French M1935A Pistol

It's not exactly what I wanted as it's post war production but as they are not easy to find at all, and the price was right, I picked this up today.

This is actually one of the last produced, either very late in 1949 or in January of 1950. This is an I series 2326 out of 4650 produced. Production ended in February of 1950.

Finish is grey parkerization under black enamel paint. This has most of it's paint but is obviously chipped.

It was later modified by the police with an added lanyard ring which did not come from the factory.

The holster is French but probably made for a later pistol, but it fits perfectly so it is it's new home. I had this for several years.

Another hard-to-find round I'll have to spend months/years trying to locate. 7.65 French Long

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Neat little pistol, bet it shoots just great. Looks fine...

Nice. Mine's just a little earlier, one of the last of the "H" series. I prefer shooting it over the 1935-S. Starline made a run of the brass a while back, and I managed to pick up a couple of 100 round boxes. Test loads with 86gr .308 FMJ's over 3.5 grains of Unique seemed to function fine. Ran across eight 32 round boxes of French 1954 brass cased ammo years ago, and snagged it all. Far superior to steel cased stuff I had earlier. Of the steel case, what did fire split the cases. Pulled the bullets from the rest.

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Originally Posted by Low & Slow

Of the steel case, what did fire split the cases. Pulled the bullets from the rest.

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Been there with same results. I've pulled so much surplus to avoid hangfires or misfires and then put the powder and bullets into new cases or used new primers and powder with the original cases and bullets... Still sometimes they crack.

So what dies do you use to load it? 32acp? 32 magnum? This isn't something I'm likely to shoot much as I rarely shoot anything much but I'd like to get some made up so I can at least use it. Starline has the brass. So I'd rather not go to the expense of custom dies if there's a work around.

I just found some from Steinel. It's backordered but I'm in no rush. They said it should be back in stock by the end of the month which is only a few days away. Hopefully, they are correct. Rather not wait a year.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

So what dies do you use to load it? 32acp? 32 magnum?

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Although there ARE dies around for it, here's a thread you should have a look at. Let's talk about .32 French Long (AKA 7.65x20) - The Firing Line Forums

32 S & W dies. That's interesting because my son-in-law gave me a box of 32 S & W cartridges last night. I think I gave them to him with all my reloading stuff two years ago because I don't have one and they came with the stuff. Out of curiosity, I dropped them in the chamber figuring they wouldn't fit being a rimmed cartridge and all. Pretty close. I made no attempt to close the action and I doubt if it would.

I just happened upon an RCBS die set years ago, so didn't have to rig a work around. As BAR notes, there is some body of info out there from people that have successfully made do with stuff at hand.

I'm just wondering, if you feed from the mag will regular 7.65mm x 17mm work? Will the extractor grab and hold it? No the rimmed revolver ammo won't work, maybe the firing pin will set it off but it's unlocked.

Supposed to be the same ammo made for the US Pederson device. I'll probably wait on the Steinel ammo to come and then reload using 32acp dies as they are probably pretty easy to find.

I was told this holster is correct for a post war produced pistol. It's a 1946 model holster. Not sure when this one was made, no date I can see but I'm good with it. I bought it for a future MAB but I found this first.

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I'm just wondering, if you feed from the mag will regular 7.65mm x 17mm work?

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It will pick up a round, chamber it, extract it, and eject the round, if not fired. Of course, the extractor is the only thing holding the case in place. Probably would fire, but not sure if the strike would pop it off the extractor. Chamber pressure might force the case back under the extractor, but that would probably break it fairly quickly. Cycling would most likely be dodgy at best.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

I was told this holster is correct for a post war produced pistol.

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I've got the same holster, but it's unmarked. Evidently meant to fit several different pistols, as it has the dual locking slots, and the mag pouch is a bit oversized for the smaller mags.

I posted this on Facebook and got a few comments on the unavailability of ammunition. Gun Jesus entered the discussion with a comment about waiting three years for Steinel to make it and Steinel replied that it has actually been three years and two months and it was Starline that was holding things up. But added that they finally got this long-delayed order and were producing it now with expected deliveries in a couple of weeks.

If you want some, better get your order in.

My ammo has shipped.

Nice. I'm sure you'll let us know how it works!

SRF is long gone but some of my old info is here. See the wayback links.

7.65 French long .32 how to reload, what primer? | Gunboards Forums

Ammo has arrived. My timing on this purchase was just right I guess. Hard to tell how long it will be before they make another batch.