Pistolet automatique modèle 1935S

The Pistolet automatique modèle 1935S, also written Modèle 1935 S, is a semi-automatic pistol chambered for the 7.65mm Longue cartridge. It was designed by Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne (MAS), a French government arsenal, as an entrant in the 1935 to 1937 French military trials to choose a new sidearm, and in those trials it lost to the SACM 1935A. As France prepared for war it became clear that SACM production could not meet the army's needs, so MAS received additional contracts in 1938 and began delivering the pistol to the French military in early 1939. Production stopped after about 1,404 pistols when German forces occupied Saint-Étienne in the summer of 1940, resumed in 1944, and then passed to other French makers including ManuFrance, SAGEM and the Châtellerault arsenal. About 82,773 were built between 1937 and 1956, and its design inspired the MAC Mle 1950 that replaced it as the French service pistol.