After World War One the French military created a plan to replace basically all of its small arms, including the array of handguns it had in use. The trials to adopt a single new replacement ultimately took nearly 15 years and actually resulted in two new pistols being chosen. One of these was the MAS Mle 1935S, and its roots go back to a model developed by MAS in 1925. This was a simply blowback design in 7.62x20mm (7.65 French Long) with an external hammer, single action trigger, and cartridge counting mechanism built into the frame. After testing in 1925, MAS made a number of revision to improve the gun, and this example is one of the Mle 1925M pistols that resulted.
Many thanks to the IRCGN (Institut de Recherche Criminelle de la Gendarmerie Nationale) for allowing me access to film this very rare prototype for you!
