This batch is all 357 so far, although I know target guns were made in 38sp. and 32 S&W long. I'm sure these are LEO surplus, could be France, could be Africa, I have read they were used some there too. So far I've seen 3" and 4" Gendarmerie models, mine is the 4". The bore on mine is shiny enough to see actual reflections, and even though the outside is somewhat dinged up and the finish was graded at 60, 65%, the internals function great, and it has a smooth trigger. The single action is really, really short and crisp. Zero take-up, I mean as slow as I try it, if I feel the trigger move, the hammer falls. Overtravel is so small I have difficulty seeing it. And if I did, it turns out there's and adjustable overtravel stop on the trigger!
I have not tried adjusting it yet, I'm waiting till I can do it while shooting, which will be a while since we are crazy busy here. One reason I was willing to chance an unknown surplus buy on these is they are famous for extreme durability.
Reputedly, the initial testing to failure was abandoned after reaching 170,000 full power rounds without breakage or frame stretching. While I can't confirm that as I don't know the original source of the info, there is agreement that these were designed to survive a training regimen of 150 rounds a day for years, a usage pace that could not be sustained by the custom S&W Model 19s that the French GIGN had initially been issued.
So far I've not been able to find any serial # references, i think mine might be from before Chapuis took over manufacturing, as it has a three screw sideplate rather than the later two. I've read that the "new" guns also have an HA prefix on the serial.
