French Model 1935A Pistol

[jimmyj]

Hi:
In the late 1960 era Montgomery-Ward was selling French Model 1935A Pistols for $16.00. This Pistol was chambered for a 7.65 Long Cartridge which was a Pistol / Cartridge combo that the Pistol Cartridge was the only one cartridge that was chambered for this Pistol.
The last one I encountered was in about 1974 when a intoxicated mental gentleman shoved one in my face and attempted to fire it, but luckily for me the chamber was empty and the hammer was not cocked.
Is any of these Pistols still around ?

 

[ColbyBruce]

I was given a French MAB pistol in that caliber a few years ago. I gave it to a neighbor's dad, as he had a box of ammo for it. It seemed to be a well made gun.

 

[Trooperdan]

I have the one I bought from Ward's at that time. Hadn't thought about it in a long time. I had a few rounds of ammo that I bought at the same time but I am sure that is long gone.

 

[ronnie gore]

1935A

i had one in the past, but no ammo, but i made some from 32 s&w long brass by turning the rim down and shortning the case. the ammo worked fine but takes a lot of work to make the cases.

 

[RichCapeCod]

When in NYPD intel working as a deep undercover the group I had infiltrated had one. Very well made. Looks like a Sig 210. If only the darn little gun had been produced in a "normal" caliber!


Rich

 

[italiansport]

These derided French service pistols primarily because they are under powered are actually quite well made. I have one and have shot it on occasion using a friends reloads. I forget what case he used as a starting point.
Also keep in mind that this pistol led to the World renowned SIG P210
Jim

 

[AJ]

Well made piece, but odd caliber and no ammo...............Almost bought one once, the gunshop owner was a friend and told me not to do it. Bought a S&W 29-2 NIB, this was 1975.

 

[CajunBass]

I had a French made "Unique" (that was the brand name) 22 pistol at one time. I bought it for a song because it had been hanging around the gun shop with the price dropping and dropping until I figured, "What the heck? How bad could it be?" All steel, nice hefty gun from the early 50's IIRC.

That little thing was a shooting trick. I only had one magazine, but it ate any kind of 22 ammo I put in it without a hickup. Pine cones and tin cans were in serious trouble with it around.

One of the few guns I'm sorry I sold.

 

[Bastogne71]

The pistols are well made especially for a military contract item. Ammo is very difficult to find and expensive when you do find it. As Ronnie gore said, ammo can be made from 32 S&W. Buffalo Arms lists it for $50.98 per 50 as made from 32 S&W long but it's currently out of stock.

And think that the FN P35 (Browning Hi-Power) was submitted for the French trials and it was rejected by their arms commission!

 

[DWalt]

The recommended case to start with is the .32 S&W Long, but the .32 Mag or .327 cases would work as well. A fairly simple case conversion if you have a lathe. The French actually adopted the .30 Pedersen cartridge (as used in the famous WWI Pedersen device for converting the '03 Springfield rifle to a semi-auto) as their official military pistol cartridge. There was also another similar French military pistol, the 1935S in the same caliber. I have had examples of both, and once wrote (long ago) an article about them published in the old "Gun Week" weekly (at that time) newspaper. Here is a very good writeup about the pistols and their ammunition: 1935 French Service Pistols

 

[Cyrano]

And think that the FN P35 (Browning Hi-Power) was submitted for the French trials and it was rejected by their arms commission!

What was submited was an offshoot of the High Power; It was a lot smaller, it had a single stack magazine, and a removable packagd lockwork per the test requirements. Only something like 8 of them were produced. I've seen one, owned by a very advanced Franch pistol collector.

It wasn't exactly rejected by their arms commission, in fact it was their first choice. However the Ministry of the Treasury told the Army he wouldn't release funds to purchase a foreign made pistol.

Here's my pre-war PA 35A. Also a couple of pictues of the proper holster, the Mle 37, which is a good deal more rare than the pistol.

 

[Chuck24]

Still lookin for the French model

 

[Drm50]

I got one a few months back. I really like it. Was going to keep
it to play with. Ammo is such a pain to make, I decided to put
it in trade pile where it now resides. To many other projects more
interesting. I will put it on forum in couple of weeks.

 

[moosedog]

Here's mine. WWII Nazi stamped.
I have the original holster for it too. If you do run across any surplus ammo, you'll be lucky if one out of ten will actually fire. There is some modern loaded stuff around but I have never shot mine.

 

[DWalt]

If I had one, I'd make my own cases. But I have a lathe, and do a lot of case conversions to make oddball ammunition. Surprisingly, the U. S. .30 Pedersen round from WWI is not all that rare on the collector's market, and it is not tough to still find full boxes of it. Apparently a great deal of that ammo was made up in anticipation of its use in the trenches of France for the "Great 1919 Offensive", which never occurred. There were also many Pedersen devices produced, virtually all of which were destroyed by the Army during the 1930s. One item of local lore (veracity unknown) is that many thousands of PDs were buried in concrete building foundations and pavement at the old San Antonio Arsenal at that time. The SA Arsenal is still there, just south of downtown San Antonio, but is now the HQ of the large supermarket chain, H-E-B.

 

[Texas Star]

Jimmy asked about Mlle. 1935A.

Yes, the A version led to the SIG P-210, and I think (Cyrano probably knows) that Mlle. 1935S led to the Mlle. 1950 9mm.

Anyone got pics of the Mlle. 1935S?

Why'd they adopt two models? Were they assigned to different forces?

 

[primersp]

The 35s i think was an l'ESS expensive to production
Nous blue but parkerised ,thé 2 pistol were in service for thé army with
The machine pistol mp 35.but in very few examplars perhaps less than 5000
The military carry colt 1911 better than pa 35
The 35 were invented by thé ingénieur Charles Peter in thé S.A.C.M at Mulhouse
The same ingénieur of thé Sig 210
Some years ago Fiocchi made cartriges for thé 7,65 long,with à late you can also
Transform 30 usm1
Hère also thé cartriges are very scarce
André

 

[Arik]

Here's mine. WWII Nazi stamped.
I have the original holster for it too. If you do run across any surplus ammo, you'll be lucky if one out of ten will actually fire. There is some modern loaded stuff around but I have never shot mine.

The original Sig 210

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[Texas Star]

The 35s i think was an l'ESS expensive to production
Nous blue but parkerised ,thé 2 pistol were in service for thé army with
The machine pistol mp 35.but in very few examplars perhaps less than 5000
The military carry colt 1911 better than pa 35
The 35 were invented by thé ingénieur Charles Peter in thé S.A.C.M at Mulhouse
The same ingénieur of thé Sig 210
Some years ago Fiocchi made cartriges for thé 7,65 long,with à late you can also
Transform 30 usm1
Hère also thé cartriges are very scarce
André

Merci, Andre. But I think Charles Petter had two "t's" in his last name. Not Peter.

 

[primersp]

You are right Texas star ,i apologise for my mistake