French MAC Model 1935 M

[logeorge]

A guy came to me wanting to know where he could get a slide stop for his 1935 M pistol. After checking everywhere I could think of, I've concluded that parts for it are mostly non-existent. Is there another slide stop that could be modified to function? Are blueprints for the part available? If all else fails, I might try to make one, but I'm laid up for a while because of knee surgery. L. O. G.

[tangolima]

You may need to get the part from Europe. I have a 1935s. The safety broke. A forum member sent me a link to a French site. It is about $60 including shipping. Nowhere in the states I could find the part. I managed to carve one out of a 10mm bolt, so I didn't order it from France. I will post the link here if I can locate it.

The slide stop is way more complicated to machine one monolithic. I probably will separate the pin from the body if I were to carve one out.

-TL

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[tangolima]

Here is the link to my safety. Try search for your part. It works better if you enter French. The English version should work too.

https://www.naturabuy.fr/rechercher....35s+pa35s+35+s

-TL

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[logeorge]

Tangolima: Thanks for the info. I'll have to see how much the owner is willing to spend on this gun. It is in good shape except for the missing part, so maybe he will go for it. I know making one from scratch is a loosing proposition. I'd only do it just to see if I could make it work. Unfortunately, my access to machine tools is limited. Then there is the ammo problem. I don't know if he hand loads or not. I don't work on guns professionally, so I'm not worried about making anything on the deal. Another potential problem is that I don't speak or read French and don't know anyone who does. Anyway, thanks again. I'll let you now what happens. L. O. G.

[Ricklin]

If you have a newer smartphone the translation capability is really and truly usable, at times it is downright amazing.
I did a recent trip to Panama and was down there for a week. My Socal Spanish is very rusty, my Google Pixel 6 saved my bacon.

Web browsers will translate web pages, just a click to make that happen.

Little effort is required now, one of the more useful things that "technology" has made possible.
The trip would have been much more challenging without the phone.

[4V50 Gary]

worse case is to make one. We had to at school.

[Jim Watson]

Bare bones would be just a cross pin with no slide stop lever.
This was common at one time with IPSC shooters overloading 9x21 CZ 75s. Breakage was common and they did not shoot to slide lock anyhow.

[tangolima]

Originally Posted by Jim Watson

Bare bones would be just a cross pin with no slide stop lever.
This was common at one time with IPSC shooters overloading 9x21 CZ 75s. Breakage was common and they did not shoot to slide lock anyhow.

That's a good idea. At least the gun will shoot again. Provisions to keep the pin in position are needed though. I would consider a metric screw of proper diameter with matching nuts. 2 nuts to jam each other in place so that they do back out during use.

-TL

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[Jim Watson]

There have been slide stops made with E-clips for retention.
Just a groove around the pin and a clip on each end. Or one end headed, the other with clip.

[logeorge]

The pistol presently has a Phillips-head screw with a self-locking nut in place of the slide stop. I haven't taken it out to see what it its, but I'd bet it's not the proper diameter. I think he just put it in to keep everything together. He is a relative of my grand daughter's husband and lives about 100 miles from here. I don't have contact info, so i'm waiting for my grand daughter to get me in contact with him, so I have some idea of how he wants to proceed. So far all I know is that he wanted to see if I could "fix it". I seem to have gained an undeserved reputation of knowing everything about guns. I know some, but surely don't know it all! L. O. G.

[tangolima]

Originally Posted by Jim Watson

There have been slide stops made with E-clips for retention.
Just a groove around the pin and a clip on each end. Or one end headed, the other with clip.

That's another good idea.

Everything in that pistol is in mm. A screw in standard thread will be sloppy. Don't shoot it like that. The gun has link lock like 1911. A sloppy pin will compromise the lug engagement and worse thing can happen.

I probably will make the pin out out spring steel or mild steel case hardened.

-TL

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[Unclenick]

What I've always done with pins is just buy a foot (or three, where that's minimum) of the right size O-1 drill rod. MSC and others pretty much have all sizes. You just carve the pin from it and heat and quench the rod, then draw it back at about 800°F to leave it about the hardness of a hammer, so it will take a beating.

[logeorge]

Tangolima: Thanks for the PM. I pulled up the site, pulled up the translator on another browser and filled out all the blanks to set up an account. After getting that done, they put on message on saying the part is not available internationally. So now I'm back at the beginning. I will likely just make a pin, as some have suggested, until I can find one in the U S. I could make the part, having some machining experience, but my access to machinery is limited, I don't own a milling machine and am still recuperating from knee surgery. So far I've checked with Numrich, Bob's Gun Shop, Sarco and Jack First as well as looking on eBay and Amazon. Any suggestion as to where else to look would be appreciated. L. O. G.

[tangolima]

Ah that's unfortunate. I will keep an eye open for you. I have tried all the sources in the states for parts. They have mostly dried up. It sounds drastic, I actually consider buying another pistol in bad shape and use it as part donor. After parting out the left over parts, I may be close to breaking even.

I quite like making the pin to make the pistol shoot again. If time and resources allow later I will consider making the slide catching part to be mated together with the pin. The slide catcher is the where complications are. Nice to have but not necessary.

-TL

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[logeorge]

I'll probably just make the pin for now. I suppose if the pin were made with a thicker than necessary head, the lever could be added later. Lots of parts can be made with files, given enough time and patience. The shaft could be turned on a lathe and the rest filed into shape, then the holes for the plunger, spring and retainer pin drilled. If I don't find one I may try it when I get feeling a bit better. Thanks for the help and info. L. O. G.

[logeorge]

Since I couldn't find a part, I took a #10 Allen screw(0.187" shank), chucked in in my old Craftsman mini lathe an filed and sanded it down to 0.180", the maximum that would pass through the frame. Since Allen screws are grade 8, I think it will be hard and strong enough for the job. Next, I plan on locating a piece of 4140, preferably pre-heat-treated, and filing out the arm for the slide lock with a hole for the pin. If I can get that working, the next step will be to cut the excess length off the Allen screw and either cut a groove for an E-clip or drill a hole for a spring clip to retain the pin and turn the head down to get rid of the socket. Then the arm can either pivot on the pin or be tack welded to it. I'll report back later, if I can pull it off. Of course, maybe no one really cares, but I'll report anyway.

[Bill DeShivs]

The hardest part will be shooting the gun with virtually no ammunition available!

[logeorge]

Agreed! Although the owner claims a gun shop in Huntsville, AL has some. I hope he bought some while he had the chance. I haven't checked it out, myself. I understand that brass is available and .32 S&W Long dies can be used to load it. We shall see. That is the main reason I didn't buy one 40 years or so back when they were available and cheap. That and the low power of the ammo. I can't really explain why I took an interest in this project at all, other than the challenge.

[Jim Watson]

Starline catalogs the brass, but like so much else, they don't have any on hand.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/765-french-long

[tangolima]

No problem for me once I got hold of the brass. I load those with .32 s&w long dies supplemented with .32 acp FCD. It is effectively an elongated version of .32 acp.

-TL

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[logeorge]

Well, it seems that the ammo they had at Larry's in Huntsville turned out to be 7.65 Browning(AKA .32 auto), not 7.65 French Longue. Graf lists the brass, but it is out of stock. The bolt stop is about 80% finished and it looks like it is going to work with a little more tinkering. With no good pictures or drawings of the part, I'm having to figure it out as I go. The only pre-heat treated steel I have on hand is 4130 so I made it out of that. My only worry is how well it will hold up in use. The only part of it that has any real stress, besides the pin that the link attaches to, is the tab that locks the bolt open. I have no way to test the hardness of the steel. It sawed and filed alright, but took more pressure to cut than annealed steel. I guess if we can't find any ammo, it will last quite a while. The owner talked as though he might be willing to buy a die set, so maybe he will eventually get to shoot it.

[tangolima]

I got my starline brass quite recently from midsouth shooters. I use .32 s&w long die set supplemented by .32 acp FCD. The bullet I have is cast bullet from bear Creek for .32 acp. It works out well with pretty good accuracy. The round is just elongated version of .32 acp.

The steel parts I would heat, quench, and draw back to blue, if they are made out of alloy steel. I favorite is mild steel case hardened.

-TL

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[Bill DeShivs]

Try making sure a .32 acp round will seat on the semi-rim. If it does, see if .32 acp will feed from the magazine. If it does, shoot it.

[logeorge]

Some say firing .32 ACP in it will cause the extractor to break. They didn't say whether the breakage is caused by the extractor having to support the case against the firing pin blow(the .32 case is 0.100" shorter than the French 7,65mm) or by having to jump over the larger rim of the .32. Either way, I'm not looking to have to make an extractor. They are unobtainable, too. The whole thing could be erroneous, though. Dunno. The owner can make that choice. Graf lists the brass as "out of stock". Maybe they will have some by the time I get done fooling with this thing.

[Bill DeShivs]

The round feeds UNDER the extractor. There is no "jumping over" the rim.