MAPF Pistolet Automatique Unique Modele 17 (Kriegsmodell)

History of MAPF Pistolet Automatique Unique Modele 17 (War Model)

Many weapons of French origin seen before and during World War II (1939-1945) ended up in German hands. This was demonstrated in the 1928 Pistolet Automatique Unique Modele 17 series semi-automatic pistol. The gun and its manufacturing facilities were quickly adopted by the Germans during the German occupation of France and survived the war as the unique "Kriegsmodell 17".

In addition to this form, there was a civilian model and a military oriented contract model.

These guns are manufactured by Manufacture d'Armes de Pyrenees Francaises (MAPF) and fire 7.65x17mm Browning (.32 ACP) cartridges from an 8-round detachable magazine.

During the First World War (1914-1918), shortages of war materials forced France to buy pistols from neighboring Spain to replenish its stocks. This led to the mass purchase of "ruby pistols" which became "automatic pistols of the 7mm 65 genre (ruby)" in service with the French army. Spanish pistols are heavily influenced by the original John Browning Model 1903, which belongs to the Belgian Fabrique National (FN) brand label and is widely used.

The Modele 17 is a native, evolved French offshoot of Spanish design.

Model 17 is equipped with a single-action (SA) trigger and uses a blowback operating system. There is no positive locking feature built into the slider, so there is no "empty magazine" visual hold open feature commonly found on semi-automatic pistols. There is a safety catch on the left side of the gun body, which doubles as a separation mechanism for cleaning/repairing the gun. Additional safety in the form of a magazine safety ensures that the weapon can only be fired when the magazine is inserted into the grip shaft.

The magazine release is attached to the rear of the frame.

On the eve of World War II, tens of thousands of contract models were purchased by the French military, as were several thousand civilian models, all of which entered service after the German occupation and before the surrender of France in June 1940, weapons were Modified to wartime model standards, but more or less unchanged. These were dubbed "War Model 17" variants by the Germans.

It was only later in the war that the case-hardened outer hammer and improved curved grip frame were introduced. Production of these weapons continued until the liberation of France in mid-to-late 1944.

The post-war version of the pistol, which became the unique "Rr 51" in 1951 and was equipped with a grip safety and an external hammer, was issued to the French police force. About 102,000 examples of this type have been delivered since 1951. Rd 17 model as . caliber 22LR.

Specification

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Changes