My FIL recently passed. He was West Point Class of '57, a retired Corps of Engineer colonel, and served two tours in Viet Nam. He brought this pistol back from Viet Nam. 9mm semi-auto. I did not have long to look at it (dry as heck) and di not have my reading glasses. Also, could not get the hammer to drop after locking slide back, but it has a funky safety and again, I only had a minute or two with it.

Grr, does imgur not work? I'll try again later.

That's a MAC Model 1950. The French military's standard sidearm from 1953–1978.

Most likely captured from the French during the First Indochina War, and then later put back into use by the Vietcong/NVA against Americans like your Father in Law during the Second Indochina War/Vietnam War, where it was captured again.

The safety blocks the firing pin, but not the trigger. To drop the hammer once cocked, engage the safety and then pull the trigger.

It's fairly rusty, and really needs some oil and TLC.




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/m16n4Q4cQlg


(In case you were wondering, the rifle in your photos is a sporterized Soviet Mosin-Nagant. The stock, bolt handle, barrel, and front sight have been modified.)

I'm sorry for your loss.
Hope this helps w/ your posting.

Thanks RogueJSK. I still cannot see the images. I always have problems posting pix on this and other forums.

Can anyone recommend a bullet-proof (pun intended) free and PITA-free image hosting website?

quote:

Originally posted by Batty67:
Thanks RogueJSK. I still cannot see the images. I always have problems posting pix on this and other forums.

Can anyone recommend a bullet-proof (pun intended) free and PITA-free image hosting website?

I use Dropbox. I have to change the end of the link from dl=0 to raw=1. Typically don't ever have any issues.

It's a bit Browning Hi-Power-esque!

I wonder if it was based off that?

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
It's a bit Browning Hi-Power-esque!

I wonder if it was based off that?

Nope. Based on the earlier WW2-era Model 1935S in 7.65 Long:

quote:

Can anyone recommend a bullet-proof (pun intended) free and PITA-free image hosting website?

Yes.
https://postimages.org/

I stay away from the "fancy" image hosting sites like Photobucket, Imgur and the like.
Photobucket ruined forum postings across the Internet when they suddenly started requiring fees and took down all unpaid images.

PostImages has been steady and it's simple to use.

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe that you could show RogueJSK a 100dpi black and white picture of 1/4 of a pointy stick and within five minutes he'd be able to identify it as one of three surviving lances from a particular Crimean War battle. Within another five minutes he'd be able to post pictures of the other two, at least one of which would physically be in his possession.

Not 100% certain. Just 99%.

I love this place.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
That's a MAC Model 1950. The French military's standard sidearm from 1953–1978.

Huh. [Checks stopwatch] Six minutes?! Getting ssllloooowwwww. Quick, do some sprints and then hit the showers.

When I was In Afghanistan in 08 some of the French troops were still carrying these

That's a cool pistol and relatively scarce here in the US. Only a few hundred were imported in the early 60s; the rest are bring backs. It has features of both previous French service pistols, the 1935A and 1935S. The A model was the progenitor of the SIG P210.

BTW, the reason you couldn't get the hammer to drop is because these pistols have a magazine safety. The hammer won't drop without a mag installed.

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
BTW, the reason you couldn't get the hammer to drop is because these pistols have a magazine safety. The hammer won't drop without a mag installed.

That's what I figured. After all, we can thank the French for insisting on a magazine disconnect on the BHP. Again, only had a very little time with the pistol.

quote:

Originally posted by Batty67:

quote:

Originally posted by bigwagon:
BTW, the reason you couldn't get the hammer to drop is because these pistols have a magazine safety. The hammer won't drop without a mag installed.

That's what I figured. After all, we can thank the French for insisting on a magazine disconnect on the BHP. Again, only had a very little time with the pistol.

At least on the 1935A I posted above, the mag safety does not affect the trigger pull. It's just a spring that blocks the sear bar when the magazine is removed, but when the mag is installed, it's lifted out of the way and does not exert any influence on the trigger pull. It's also really easy to remove. I'm not use if this same system is used on the other French pistols.

Took it apart (so easy) and inspected. Bone-dry. With some very mild rust in many places. To give my departed FIL full credit, it was quite clean. Old one, with a "B" on the serial number, which means it was made in the second batch of 10k. Specifically, it is in the 12K range.

Punched the barrel with some Hpppes and bore brush. Added lubricant to most of the weapon. Light grease on the rails.

Only one magazine which is a bit dicey. In that it does not seem to seat up high enough (flush) so hand wracking the slide works most of the time. When I push it up from the bottom, functioning improves a LOT.

So, any advice on how to remove the very mild rust without screwing the value? Maybe even to get 2 more magazines? Lastly, any idea of the value, checking GB, they seem very hard to find.

Best of all. I'm taking it shooting in the next two hours. Range report to follow.

Shoots pretty well. Maybe 125 rounds. Some FTEs to be sure, which tended to increase getting close to the 9-round limit. I was able to eventually hit about 2/3rds of the time at 8" plates at 20 yards, which I was mostly pleased with. Trigger is actually pretty good, much better than I expected. For a gun that had probably not been fired since 1973 or so, it was pretty cool.

Sounds like you may have a weak magazine spring. Unfortunately, so few were imported that there aren't replacement part or aftermarket parts available. The last M1950 magazine I saw for sale went for like $100+, and they don't come up often.

Don't go too crazy on removing the rust. Some elbow grease scrubbing it with a brass bristled brush and copious amounts of gun oil will take care of most of it. You won't want to use anything stronger or more abrasive.