French M1935A Pistol

[Aragorn243]

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

[browningautorifle]

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

[Low & Slow]

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.

[browningautorifle]

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

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.

[Aragorn243]

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.

[browningautorifle]

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

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

[Low & Slow]

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.

[Aragorn243]

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.

[browningautorifle]

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.

[Low & Slow]

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

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.