Let's see some old French firearms:

[45Auto]

This M1892 revolver is shown with an original holster which has the three loop cartridge pouch designed to hold three lsix shot boxes of 8mm revolver ammo. The revolvers are not hard to find, the hard shell holsters a little less common. Those little boxes of shells are the hard part.

[deadin]

Here's a few.......
First a SACM 1935A in 7.65 French Long (Kind of a "32 Auto Super")
Second: a Le Francaise Pocket Model in .25 Auto
Third: a French M1873 Ordinance Revolver in in 11mm
And finally a Frenck Musket circa the US Civil War...

[rhmc24]

Do you mean OLD French? Here's one from about 1560, found with the lock missing. A job for a client I made the lock from scratch, functional & period-correct. A wheel lock pistol, barrel about 20" long.



Sorry the pix are a bit fuzzy - they are from scans sent me by the owner.

EDIT Couple days later -- Here a couple pix of it before & during -






Of possible interest, I shot over 300 minutes of video making the lock and restoring the rest of the pistol. I would work a few days and mail about 20 minutes video to the client & we would discuss on the phone, then more of the same. Client is arguably the world expert on early European pistols, many books, articles, etc.

[Jim K]

Incredible job on the lock! Congrats.

Jim

[45Auto]

I agree with Jim, great looking lock. The owner is lucky to have found rhmc24 to make this.

Deadin: Great group of guns. Is that musket .69 cal?

[45Auto]

On the bayonet of this 1907-15 Berthier is a WWI vintage wire braker, designed to line up barbed wire so that a bullet could shoot it. The English also had something like this.

[deadin]

45Auto,
Now that is clever! Don't know I've ever seen one. (Or would be able to figure out just what it was if it wasn't mounted on the bayonet and rifle.)

And, yes, .69 cal. I'm pretty sure that it is one of the many foreign muskets that both the North and South bought from Europe during the Civil War. (I'm basing my guess on the whole batch of CW rifles that it was included with in a collection I came across)

[DixieLandMan]

Here's one. 8mm Lebel.

[Archie]

The MAB (Manufacture d'Armes de Bayonne), this one in .32 ACP (not Super). This was the standard sidearm of the French national police forces from just after the Second World War to the middle 1960s, as I understand.

This was Inspector Clouseau's pistol.

I've shot it and compared it to others in my .32 Auto collection. It works very well without hitches, and gives the highest velocity (with the same ammunition) of all five of my .32 ACP pistols. Even if it is Clouseau's pistol. Accuracy results are adequate without being great.

My apologies. As you all can see, I'm still figuring out how to get good photos of my collection for republishing.

[Max Donovan]

I am restoring an 1874 revolver, made in 1876, all properly marked as military and with matching numbers. It was made with ebony (maybe rosewood) grips and chambered for the 12 mm Galand thick-rim cartridge. These special features are mentioned in a catalog, but this is the first one I have seen.

[45Auto]

Max, the 1874 officer's model is not as easy to find as the 1873 trooper's model. Congratulations.

If your revolver is military issue, it should have walnut grips, but sometimes these can look black after exposure to oil etc. I'm concerned about the thick rim ammo comment. I have seen a few French 1873 revolvers which were reamed out for .45 auto rim. I hope that did not happen to yours.

Best regards,
Greg