Rare French Officer's Pistol

V

vintagemc313

New member
I picked up this French pistol, and later found out it is pretty rare. Model 1928 La Francais Armee. It's in beautiful condition, EXCEPT the old man shot 9mm Luger out of it. It's supposed to be 9mm Browning. Everything is perfect with the exception of the barrel. Notice the bulge?
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OH NO!!
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I do not really think the functionality matters. With all that decoration it was never intended to be shot, just look pretty with the uniform.
 
Very, uh, French.
There was a gunsmith, since deceased, who would undertake to roll the bulge out and reline the barrel. You'd probably have had to have the engraving touched up, though.

With all that decoration it was never intended to be shot
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I don't know about that. I have a couple of engraved guns that I shoot. One is very worn, a shadow of its old self, but the fine scroll is still attractive.
The other is a modern stainless steel .38; a nice coat pocket gun.
 
My first reaction was that a 9mm Parabellum round wouldn't fit in a 9mm BL chamber, but a check of the cartridge specs shows it just might, likely wedging in because the 9mm BL case is actually longer than the 9mm P. I am surprised that gun held up to the punishment. I would be very careful about shooting it, and not just because of the barrel bulge.

The use of the wrong ammo didn't cause the bulge, though; that comes only from firing a bullet into an obstructed barrel.

Too bad. The gun might be shot safely with the right ammo, but if the bulge is pounded out, the further bending of the steel could weaken it enough that IMHO the gun should not then be fired.

(That pistol is an early striker fired DAO pistol; if it is odd, so is the Glock.)

Jim
 
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