MAB PA-15 pistol

The MAB PA-15 (Pistolet Automatique 15, also known as the P-15 or P.15 Standard) was a French semi-automatic pistol, designed by the Manufacture d'armes de Bayonne.

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).

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.

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.

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.