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Title:	PISTOL, SEMI-AUTOMATIC -  FRENCH PISTOL UNIQUE M17 "KRIEGSMODELL" 7.65MM SN# 39063
Maker/Manufacturer:	BROWNING, JOHN M.
Date of Manufacture:	C 1942
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 1984
Measurements:	OL: 15.2CM 6" BL: 7.6CM 3"

Object Description:

FRENCH PISTOL UNIQUE M17 "KRIEGSMODELL" 7.65MM SN# 39063
Manufactured by Manufacture d'Armes des Pyrenees, Hendaye, France - Wartime version of the M1906 Browning semi-automatic pistol. Grip safety. Early hammerless type. Blued finish. Two piece black plastic grips. Produced under German occupation. Equipped with 9-round detachable box magazine. Approximately 18,000 were manufactured under German occupation. Weapon is complete and in good condition.

Markings:
Grips: 7.65MM/9 SCHUSS.
Slide: 7.65 COURT 9 COUPE "UNIQUE"/MANUFACTURE D'ARMES DES PYRENEES, HENDAYE.
Frame: 39063/Military acceptance 251.

Notes: Germans entered Hendaye on 06/26/1940.

"Manufacture d'Armes des Pyrenees, also knows as MAP, Manufacture d'Armes des Pyrenees, Francaises (MAPF) or Unique, Hendaye, France. Founded shortly after the end of the First World War by Basques with strong family links in Spain, this gunmaking business specialised in sturdy blowback pistols derived from the Ruby patterns supplied in great numbers to the French Army during the First World War. In addition to its own Unique guns, MAP promoted a range of 6.35mm Browning-type pocket pistols. They were essentially similar to guns made in Eibar, and it seems likely that either complete guns or their unfinished components were simply brought over the Franco-Spanish border. Among the names associated with these pistols are Audax, Furor, Gallia, Helepco, Kitu, LeMajestic, Lepco, Le Sans Pareil, Societe d'Armes Paris and Triomphe Francais; others were listed as the Unique Mle 10. Some guns had extended butts, ofter to chamber the larger 7.65mm Auto cartridge, while a second Audax and the Unique Model 18 were based on the streamlined 1910-type FN-Browning instead of the earlier pocket pistol. French-made, or assembled, guns are often marked Fabrication Francaise, or bear Le Veritable Pistolet Francais 'Unique' on the slide." - Walter

References:
Walter, John. THE GREENHILL DICTIONARY OF GUNS AND GUNMAKERS. Stackpole Books. Mechanicsburg, Pa. 2001.