USMA-82
NES Member
After years of searching, I finally found one that was in reach.
Here's a quick background, courtesy of Gunboards.com:
The Pistolet Automatique Modèle 1950 (also known as MAC 1950, MAS 50) had been developed circa 1950 by Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne (MAS) in France to replace the previous series of French pistols, the Modèle 1935A & Modèle 1935S.
These pistols were manufactured by MAS and also by Manufacture d'Armes de Chatellerault (MAC), until circa 1970. MAC was the most proficient builder of the pistol with around 222,000 pieces made from 1953 to 1963 using the prefix letters A to W by batches of 9999.
The fabrication was transferred to MAS in 1963 where around 120,000 pieces were made until 1978 using double prefix letters FG (99999) and FH (20,000).
It had been adopted by French Army as a standard sidearm in 1950. These pistols are recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistols that use Browning M1911 style locking with the barrel lowered and raised by a swinging underbarrel link and locking into the slide via internal ribs of the slide and on the top side of the barrel.
They have single action triggers with a slide mounted safety, which locks the firing pin, so the hammer can be lowered by pressing the trigger with the safety engaged. They have fixed sights and a single-stack magazine which holds 9 rounds.
These pistols were used in following conflicts: First Indochina War, Algerian War, Suez Crisis, Chad conflicts, Gulf War and as recently as Afghanistan.
Mine is a "B-series" MAC 50, so manufacture was probably sometime between 1954 and 1955. The gun is parkerized, and the barrel is left "in the white." According to a local "old gun expert" it is in about 95% condition. The bore is a little pitted, but the lands are sharp.
Outside of a few hundred that were imported to the U.S. around 1960, the rest have come primarily via bringbacks by VietNam vets. It's estimated that there are currently less than 1000 in the United States. France never exported them, and there are very few on the open market.
Over the past few years I've searched for an example on all the auction sites, and anyplace else I could look. The half-dozen or so that I've seen have all sold for over $1000. Imagine my surprise when I snagged this one for half that much!
For those of you who want to throw out the usual "fired once and then dropped" comments, all I can say is - Tell it to the Foreign Legion.
In case you can't tell, I'm pretty PSYCHED about this gun! I plan on bringing it to Holbrook in September for the requisite drooling.
Enjoy!
Here's a quick background, courtesy of Gunboards.com:
The Pistolet Automatique Modèle 1950 (also known as MAC 1950, MAS 50) had been developed circa 1950 by Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Etienne (MAS) in France to replace the previous series of French pistols, the Modèle 1935A & Modèle 1935S.
These pistols were manufactured by MAS and also by Manufacture d'Armes de Chatellerault (MAC), until circa 1970. MAC was the most proficient builder of the pistol with around 222,000 pieces made from 1953 to 1963 using the prefix letters A to W by batches of 9999.
The fabrication was transferred to MAS in 1963 where around 120,000 pieces were made until 1978 using double prefix letters FG (99999) and FH (20,000).
It had been adopted by French Army as a standard sidearm in 1950. These pistols are recoil operated, locked breech semi-automatic pistols that use Browning M1911 style locking with the barrel lowered and raised by a swinging underbarrel link and locking into the slide via internal ribs of the slide and on the top side of the barrel.
They have single action triggers with a slide mounted safety, which locks the firing pin, so the hammer can be lowered by pressing the trigger with the safety engaged. They have fixed sights and a single-stack magazine which holds 9 rounds.
These pistols were used in following conflicts: First Indochina War, Algerian War, Suez Crisis, Chad conflicts, Gulf War and as recently as Afghanistan.
Mine is a "B-series" MAC 50, so manufacture was probably sometime between 1954 and 1955. The gun is parkerized, and the barrel is left "in the white." According to a local "old gun expert" it is in about 95% condition. The bore is a little pitted, but the lands are sharp.
Outside of a few hundred that were imported to the U.S. around 1960, the rest have come primarily via bringbacks by VietNam vets. It's estimated that there are currently less than 1000 in the United States. France never exported them, and there are very few on the open market.
Over the past few years I've searched for an example on all the auction sites, and anyplace else I could look. The half-dozen or so that I've seen have all sold for over $1000. Imagine my surprise when I snagged this one for half that much!
For those of you who want to throw out the usual "fired once and then dropped" comments, all I can say is - Tell it to the Foreign Legion.
In case you can't tell, I'm pretty PSYCHED about this gun! I plan on bringing it to Holbrook in September for the requisite drooling.
Enjoy!
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![[rofl]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/013.gif "ROFL [rofl]")
