Hammer, sear, and mainspring assembly was almost certainly derived from the Russian Tula-Tokarev pistol of 1930.Ĭharles Gabriel Petter was granted French patent number 782914 on 25 March 1935 Swiss patent 185452 on 31 July 1936 and U.S. Was too large and heavy, and some French writers described its recoil as “brutal.” So the French were looking for a gun with The French had been impressed by M1911’s performance during the Great War, but must have felt the gun The Petter patent was clearly based on the Browning-designed Colt 1911. The best features of the M1911, along with a few improvements. This might also describe the Tula-Tokarev TT-30 pistol, which was likewise a copy of the Browning design, with improvements. The Tokarev, however, utilized a much more powerful cartridge-the 7 The Petter and Tokarev were both single action, short-recoil, dropping-barrel designs, with unitized lockwork. 62x25mm Tokarev, virtually identical to the 7.63x25mm Mauser. (The suffix ‘A’ was added to the model designation The Modèle 1935 was officially adopted early in 1937, and manufacture began almost immediately at the SACM factory in Alsace. Production continued until the German invasion in mid-1940-German In 1938, and stands for ‘Alsacienne’ in the company name.) Early deliveries took place in October of 1937. Occupation forces took over the SACM factory and resumed fabrication of the pistol on 15 October 1940. Approximately 23,850 M1935A pistols were manufactured under German occupation.