#pamas

Modèle 1950

By the early 1950s the French Army was armed with an assortment of pre-war and wartime sidearms chambered in numerous calibres. These included the pre-war MAB Model D, the Modèle 1935A and the Modèle 1935S. Along with Lend-Lease Colt M1911s and captured German pistols such as the P38s and P08s. A logistical nightmare.

The newly established Section Technique de l'Armée (Army Technical Section), formed in 1946, tested a number of pistols during the 1947 trials. A pistol from Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de Saint Étienne (MAS) developed from the M1935S, a development of the M1935A from Societe Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM), a civilian market SIG SP47/8 (later known as the P210) and entries from Merlin-Gérin (MGD) and Manufacture Nationale d'Armes de Tulle (MAT), both of which were quickly rejected. 

While the SIG performed excellently it did not conform to the French military’s 1946 pistol specification. The French did not wish to purchase a license to manufacture a Swiss pistol when they had indigenous designs available. The pistol developed by MAS suffered numerous failures, parts breakages and cracks appearing in the slide after several thousand rounds fired. Despite this the French selected the MAS design on the 16th August, 1950. The French army adopted the pistol as the Modèle 1950, and revised the design until it performed well in endurance trials in 1951.

In the new pistol the French moved away from the diminutive 7.65x20mm Longue cartridge and standardised to 9x19mm. The new pistol is larger than its predecessors but retains a single stack magazine, holding 9-rounds. The Modele 1950 is extremely simple to disassemble with a captive recoil spring and an easily removeable cassette containing all of the pistol’s lock work (see image #3). The pistol has a parkerized finish and uses serrated plastic grip panels. 

The Modèle 1950 combined elements from both the earlier French service pistols taking the M1935A’s more ergonomic grip profile and combining it with the slide shape of the M1935S. The new pistol used the Colt 1911′s short recoil locked breech system abandoning the double barrel links of the M1935A and the M1935S’ raised shoulder for a single link and barrel lugs for locking (see image #3). The Modèle 1950 retained the earlier pistol’s slide mounted hammer block safety. 

Despite having designed the pistol, MAS were not the first of France’s state-owned arsenals to manufacture it. Manufacture Nationale d’Armes de Châtellerault (MAC), who had produced M1935S pistols after the war, began production of the M1950 in March 1953 continuing until 1963. In 1961, MAS began to take over production until manufacture of the M1950 ended in 1978, with a total of 342,000 pistols made over 25 years. 

The M1950 saw action first during the First Indochina War and later during the Algerian War and Suez Crisis. It served during France’s interventions in former African colonies such as Chad and Djibouti and during the 1990 Gulf War. 

The Modèle 1950 remains in limited service with the French military and police forces. In 1989 the French military adopted the PAMAS G1, a licensed version of the Beretta 92, to replace the Modèle 1950.

Source:

Images: 1 2 3

French Model 1950 Pistol, Small Arms Review, J. Huon (source)

French PAMAS G1, a license copy of the Beretta 92 made by the Manufacture d'Armes de Saint-Étienne for the French Armed Forces and Gendarmerie.

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