The other nations which imported the Astra 600 are:  The Astra 600/43, as is true with the vast majority of handgun designs, continues to be carried to a very limited degree by civilians. Many were imported into the United States and sold to the public, where they still see some use. The design is generally considered ugly and antiquated in its appearance and its method of disassembly and re-assembly for cleaning is often intimidating. Despite this, the weapon is designed well in terms of safety, durability, reliability, accuracy and (surprisingly to many due to its awkward appearance), ergonomics. The cartridge it fires is reasonably powerful and widely available globally, and as is the case with many early 20th century guns, production costs to manufacture faithful new copies of the design would be prohibitively expensive due to machine time and the use of large amounts of expensive steel. In 1946 the firm reorganized and diversified its activities, beginning its production of industrial equipment without giving up firearms manufacturing. New products consisted mainly in tires, hydraulic pumps and machine tools for the textile industry. For the weapons production, it obtained new machines and started research projects in order to renew its range. The Astra Model 3000 was the result of one of them and its production begins the following year. In 1947, the model Astra Model 3000 was put in production in order to replace them Astra Model 300. More than 44,000 Astra 3000 were manufactured until 1956, when the Astra Model 4000 Falcon replaced it. In 1953 the firm adopted its final name of “Astra y Unceta Cia, S.A.”. New models were released over the years: Astra Model 800 Condor in 1958, Astra A-70, Astra A-80, Astra A-90, Astra-100 in the eighties. The firm also produced revolvers that were replicas of Colt, Ruger or Smith & Wesson. Astra continued the production and the development of many reliable and elegant models which made its reputation among the amateurs of weapons and the pride of Basque arms industry. In 1977, Augusto Unceta-Barrenechea, the last successful manager and owner of Astra, was killed by the ETA separatist group. In 1998, under the impulse of Basque government, a new company made up of the fusion of Astra Unceta y Cia and the bankrupt Star Bonifacio Echeverria S.A. was created. This new entity, named ASTAR, lived a short life and ceased operations by the end of the same year.