[teiko41]

What happened to all these holsters ? Did the French cut them up for shoe leather or what. I have followed the on-line auctions for quite some time & the ones I have seen almost always have something missing. The one I have is nice but missing the mag pouches. I have seen 3 correct holsters in the last year & they went for about $300 - $400.

Anyone have any ideas, or better yet, where to pick up a decent correct holster.

Don

 

[vonmazur]

Mle 1937 Holsters...

I have seen just two for sale recently, both were very expensive. The Nazis did not make the Mle 37 holster, the French made limited numbers after the liberation, and then they adopted the Mle 46 holster for the 35A, followed by the canvas model and the Mle 1950 GT, which was a one size fits all deal....So there are not a lot of these holsters floating around.

If I can find the file, I will post pix of one that is complete and original...

Dale

 

[vonmazur]

35 S prototype with holster

Here is a Mle 35 Prototype or Pre Production Model, most likely from 1939-40 with only the "M" number on the frame. It is unknown what this means, I suppose it is "Marine" and one of 100 tested before WW 2 by the French Navy. IIRC; the two known examples of this gun came from Vietnam, I know this one did.....

The holster was sold to me with a run of the mill 35 S made by MAC.....It was worth it just to get the holster!

Dale

 

[vonmazur]

World's hardest holster to use....

BTW: One reason that this holster was not retained in service, it requires three hands to get the gun out of it! When one tries, it becomes obvious, ie: one hand to open the flap, one to pull the lanette d cuir, and one to grab the gun, by which time your opponent has shot....I presume the French doctrine was to take the gun out of the holster if combat was immenent, but sometimes there is an element of suprise, which makes this one of the most difficult to use holsters I have ever encountered...

Dale

 

[badash5946]

Here is a Mle 35 Prototype or Pre Production Model, most likely from 1939-40 with only the "M" number on the frame. It is unknown what this means, I suppose it is "Marine" and one of 100 tested before WW 2 by the French Navy. IIRC; the two known examples of this gun came from Vietnam, I know this one did.....

The holster was sold to me with a run of the mill 35 S made by MAC.....It was worth it just to get the holster!

Dale

Can you expand more on the Vietnam history...

 

[vonmazur]

Vietnam and PA 35 S

There are two of these that I know of, M 22, in my hot little hands, and M 37 once owned by Gene Medlin. The one I have came from a fellow vet, who supposedly got it in Tay Ninh.

IIRC, Gene got his in Nam the hard way.....ie: had to take from some unfortunate follower of Marxism...

I once read somewhere on a French Web Site, that I cannot remember, that the Army got the Mle 35 A pistols, and the Air Force and Navy were to receive the 35S. I suspect apochropha here, but "M" is a common letter for Navy in French--"MARINE". The other possiblity is "Modifee", but in any case, the guns are definately pre war, with the black dye still in evidence on the parked finish, after WW 2, they just painted them, not bothering to dye and varnish the guns....I have some idea how they did it, a carbon black dye was used on the pre war new made guns, and this finish was covered in a fairly tough varnish.

(The French are great artists and inventors, and I can imagine that there were hundreds of varnishes available for sealing oil paint....and they practice of using dye on parkerized steel is a French innovation....I have had some of the early Mle 36 rifles analysed, years ago in Connecticut, where I could get such things done by a friend in the biz, who was a big time collector. He even bought some of the dyes and experimented in reproducing the finish. We got the varnish at the Art Supply House in New Haven.....)

I have never seen an immediate post war 35 S, other than one MF example, and it was painted, not dyed and varnished. I took one rather weakly blued Mle 35 S from a deceased member of the 9 th NVA division. I sent it home in an AKAI Tape deck. The ammo quit firing in 1972...right on time.....

Dale

 

[badash5946]

Thanks for the information; I always appreciate the opportunity to further educate myself. I don't know much about the French weapons, but those holsters are fascinating. I have a couple of French pistols in my VN collection, a P38 and this 1935 SM (101st Abn bringback). I appreciate the update on the history.

 

[teiko41]

Dale

Thanks for the information. I put my 1935A in my holster & had to put my whole hand inside to grab the butt. I can see where it would be hard to get out if you were in a hurry.

Going to the Tulsa gun show this month so will keep my eyes open for one. Never know

Don

 

[Edmond]

Thanks for the information; I always appreciate the opportunity to further educate myself. I don't know much about the French weapons, but those holsters are fascinating. I have a couple of French pistols in my VN collection, a P38 and this 1935 SM (101st Abn bringback). I appreciate the update on the history.

This one can't be a VN bringback since the slide is marked M1 to indicate a modified safety as introduced at the end of the 70's on pistols used to train recruits of the Gendarmerie Nationale before they were allowed to shoot the MAC 50

 

[alfihar]

1935A German occupation holster - photos

This is a genuine holster, it came with the gun. I don't know if it was standard issue, and whether it was German or French made but by the looks of I'd say German. The stamp may be from the Kommandantur in Paris, it's what I was told. It's one of my faves, nice design, well made, although too bad about the caliber.

 

[vonmazur]

I think eet iz a Humper....

IIRC: the Nazi Document stamp was not used to mark holster procurement....There is a possibility that some Nazi stamped his holster, but parsimony rules this out. I have seen no documetary evidence that Nazis in France procured holsters and then used a non-Waffenamt stamp on them. I am almost sure that is a Kruguyevak Yugo manufactured holster, and no doubt Nazi, but the "office stamp" is questionable...Keep in mind that GI's during the war were already stamping anything with any kind of captured stamp...I have seen G 43's with such stampings on the stock, as well as other objects..

Dale

 

[alfihar]

Thanks for the info Dale. I guess one will never know who stamped it; one thing for sure though, judging from the wear pattern it is not recent.

 

[scotty1418]

A little something I found scouring eBay...

http://cgi.ebay.com/French-1937-1935a-1935s-pistol-holster-german_W0QQitemZ250189705217QQihZ015QQcategoryZ4077QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem