add: I see that Hawk posted immediately before me links to two of the guns listed on GI that I referred to in my post.

**sgreen10** · February 17th, 2016, 06:48 PM

Hey thanks everyone for the info i tried google and there seemed to be very limited info. Only paid around $200 so dont think i took a loss on this but im also into the early 1900s semi auto guns. Again thanks for all the info

**Noah_Zark** · February 17th, 2016, 07:20 PM

You did fine. Enjoy your Bayard.

Noah

**imashooter2** · February 20th, 2016, 10:03 PM

Very nice. I have one in .380 that I've owned for 35 years or so. Carried it for a few years back in the 80s until I broke a firing pin. Fortunately I was working in a machine shop at the time. Mine has the single grip screw frame as shown in Noah's pictures. Before you fire yours, make sure the cylinder that captures the recoil spring isn't stripped or loose where it screws into the frame.