mawkie
C&R Whisperer
Another birthday gift from the pups - New Photos!
Every year my pups scour the 'net to find me something nice that's C&R for my birthday. They're gotten wonderful stuff like a Ross MkII Military Match rifle and the Enfield No2 MKIV trainer they found last year. This year was no exception and they did themselves proud, finding a rare French Mle 1950 9mm pistol at an Ohio auction yesterday, ending a 15 year search.
The Mle 1950 is a beefed-up version of the 1935a, allowing it to handle the 9 x 19mm cartridge. The 1935a, while an excellent pistol, had the drawback of using a rather wimpy 7.65mm cartridge. Suffice to say, the Viet Cong were not impressed when shot with this round and often kept going about their business. The Mle 1950 did a much better job of stopping them in their tracks (think Moros vs. Colt Model 1911).
The Mle 1950 has been a front line handgun for the French military and Gendarmerie for nearly 50 years. Unfortunately the French signed onto the UN small arms treaty and no Mle 1950s will ever be exported to the US. They'll be destroyed instead. About 250 examples did get imported from South Vietnam in the late 50s or early 60s along with bring-back trophies from 'Nam. So the number available in the US is very small. My example is an early one built by MAC (Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault) which produced them from '53-'63. MAS (Manufacture d'Armes de St-Etienne) built them from '63-'78 so all of the imported pistols would have been MACs, making any Mle 1950 marked MAS extremely rare here in the US. I won't know if it's one of the imports or a bring-back until it arrives and I can examine it.
10/5/12- Pistol arrived today, less than a week from the auction date. Great service!
No export marks whatsoever, it is a bring-back! Finish is all original, thinning parkerizing. Grips are intact, no chips. Reminds me of a Beretta 1950. Bore looks a bit rough but I think it'll clean up.
Picked up a proper MAC-50 Holster, Model 1948 GT2, a while ago. You see these in NOS condition all around. So much easier to find than the pistols that they were designed to carry!
Every year my pups scour the 'net to find me something nice that's C&R for my birthday. They're gotten wonderful stuff like a Ross MkII Military Match rifle and the Enfield No2 MKIV trainer they found last year. This year was no exception and they did themselves proud, finding a rare French Mle 1950 9mm pistol at an Ohio auction yesterday, ending a 15 year search.
The Mle 1950 is a beefed-up version of the 1935a, allowing it to handle the 9 x 19mm cartridge. The 1935a, while an excellent pistol, had the drawback of using a rather wimpy 7.65mm cartridge. Suffice to say, the Viet Cong were not impressed when shot with this round and often kept going about their business. The Mle 1950 did a much better job of stopping them in their tracks (think Moros vs. Colt Model 1911).
The Mle 1950 has been a front line handgun for the French military and Gendarmerie for nearly 50 years. Unfortunately the French signed onto the UN small arms treaty and no Mle 1950s will ever be exported to the US. They'll be destroyed instead. About 250 examples did get imported from South Vietnam in the late 50s or early 60s along with bring-back trophies from 'Nam. So the number available in the US is very small. My example is an early one built by MAC (Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault) which produced them from '53-'63. MAS (Manufacture d'Armes de St-Etienne) built them from '63-'78 so all of the imported pistols would have been MACs, making any Mle 1950 marked MAS extremely rare here in the US. I won't know if it's one of the imports or a bring-back until it arrives and I can examine it.
10/5/12- Pistol arrived today, less than a week from the auction date. Great service!
No export marks whatsoever, it is a bring-back! Finish is all original, thinning parkerizing. Grips are intact, no chips. Reminds me of a Beretta 1950. Bore looks a bit rough but I think it'll clean up.
Picked up a proper MAC-50 Holster, Model 1948 GT2, a while ago. You see these in NOS condition all around. So much easier to find than the pistols that they were designed to carry!
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