MAB PA-15 pistol

The PA-15 was designed for commercial sale, primarily for export as French laws severely restricted the possession of "military-caliber" arms (which included the ubiquitous 9mm). The pistols were proofed at the St Etienne proof house and many were exported to the US. Early pistols are blued, later ones Parkerized. There was a competition version called the P-15 F1. This version had a longer slide and barrel (150mm), and an adjustable rear sight. While the French armed forces did not adopt the PA-15, the Army, Air Force (Armée de l'Air) and the Gendarmerie bought limited quantities of the competition model under the designation Pistolet Automatique de Précision (PAP) Modèle F1. When the French Gendarmerie was looking for a double-action pistol with a high magazine capacity to replace their aging PA 1950s, MAB produced an experimental model of the PA-15 with double-action lockwork. However, the Gendarmerie instead procured a license to manufacture the Beretta 92F as the MAS G-1, and the double-action PA-15 was not commercially produced. Outside France, in the 1970s the Finnish military, border guard and police tested the pistol, but only the border guard adopted the PA-15 in 1975.{{cite book |last= Palokangas|first= Markku|date= 1988|title= Sotilaskäsiaseet Suomessa 1918-1988|language= fi, en |publisher= Suomen asehistoriallinen seura|isbn=951-25-0519-3}}{{Cite web |url=http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/MABP15/mabp15.html |title=The M.A.B. PA-15 Pistol |first=Ed |last=Buffaloe |author2=Bill Kelsey |publisher=Unblinking Eye |accessdate=2 June 2014}}

When the Manufacture d'armes de Bayonne closed in 1982, all remaining PA-15 parts were sold to a French company, Lechkine Armory (Armurerie Chevasson), which as of 2009 still assembled and sold new PA-15s, and is the sole source for new PA-15 parts.http://www.armurerie-lechkine-chevas...rerie.php?id=3{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

File:Slide-groove Barrel MAB-P15.JPG

The MAB PA-15 is a delayed blowback operated, semi-automatic pistol. It featured Savage-type, rotating, but not reciprocating, barrel, which has two lugs: one under the chambers is engaged in the frame and allows to the barrel to rotate but not to move back or forward. The other lug (camming lug) is situated on the upper surface of the barrel: it is engaged in an L-shaped cam track in the slide. When the pistol is fired, the rotational inertia of the barrel, the bullet torque and the slide's linear inertia (leveraged through the cam track) all act against the opening force of the cartridge. When the bullet leaves the barrel, internal pressures have dropped and so the action is safe to open: the slide rotates the barrel completely, moves backward, ejects the spent casing and moves forward to pick up a new cartridge, cycling the action. MAB PA-15 has a frame mounted safety, on the left side of the frame, and also internal magazine safety, which does not allow the gun to be fired with magazine removed.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

A long-barreled version, known as the PA-15 Target, was used by the French military as the PAP F-1. 7,65 Parabellum for Italian market.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

• {{flag|Central African Republic}}: Central African Republic Police{{cite book|title=The Central African Republic and Small Arms: A Regional Tinderbox|first1=Eric G.|last1= Berman |first2=Louisa N. |last2=Lombard|date= December 2008|publisher=Small Arms Survey|isbn=978-2-8288-0103-8|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/D-Book-series/book-07-CAR/SAS-Central-African-Republic-and-Small-Arms.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802224632/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/D-Book-series/book-07-CAR/SAS-Central-African-Republic-and-Small-Arms.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 August 2014|pages=35, 42}}
• {{flag|Chad}}
• {{flag|Djibouti}}
• {{flag|France}}: French Army (evaluation only)
• {{flag|Gabon}}
• {{flag|Ivory Coast}}{{cite magazine|language=fr|title=Les MAB P.8 et P.15 "Combat" |magazine=Gazette des Armes |issue=390|date= September 2007|page=57|url=http://fr.1001mags.com/parution/gazette-des-armes/numero-390-septembre-2007/page-56-57-texte-integral|first=Hervé|last=Le Goff}}
• {{flag|Mali}}: People's Movement for the Liberation of Azawad{{cite book|url=http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2005.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101109192749/http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/by-type/yearbook/small-arms-survey-2005.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 November 2010|chapter-url= http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/A-Yearbook/2005/en/Small-Arms-Survey-2005-Chapter-06-EN.pdf|chapter=Sourcing the Tools of War: Small Arms Supplies to Conflict Zones|title=Small Arms Survey 2005: Weapons at War|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005|author=Small Arms Survey|author-link=Small Arms Survey|page=166|isbn=978-0-19-928085-8}}
• {{flag|Morocco}}Ezell, Eward. Small Arms Today (Stackpole, 1988).{{page needed|date=November 2018}}
• {{flag|Niger}}
• {{flag|Lebanon}}: Lebanese Armed Forces

• GIAT BM92-G1 (PAMAS-G1)
• MAC Mle 1950

• Jean Huon. Les Pistolets Automatiques Français, 1890–1990. Paris: Histoire & Collections, 1995. {{ISBN|2-908182-33-5}}.
• Bernard Meyer. "Les Prototypes MAB". Gazette des Armes, #200.

{{Reflist}}

• https://web.archive.org/web/20070228220950/http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg89-e.htm
• http://www.gunsworld.com/french/mabp15_us.html
• http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/2800/2895.htm

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}

Category:9mm Parabellum semi-automatic pistols

Category:Semi-automatic pistols of France

Category:Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1966