Le Français Type Armée - A Strange Service Pistol

/ forgottenweapons
www.floatplane.com/channel/Fo...
Cool Forgotten Weapons merch! shop.bbtv.com/collections/forg...
The Le Français pistol was designed by Etienne Mimard in 1912, and listed in the Manufrance catalog in 1914. It was a .25ACP (6.35mm Browning) civilian defensive pistol for pocket carry, and designed with elements specifically for that purpose. It had a long double action trigger instead of a manual safety, and used a tip-up barrel to avoid requiring the slide to be manually cycled.
In 1928, Manufrance introduced a much larger version of the gun chambered for 9mm Browning Long (9x20SR), named the Type Armée. It was envisioned as a military service pistol, and was tested several times by the Versailles Commission. It was never found satisfactory, basically because the loading mechanism and trigger were much more suited to a pocket pistol than a service sidearm. The lack of an extractor was also not appreciated by the military trials commission.
Despite military rejection, about 4900 of the guns were sold, including some to officers who had to procure their own personal weapons. The first 1100 (1928 pattern) had a smooth barrel, and the remaining 3600 or so (1931 pattern) had a distinctive finned or ribbed barrel.
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle #36270
Tucson, AZ 85740

[@MatoVuc]

This pistol really is the epitome of the phrase: "No one copies the french and the french copy no one."

[@armandosabre4111]

A-ha... the Flintlock, Minié and Pin Fire systems comproves it !

[@samueldamewood5273]

Not true. That trigger mechanism is the basis for Glock,

[@haroldellis9721]

Well said.

[@Poopooslinger]

In small arms maybe but outside there was copied things (the FT-17 tank for example).

[@tjroelsma]

It sure looks like the French have a unique way of developing a gun: find out what's the one thing that every other manufacturer failed at and then do just that. It does make for interesting guns though.

[@teagenbarnett6269]

This must be the craziest coincidence, my grandfather has one of these guns and we never knew what it was or where it came from. Just a few days ago I was looking through all the French forgotten weapons videos looking for this gun, and low and behold here it is!

[@caeserromero3013]

Congratulations...you own a pistol that sucks :)

[@aborted4196]

@@caeserromero3013 but ian will pay big money for it

[@ogregolabo]

@@caeserromero3013 joke s on you! I m into that sh*t! Skeletor wisdom

[@muskybawls2952]

So full of shit

[@teagenbarnett6269]

@@muskybawls2952 this comment is a year old, there’s better ways to spend your time than being negative

[@mitchellkedrosky1770]

This looks like it should be carried menacingly by the bad guys in Tintin

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Hergé was famous for caring about details - he once took a train journey just so he could acquire a ticket stub from a particular country for reference. Might be interesting to see a thing about Tintin weapons, if there are enough for a video

[@ptizim]

@@pavarottiaardvark3431 In several of his adventures Tintin had a Browning pistol, probably due to the fact that Hergé was Belgian.

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

@@JJ-lt5zl I swear there's one book where Tintin shoots down a float-plane by hitting the engine with a shot from his pistol

[@jasonokasuo3401]

images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51usQ5JogeL._SX354_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg Flight 714 has Tintin and Haddock both wield sub machine guns. I would love to know what those are. :D

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

Haddock's gun has a flat top-mounted drum, so a Degtyaryov? Tintin seems to have a Grease Gun. Pistol wise, Tintin usually has a browning, but sometimes he has a Stechkin (CalibreObscura on Twitter has done some Tintin stuff)

[@vchalmel]

MAS be like, "we make guns and bicycles, sometime both at the same time. Those are equally esential to life and liberty."

[@janwacawik7432]

ManuFrance and MAS weren't the same thing.

[@theslyls]

Manufrance and MAS are NOT the same thing.

[@vchalmel]

Yes, you are right, pre-WW2 Manufrance (Or in that case, the Manufacture d'Armes et Cycles de St Etienne) was kinda a sister company, and common contractor (they even had some MAS36 assembly lines) of the MAS national manufacture. They shared toolings and factory buildings...( I Was broadily speaking for non-french audience. )

[@DeliveryMcGee]

Eh, not that unusual, Birmingham Small Arms did the same. (Royal Enfield motorcycles, otoh, were a private company that made parts to sell to the Enfield arsenal.) And on the American side, you had jukebox and sewing machine companies making guns (true, it was kinda the other way 'round -- pressed into wartime service, rather than diversifying from guns -- but either way, you have a precision metalworking factory, you build whatever sells.)

[@genericpersonx333]

It is kind of cool how before the 1950s, it was basically the same machine tools and skill sets to make almost all machined components, allowing them to fairly quickly change their production as needed to meet the market demand. Orders for rifle receivers are drying up? Have Pierre adjust the milling machine on Line 3 to make crankcase parts for that automobile contract instead. Costs time and money to adjust the jigs and practice the new operations, but it is not like Pierre has to reinvent the wheel or complete a new two-year training course before he is making crankcase parts more or less as well as he was making receivers. One of the perks of a time when the #1 tool was manpower, not computer programming.

[@RavingRaptor]

French AND strange? I'll take your entire stock.

[@mythguard6865]

I bet Ian actually isn’t at home uploading a backlog. I bet he actually locked himself in the rock island auction house locked himself so he can look at all of their guns to his hearts content

[@joshuaradick5679]

If you’re going to fail at making a gun at least fail interestingly; like this gun.

[@recurvestickerdragon]

That motto fits quite a few of Ian's subjects, hehe~

[@Poopooslinger]

If I had a ton of money I would buy the gun just to test it.

[@BaronSamedi1959]

With a quarter million sales, that's not much of a fail.

[@recurvestickerdragon]

@@BaronSamedi1959 to be fair, they were excellent and popular compact concealed carry guns, as Ian started with. But the scaled-up pewpews... Well, there's a reason they're less common :)

[@blshouse]

@@BaronSamedi1959 Roughly five thousand sold, not two hundred fifty thousand. It is pretty clearly a failure.

[@bikecommuter24]

The mechanics of this pistol while interesting makes me appreciate John Browning's designs even more especially the 1911.

[@Anomaly188]

Browning's design was both ahead of its time and of its time. It was the big innovative leap forward setting the standard for pistol design for the next 100 years but nobody uses the swinging link system anymore after the Hi-Power gave us the cam block.

[@mitchellpatterson1829]

Rock island: We have this weird French pistol that really never went anywhere, and is full of bizarre engineering. Forgotten Weapons: *Happy Ian noises*

[@b.griffin317]

Ian be like "hold my weird cocktail!"

[@Doomwolf82002]

It's going to be a sad day when Ian runs out of French firearms to talk about.

[@kevins2301]

@@Doomwolf82002 On that day, Ian will wake in a feverish mania, immediately emigrate to France, and begin producing firearms. The wierd French spice must flow.

[@lapinmalin8626]

@@kevins2301 veloce or speedline by verney carron last weird french shotgun :)

[@Oblithian]

You can just see Ian browsing on his laptop, halfway through swallowing some scotch. "mmm. (struggle gulp, stands) Honey, grab my coat please I am going to Rock Island"

[@Choochificational]

After seeing the unoteenth strange french contraption on this channel, ive come to realize something: there is no machine on earth that the French couldnt make weirder.

[@DRNewcomb]

I wonder how you'd handle a failure to fire? 1) Pull the trigger again 2) flip the barrel up and eject the dud 3) fish around in your pocket looking for a spare round?

[@SonicsniperV7]

Throw the pistol at the enemy and run.

[@zacharyrollick6169]

@@SonicsniperV7 *YEET* Adieu!

[@vrisbrianm4720]

Just pull back the slide. Part of the reason why it needed a flipped up barrel is that the breechface has no extractor.

[@DRNewcomb]

@@vrisbrianm4720 And because there's no extractor, pulling back the slide will not eject a dud round. Now you're holding the slide open with one hand (I don't recall seeing a slide hold-open) while trying to extract the dud with the other.

[@svtirefire]

Surrender, obviously.

[@MrSinny]

I own a reproduction of a catalogue of the Manufrance with several pages on this pistol and several variations, that includes various penetration tests on wood planks, disassembly process, details on the ways it works and the explaination for its features and of course, the mandatory claim it's the best pistol in existence, quite an interesting read if you can get your hands on one.

[@ScottKenny1978]

Scan it and email it to Ian!

[@monyclair5357]

Scan it !!!

[@SonicsniperV7]

Ian: I'll take 12 copies each

[@SNOUPS4]

Scan it!

[@MrSinny]

It shall be scanned and sent to Gun Jesus then

[@azkrouzreimertz9784]

well quarantine might suck but atleast i got forgotten weapons once a day

[@MarkVrem]

considering at least from what I've heard that KZbin AD revenue is down like 80%, got to appreciate it.

[@AshleyPomeroy]

Also, Steve1989 uploaded a video a few days ago. Of all the people you'd expect to survive a plague outbreak, Steve1989 is high on the list.

[@fashtaki1]

"We need to make the most un-tactical pistol for reloading" "Say no more"

[@lsq7833]

Have you considered perhaps EVERY SINGLE revolver in existence at the time?

[@arnocharrier3438]

Un-tactical? Man you can do so much trick-shot-tacticool reloads with it!! Like : throw the cartridge in the air, get the mag in, flip up the barrel, catch the bullet mid-air in the chamber and slap the barrel closed! That would be sick!

[@CAMSLAYER13]

@@lsq7833 this gun makes revolvers look like a semi auto in terms of speed of use

[@DAKOTA56777]

@@lsq7833 Meanwhile in Britain: *laughs in speed loader*

[@go_horse]

excuse me sir did you even SEE the loop on the bottom of the mag for the extra bullet? it doesn't get more tactical than that!

[@rpnct]

I love the marking: "Manufacture française d'armes et cycles de Saint-Étienne" (armes means weapons, cycles means bicycles). You don't see those kind of factories nowadays.

[@matthewspencer5086]

BSA made rifles and machine-guns, also air-rifles (still does) and the company made motorbikes, bikes -and sewing machines. During WW2 they also made and inspected an engine-component every nine seconds. In India, you can buy new Royal Enfield motorbikes as originally made by the Enfield.

[@donaldasayers]

@@matthewspencer5086 Ditto Husqvarna.

[@leterrierdinari2861]

rpnct well, not exactly but ere is still Peugeot in France that makes cars, bicycles, tools, and I think they also do something with rubber, can't remember what though. Of course it is not as weird as make weapons and bikes but it's something.

[@TheRogueWolf]

"Instructions unclear; rode my gun to work and fired my bicycle at the range."

[@BillB23]

@@leterrierdinari2861 My dad worked for White Motor Company in Cleveland, Ohio, USA from 1936-1942 [hiatus for WWII] and 1946-1966. During his time they manufactured trucks. Before that they made first sewing machines and later steam automobiles (cf. Jay Leno's Garage). American manufacturers tend to specialize while some Europeans chose not to put all their eggs in one basket.

[@someguy5444]

If only the caliber was even more proprietary and lost in spec lol

[@SonicsniperV7]

"It fires a 6mm double rimmed black and smokeless powder mix cartridge" "...Wait how does that work" "The powers of France"

[@someguy5444]

Pyro Bob can I get that with a tapered cartridge?

[@SonicsniperV7]

@@someguy5444 Tapered armor piercing hollow points. Somehow

[@someguy5444]

Pyro Bob like 5.45x39?

[@Devin_Stromgren]

@@SonicsniperV7 Now I can't stop wondering what happens when you mix black and smokeless powders...

[@three-stripes]

Love those "cooling fins" on the barrel. Like you'll be shooting this thing 1200 rpm with 8 round magazines.

[@three-stripes]

@Stanley Jedrzejczyk Oh yeah! Looks so similar.

[@SonicsniperV7]

Brings a new meaning to "tacticool"

[@Vhalikuporamee447]

It probably has something to do with how you have to touch the barrel any time you have to reload it from an empty chamber. The ribs would reduce the contact area with your fingers and help some with keeping it cool.

[@three-stripes]

@@Vhalikuporamee447 Actually, that is a reasonable assumption. Wasn't even thinking about that! Well done sir.

[@felixlueggerto]

Those aren't cooling fins but and early attempt of a picatinny Rail. If you wanted to mount a Laser or a Bayonet on the gun

[@Nordy941]

Such a cool different pistol. Personally favorite part of this guy is how the trigger guard is a spring to open the chamber never seen anything like that before.

[@AxLWake]

It is a very cool design. On the smallest one (the 25ACP or 6,35mm) the trigger guard acts as the tip-up barrel spring as well. On the medium sized Le Français pistol (32 ACP or 7,65mm) the design is different. There is a small regular spring under the barrel. I only shot and handled the smallest one, the 25ACP. It is incredibly cool. The double action trigger is indeed quite hard to pull but it is still possible to shoot well (if you don't have enormous hands since the 25acp pistol is super small).

[@wadekirby8575]

The Beretta 21a took some design cues from this line. (Spring trigger guard, tip up barrel, no extractor, leavers under the grips for the main spring.)

[@AxLWake]

@@arkgaharandan5881 The barrel doesn't move when you fire. It works as any simple blowback design. The barrel only tips up when you remove the magazine or activate a small lever on the side.

[@TheRogueWolf]

Well, it's not Cobray levels of "to hell with convention", but not for lack of trying.

[@NotOneOfUs]

Ian, don't kid us, we know you'll be the top bidder on this.

[@JustIn-op6oy]

I would imagine he already has a few of them.

[@johnmorgan1629]

May not have the smoothest action, may have heavy trigger pull, may have failed the trials, but some reason still like the look of this one.

[@markfergerson2145]

Definite Art Deco/early Sci-Fi look to it.

[@onelonecelt9168]

I always have liked the look of semi-automatic pistols with exposed barrels, like this and the P38, as well.

[@J.DeLaPoer]

I'm a sucker for anything with this era's aesthetics and if it has ribs/fins, sign me up! I'd still never want to trust my life to this thing in combat. Those tiny little tabs being the only thing holding the slide on are enough to make me nervous.

[@12201185234]

Reminds me of a Baretta Tomcat with the barrel that pops open like that.

[@blueeyeswhitedragon9839]

I love these old pistols which surprisingly look so futuristic. Look no further than modern SiFi to see many "antique" weapons re-imagined as "blasters" and "ray guns".

[@donjones4719]

It's a natural continuation of 1930s and 40s sci-fi illustrations, when the classic ray gun look appeared. Illustrators borrowed from and exaggerated features of contemporary weapons.They wanted something familiar yet different, and there were enough weapons around with ribbed barrels to make them a natural on ray guns, along with some other features.

[@andrew811ful]

That looks like something a French person would make

[@kodiakkeith]

It just goes to show that Gaston Glock wasn't the first person to 'improve' handguns by putting lousy triggers on them.

[@peaceoutbruh7085]

I mean, he did better than the HK VP70 at least (the first polymer striker fired handgun)

[@nandospm]

Nice pistol. I think a video covering handgun safety mechanisms usage and development history could be a fine addition to the How Does it Work series

[@enriquekahn9405]

I've wanted the .32 version of this for a while. They're a really cool and clever design.

[@Hawk1966]

I love the art deco'esque ribbing on the barrel/receiver. That would look at home in a Buck Rogers serial or a Tom Corbett, Space Cadet book cover (yes, I read those and stuff like Tom Swift and even older pulp).

[@agentvx8320]

Very interesting! The engineering inside is surprisingly good given the oddball exterior, as is the machining. I guess that's what happens when you have top notch engineers trying to design a semi-automatic pistol in the days before almost anybody had figured out how to make a decent semi-automatic pistol. (Obviously excluding John Browning and arguably Georg Luger.)

[@z31drifterlf]

The tilting barrel always reminds me of the tomcat

[@inhumanfilth681]

Same here. Which is funny because chronologicly the tomcat should remind me of this lol

[@Davedrifter]

@Luke F the whole project was used to design the small berettas, the jetfire, minx and tomcat, all use the tilting barrel, trigger guard spring, no extractor that the french used...

[@hornmonk3zit]

@@Davedrifter They have the same recoil spring system too.

[@Davedrifter]

@Josh Ayala I am quite fond of small pocket pistols, and I consider the berettas a success, they are being made, one way or another, till now, and plenty of those are carried, everyday as primary or backup gun

[@12201185234]

I was thinking the same thing. In fact, I commented the same thing before I read yours.

[@BatCaveOz]

Ribbed for comfort - those cheeky French 😉

[@leszekkadelski9569]

And always under tension ;)

[@romanmir01]

ribbed for her pleasure. A little known fact, the barrel doubles as a dildo during sado maso games

[@gearandalthefirst7027]

@@romanmir01 so that's why the front sight post is rounded not square

[@chrismccarthy1455]

No need to quarantine in a house full of guns. Still, a very cool weapon. History is fascinating.

[@Hasard19]

This comment is gonna be written in french, because I am french C'est marrant, hier je regardait justement la version civile de ce pistolet dans le "Catalogue de la manufacture d'armes et de cycles de St-Etienne", si tu ne l'as pas déjà je te le conseille, il est très intéressant de voir la diversité de production de cette usine, il est pas très facile à trouver en France mais il y a quelques exemplaires qui trainent moyennant ~60/100€.

[@BartJBols]

le souris et dans la table.

[@fmjsteelcore4397]

60€ le catalogue ou le pistolet? Parce que mon 7.65 le français je l'ai eu pour bien plus cher 😅

[@Hasard19]

@@fmjsteelcore4397 le catalogue x)

[@johnraina4828]

@@Hasard19 le catalogue?

[@riseupagainstthenwo9995]

@@BartJBols Shart at walmart?

[@droidlittle582]

That is pretty unique! Very much a forgotten weapon. Thank you Ian.

[@dwightehowell8179]

Okay so this guy came up with a way to make a 9mm blowback without having problems with the stiff springs making them hard to cock!

[@nubcake67]

Ian always has what looks like the coziest sweaters in these videos. I gotta get me some of those.

[@tomp538]

It never ceases to amaze me, as to the different mechanics of semi auto weapons. A machinist friend once told me, if you give an Englishman a piece of metal. He will surely do something strange with it; this gun evokes that thought...

[@SolidSioux1987]

Best part of the morning right here.

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

This thing looks like a Hotchkiss. The French really must like cooling fins on their guns!

[@Oblithian]

Don't we all? That first gen Thompson...

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Having shot some older double action revolvers I expect many officers who purchased these wouldn't have thought the trigger a problem at all. The manual of arms is what makes it seem so funky to us.

[@DibutilFtalat]

Very clever engineering. Pleasure to watch!

[@robertwesolowski2383]

This video made me crack a good smile. Nothing gets my goat quite like people doing unique things with firearms especially when it’s something we are so used it being done one way

[@stefanshumaker3273]

Pre-cursor of the P-38. Very few knew, if known. Thank you!

[@VS-ff4ez]

What an interesting little design. Good video!

[@letsplaybarrysmod5815]

This man makes my day all the time I watch

[@denisg2719]

RIA is the same thing for Ian as CNC for Doug Demuro.

[@capmadman6486]

Its interesting to know now that double action striker fired, isnt a new concept.

[@awgmax]

Actually it's "The french" as in the french man. I appreciate the effort you put into pronouncing stuff in french.

[@SangTheCryptek]

Scifi blaster prop material, I think.

[@caliaromain7612]

I am glad that you are so interested into french weapons Ian. Au plaisir

[@-TheRealPatriot-]

Great Job Ian! I’ve been reading your book! Signature edition!

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you , Ian .

[@michaelwalker6386]

Cool little pistol! Thanks

[@longbellycaster]

That’s a cool old pistol!

[@joshuarebennack68]

Weird mechanism aside, the overall look is great. Love those ribs.

[@Kremit_the_Forg]

01:42 Come on, it can't be that much different can it? *few seconds later *plop Well I'll be damned.

[@tdugong]

I think I saw a video of the pocket pistol model here. Pity, these looked cute and competent as a pocket pistol.

[@nicgreen326]

Many years ago when England still had pistols. One of my dealer friends said your going to like this. We all have our exentrities and showed me this pistol. It is a pistol you have to have . As l was collecting 9mm long pistol. Did uses it in several vintage arms events . By the end of the competition your hand was starting to go into spasms and cramps ,but a great talking point. Unfortunately had my collection stolen in my new homeland. Had been used with 9mm parabelem (?). By the previous owner.(tided string roung grove). I tried not to think about that as your looking down sites. Enjoying the vids. Has got me interested in transition firearms again.

[@flyboymike111357]

I love the concept of a single stack full sized pistol with a tip up barrel, especially since it automatically pops when you remove the mag. It would be excellent for less trained police, security, or civilians for a large self defense sidearm, as an alternative to the revolver. Like a revolver, the design makes it instinctive to unload, reduces the chances of having loaded gun which a novice might falsely believe is unloaded, and can easily be identified as unloaded by anyone at a glance. I also really like the aesthetic of this particular example, I kind of want to see someone use this basic design to make a Mandalorian style blaster pistol, assuming they don't actually hack up a real gun.

[@thetruthexperiment]

I really like how the grips slide off. I’d like to see that more. I want to live in a world where people are free to buy whatever guns they want so that more new and interesting gun designs can actually be successful.

[@a.p.2356]

I feel like French engineers much spend a huge amount of time researching every existing piece of technology to make sure they don't accidentally do anything anyone else has ever done.

[@jerryjohnsonii4181]

It looks like the Savage pistol for the 1911 military trials. Very interesting Firearm , Gun Jesus !!!!!!!!!!

[@FullTekAuto]

I like the design, it's got the tip up barrel like the Beretta bobcat. I love those things

[@TheOldTeddy]

As always, well done. Perhaps one on MAB pistols, and there history? Thanks again for your video.

[@Phozz4]

I always thought the force actuating the "barrel pop" would be strong enough to extract and yeet the case. Reminds you of how hard it is, to guess the practical use of a gun, without any footage of practical operation. If the barrel rotation was a few degrees further and the actuating force (spring?) a tat stronger, this could still win in the aesthetics department.

[@stephanl1983]

No one stores an extra cartridge on his gun, the French : Mon dieu, I have a great idea!

[@rodrigodepierola]

The flip up barrel and the loop for the extra cartridge is le cool.

[@Hustler9g]

How do you post everyday? That's honestly really impressive. I doubt anyone would blame you if it was only like 3 or 4 days a week, not that I'm complaining about too much great content !

[@Oblithian]

Stuff like this is a lot easier to edit and film than some other kinds of content. He mentioned he films several guns in one session. Where as eric the car guy might make 1 video out of 3 days of work. Conversely some news or opinion stuff might get filmed in one sitting with basically no editing or setup.

[@andrewwoodhead3141]

I like the way it looks

[@patriciocordova449]

I never I imagined the French could design anything with more quirks than my Peugeot

[@m103904]

Intersting video. I know they are not forgotten but it would be cool to see a video on some of keltec's weird guns and how they work.

[@kmech3rd]

Having been brutalized several times for my crude attempts at pronouncing French words correctly, I salute your bravery, Ian!

[@AlexandruNicolin]

Those ribs on the barrel - peak steampunk.

[@jacobhobbs6918]

I think it's a pretty nifty idea. I'm a big fan of the tip up barrel pocket pistols in .25acp. It looks pretty simple to manufacture. One could possibly clone one and tune that trigger. Ladies and more frail folks wouldn't have to worry about racking the slide.

[@ch319ris]

Beretta uses those side leaf springs notched into the slide on their tilting barrel pistols too.

[@blamokapow137]

The barrel and trigger guard are similar to my beretta jetfire.

[@iuploadherebecauseimnotbuy7236]

Me yelling to my wife: it's a French morning honey you better break out the Folgers Black Silk coffee.

[@bezahltersystemtroll5055]

Your wife... or your sister? 🎵The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup🎶

[@Wetcorps]

"Le Français" translates to "the French" or "the Frenchman".

[@vera_2343]

yeah but i found Ian good in is prononciation compare to lots of american.

[@jeffreyknickman5559]

Now I'm glad I didn't comment. I would've ended up copying you

[@pavarottiaardvark3431]

The most redundant designation, who else would design something so magnificent yet bizarre?

[@Wetcorps]

@@vera_2343 He's quite good considering he hasen't been learning French for that long and how hard French is to pronounce for an English speaker.

[@dinonatorful]

@@vera_2343 hes a frenchaboo

[@kmech3rd]

So Ian, in terms of being more stubbornly determined to go their own way in arms design, who wins- the Japanese or the French?

[@johnhans2929]

Some of the little Berettas, like the Model 21, use the same tip-up barrel and recoil system.

[@MisterOcclusion]

Interesting mechanism. I can see how a blowback system without an extractor would be better served with a tip up barrel than some combination of grasping grooves and slide lock, but still looks awkward to get into action at best and slow to get back into action in the event of a dud cartridge if you don’t have loose rounds handy

[@tomdixon7264]

One would imagine this might have been designed on a bet.

[@jfbft5007]

this gun never was a service gun, never, just a factory hope, it was sold, but only at individual titles.

[@_Wiseguy7]

It's interesting to me how simple this gun is mechanically. It's essentially the same philosophy of early auto manufacturers attempt at making affordable cars. Instead of "the same but smaller", this is "the same but bigger".

[@red62]

This thing looks so weird! I love it!

[@27dcx]

it's interesting how popular some of the weaker calibers we would not even consider for defensive uses today were so popular in the past

[@lucianene7741]

This gun would have made a lot of sense in 9mm Para. Remember the Astra 400, the only 9mm/Para blowback pistol ever made in quantity? It was notorious for its heavy springs which made raking the slide by hand a pain. This tilting barrel of the Le Francais solves the problem in an elegant way.

[@rogerjohnson8707]

I can see Ian bidding on this one. Will we see it in a 'back up gun' video next year?

[@kenwheeler3637]

I love everything about this pistol. I really wish the much more common 32 cal ones looked like these do. Not that they're very affordable either though.

[@duartesimoes508]

No wonder this oddity was never adopted...

[@jayfelsberg1931]

As always, one is astounded with some of the stuff designers come up with. And there 250,000 of them??????

[@PipMan1101]

My eyes actually widened in horror as Ian started explaining the loading procedure with the single round attached to the bottom of the magazine... who on Earth thought that would be acceptable in a military pistol?

[@jlv2335]

I agree with you. What a odd idea !

[@lutin_mi06]

When luger hangs out with french girls

[@ElYohcralosyoh]

Merci d'avoir parlé de quelques armes françaises peu connues, tu es un bon gars 😁👍

[@caeserromero3013]

Basically it's only use would be if you glued a scope to the side and used it as a Star Wars blaster prop for cosplay...

[@kirkmooneyham]

"It's got a lot of weird features to it"...and Ian just cannot resist a gun with weird features!

[@ghanashyamkaale7389]

Most advance of its time and underrated small arm😊👌👌👌

[@Ealsante]

Le Français and Strange. That's a redundancy right there.

[@Elboy522]

Hey, this is the pistol that every character used in the Tintin comics!

[@vchalmel]

Oh there was a few, but Tintin's characters loved a Belgian Browning HiPower.

[@inblackestnight9256]

Was this the model used for those 'rocket guns' in the Bond movie You Only Live Twice? It's been a while since I watched the film, this gun just immediately reminded me of it.

[@sorenlilienthal1368]

That was the really existing, but nevertheless weird "Gyrojet", available in handgun and carbine version. I'm sure it was featured on FW, some time ago.

[@inblackestnight9256]

@@sorenlilienthal1368 Ah yes. Those guns may have actually had Gyrojet printed on the side in the movie. Thanks!