It was developed to compete in the 1935–1937 French military trials conducted by the Commission d’Experiences Techniques de Versailles to select a new sidearm.

[2] The Pistolet automatique modèle 1935A was developed by the Swiss-born Charles Petter, a former captain in the French Foreign Legion and an engineer of the French company Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM).

[3] Petter designed a pistol which had some of the same design elements as John Browning's M1911 pistol, such as the grooved slide and barrel which interlocked and recoiled together until a pivoting link lowered the barrel, thus unlocking the assembly and further rearward movement of the barrel and slide together, which after reaching the point of greatest movement would be returned to battery.

Petter eliminated the barrel bushing and used a full-length spring guide which had the effect of removing one of the elements of inaccuracy from the M1911 design and increased functional reliability.

Following the end of the German occupation of France in 1944, SACM resumed production of the 1935A for the French military, making a further 50,400 pistols.