.765 Caliber Question

[urnsrus]

My friend just inherited 2 old WW2 pistols. They appear to be both of German making. I believe both to be .765, as one is not marked well, one is marked very clearly .765. Is this what we would call .380? I know it is smaller than a 9mm, however, not as small as a .25. I will try to photo the units and post also in a different message.

Thank you,

David

[John Dunn]

I would guess .30 Mauser. What kind of pistols are they?

[Larry White]

.32 Auto. Was pretty popular pocket gun cal before the 2nd war.----Larry

[Vlad]

There are 2 calibers that might be marked 7.65 from that time period, the 7.65mm Luger also know as 7.65mm Parabelum, or the .30 Luger. The other one is 7.65mm Browning also known as .32ACP. Both where fairly popular in Europe around that time period.

The Luger version is a necked down 9mm case (well the 9mm is a blown out .30 Luger) and the .32 is straight walled, which should help identify it by looking at the chamber.

[urnsrus]

It appears that the chambers are straight walled from the chamber to the end of the barrel. Here are a couple of pictures of the units. The only reason that I am doing this is because my friend asked me to help. So, I picked them up and cleaned them and took these pictures.

Thanks guys,

[Vlad]

Sweet!

The first one is a Mle 1935A which is 7.65x22 Longue. Oddball french caliber, for which I doubt there is ammo to be found.

The second one is a Ortgies, one of a series of popular pocket pistols, in .25ACP, .32ACP, and .380ACP. This is one is pretty much sure to be a .32ACP.

Interestingly, the design for the Mle 1935 seemed to have been bought be the swiss and it was developed into the SIG pistols, your buddy's gun almost looks a bit like the SIG 210.

[Vlad]

And because I'm bored, I did more research on the 7.65 french round. It was only used in that handgun and in the Mas 48 subgun, both where out of service by 1950. Ammo is VERY rare but two companies which specialize in oddball ammo do load for it. Reloaders can make the brass out of .32SW LONG brass, by turning down the case rim and shortening the case.

I found the following two places but I know nothing about them:

http://gadcustomcartridges.com/#pistol

http://slickaz.tripod.com/amomil.htm

RCBS makes dies, they call them "7.65mm French MAS Auto".

The gun itself was upgraded to 9mm after WWII and became the MAS 1950. Also there is a Mle 1935S which was a simpler to make version of 1935A but looks VERY different. The French are wacky.

[urnsrus]

That is why I love this forum! No matter what you have a question for, there is someone out there that has a very detailed understanding of the question. Thank you all!! I will take it from here and see how my friend would like to proceed. My suspicion is that they will keep them as reminders of the past and that is all unless you feel there is a super intrensict value.

Thanks again,

And because I'm bored, I did more research on the 7.65 french round. It was only used in that handgun and in the Mas 48 subgun, both where out of service by 1950. Ammo is VERY rare but two companies which specialize in oddball ammo do load for it. Reloaders can make the brass out of .32SW LONG brass, by turning down the case rim and shortening the case.

I found the following two places but I know nothing about them:

http://gadcustomcartridges.com/#pistol

http://slickaz.tripod.com/amomil.htm

RCBS makes dies, they call them "7.65mm French MAS Auto".

The gun itself was upgraded to 9mm after WWII and became the MAS 1950. Also there is a Mle 1935S which was a simpler to make version of 1935A but looks VERY different. The French are wacky.

[hiropro]

cool my pops has a french pistol in that wierd cal. I dont think he has shot it since he ran out of surplus ammo in the 70s. I will have to buy him a set of dies