Description
This pistol produced by Mab (Manufacture d’Armes de Bayonne) from 1933 to 1963 (.32 ACP) and 1982 (.380 ACP); it was inspired by the Belgian Browning FN pistol 1910/22.
It was developed with the smaller “MAB C”, also made in .32 and .380 ACP, and with which it has many parts in common. Some later examples marked “MAB C” are actually a combination of a MAB C “slide” and barrel with a MAB D frame; these are officially an “extended grip” MAB C but usually called a “MAB C/D”, although are not so marked.
The MAB C was primarily a civilian “pocket pistol”, while the larger MAB D was intended for police and military use. Manufacture d’armes de Bayonne (sometimes also called Manufacture d’Armes Automatiques de Bayonne) was a French pistol manufacturer.
The company was founded by Léon Barthe in 1920. It survived the German occupation during World War II, and after several changes in ownership wound up being a subsidiary of Fabrique Nationale of Herstal sometime in the 1970s. MAB made parts for FN under their ownership, but eventually was forced to close in September 1982.
