The sales box also includes a safety warnings booklet dated 1984 (?), a limited warranty card warning against the use of reloads by anyone or anything, an exploded diagram with parts list, and a post card for information for the National Rifle Association. Also shown is the stock number of the item and the pistol’s serial number, hand written in the pre-printed space provided. So the pistol was imported no earlier than 1986. The box also has a marking showing Federal Ordnance’s 20th anniversary in 1986. Also on the cover of the box is the legend, “1 each certified French Surete Pistol” which reminds of the “Genuine Hopalong Cassidy” cap gun I had as a kid. It comes in a cardboard box printed up with a drawing of the pistol, a rendition of the Eiffel Tower and a drawing of a perceived French police officer holding such a pistol in a ‘firing position’.
The pistol I have was imported to the United States by Federal Ordnance, Inc. In my internet research, I could not find any information on manufacture dates so I don’t know when mine was made.
The pistol was used by several French agencies (Customs and National Police) after 1945. The model D was made by MAB from 1933 to about 1963 (exact dates seem to be missing). MAB opened in 1920, survived the Second World War and was finally taken over by Fabrique National (FN) of Herstal, Belgium in the 1970s.
