Oct 20, 2009 (Example: A pistol with the serial number 34554b is actually the 234,554th pistol produced - the first block of 100,000 had no suffix, pistols 100,000 - 199,999 were suffixed with an a, and pistols 200,000 through 299,999 were suffixed with a b.) In 1944, serial number markings were simplified with the full serial number appearing only on the. Serial number: 6-digit number right on frame. 6-digit number inside slide. 6-digit number right on chamber. 6-digit number right on slide extension (not matching) Acceptance stamp: 2 x E/WaA 613 left on frame. 3 x E/WaA 613 left on slide. 2 x E/WaA 613 left on chamber. 1 x E/WaA 613 back of magazine. Test proof stamp: E HK left on frame. Dec 09, 2006 FN introduces a numbering system with a numerical prefix to identify the year, followed by the letter C (identification of the model HP). 1976-97 FN introduces a 3 numbers prefix to designate the destination of the weapon (245 for civilian, 215 for military). Jan 01, 2008 The serial number of the pistol is 74xx. What does the front strap stampings mean? Thanks, 08:53 PM #2: abninftr. Join Date: Jun 2005. Fn browing hi-power with b prefix serial number, fn hi power serial number dates, fn hi power serial numbers, fn high power 9 ser number.
Jun 29, 2012 Up for sale.7.65mm (.32ACP) FN Browning 1922 (AKA 1910/22 or 10/22) with FN box (appears to be original box) and 2 magazines. Pistol is numbers-matching (frame, barrel, barrel cap, and slide). I'd put the condition about 95%. Comes with 2 magazines, one is rollmarked with the 'FN' trademark and '7.65m/m' and the other is unmarked.
Please see our new site at www.fnbrowning.com
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Currently online: (all information is copyrighted)
FN Browning 1899, 1900, 1903, 1905 - 1906 and Baby pistols: Guide to identification: See below
Beware of FN marked, Walther style, PP Pistols: See below
Popular misconceptions on FN and FN Browning Firearms: See below
Related NRA articles online: (all information is copyrighted)
Trench Sweepers; Browning & Ruby Pistols in the Great War Originally published in American Rifleman Magazine -- Click here for NRA article
The FN Browning 1903 Originally published in American Rifleman Magazine --Click here for NRA article
Inside the Pistols of FNH USA Originally published in American Rifleman Magazine --Click here for NRA article
Important Notes: Please do not email us unsolicited photographs of an item or gun you are trying to identify or date. Unsolicited attachments like photos will be deleted or returned unopened. Due to the increasing number of time consuming inquiries, we can only respond to select emails, time permitting. We do NOT sell parts or firearms, please do not email us your 'Want List' or inquiries about parts as this is not our business. We deal strictly in historical information / publications. How to install pypdf2 python for mac. Thank you for your cooperation!
Identifying and differentiation the FN Browning Pistols: FN Browning Model 1899 and 1900, FN Browning 1903, FN Browning 1905 (1906) Vest Pocket and Baby Browning pistols FN Browning Model 1910 and Model 1922
Following is a guide for identifying FN Browning pistol models:
FN Browning Model 1899 vs. FN Browning Model 1900: The Model 1899 was first produced in January 1899 and closely resembles John Browning's prototype. It can be differentiated from the FN Model 1900 by the following features: There are no safety markings and no lanyard ring, the frame has small side-plates. The grips are secured with studs and nuts. The FN Browning 1900 was introduced in 1900 after Belgian military trials requested changes to the Model 1899. The Model 1900 has larger grips which are secured with screws, has French language safety markings (Feu & Sur), a lanyard ring and larger frame side-plates.
FN Browning Model 1903: The Model 1903 in 9mm Browning Long was manufactured for the military market. It was not a copy of the Colt 1903 as is often reported. FN requested a (military) handgun design from John Browning in 1901. The same prototypes were presented to Colt and FN, Colt opted to manufacture a pocket pistol while FN tried to fill a void in their line by offering the design as a military pistol.
FN Browning Model 1905 / 1906 vs. FN Baby Browning: The Model 1905 is often referred to as the Model 1906, generally in the U.S. it is known for its first patent year '1905' while in Europe, 1906 refers to FN's first manufacturing year. This model is also commonly known as the Vest Pocket model. The Baby Browning was introduced by FN in 1931, the pistol is smaller than the Vest Pocket model. The Baby Browning is a total different design from the earlier Vest Pocket pistol, parts are not interchangeable.
Beware of Walther style PP pistols that are on the U.S. market with FN - Fabrique Nationale - slide legends…
These are not FN made pistols and do not feature the typical FN quality. The PP pistols were made in one of the former Soviet countries and are available with any marking or manufacturers marking at extra cost. Somebody ordered a batch of these pistols with FN’s older legal name marked on the slide, this was done solely to mislead buyers / collectors into believing that they were getting a genuine FN made gun. FN never produced the PP and these were not made for the Belgian police as often claimed in U.S. advertising. Belgian law-enforcement agencies did not use the PP or PPK.
Popular misconceptions on FN and FN Browning Firearms
The following misconceptions circulate in the international collector community. Here are some answers and comments that may clarify how the facts were misunderstood.
General History
FN was a German company?!
FN has always been a Belgian company, from its inception up to the World Wars. It should be noted that the company did endure a German majority take-over from 1896 to 1914. In such, the majority of shares were in hands of a German company. Majority ownership however does not mean that a company changes national identity. During both World Wars the company was sequestered and under German control.
FN was established by Loewe in Germany?!
The Belgian government (not FN) purchased the production rights for the 1889 Belgian Mauser and ceded those to FN. Loewe had no influence or control in the establishment of FN. FN engineers did purchase equipment and technical assistance from Loewe after the company was in existence. Loewe was selected after FN engineers had explored buying their machinery in the U.S. but ran into problems when U.S. manufacturers did not want to modify and make the machinery on metric specifications.
FN was crucial to the German war effort and produced many guns for the German military?!
FN was not one of the most useful bodies to the Germans in WWII. Instead it was more a source of aggravation for the Germans, as they could not get production up to desired significant numbers prior to 1943.
FN Browning Pistols
The Browning 1900 was the first Browning produced pistol?!
Because no research was done for decades, the first Browning pistol is often credited to the FN Browning 1900. We know now that the 1900 was a modified 1899 model. The 1899 was the first of the Browning pistols to go into production at FN in January 1899. The 1900 followed in mid 1900 after the Belgian military requested changes to the original Browning design. There is a clear distinction between the 1899 and 1900 models, their production run and production periods.
The Belgian army adopted the FN 1903 and 1922 in the pre-WWII era?!
One of the most unfounded assumptions is that the Belgian army adopted both the 1903 as well as the 1922 in the prewar era. The Belgian military only adopted four pistols in the pre-1940 era:
The 7.65mm FN Browning 1900 in the year 1900
The 7.65mm Colt 1903 during WWI as FN was occupied
The 7.65mm 1910 model in the year 1919
The High Power in 1935. The Belgian government made no equipment updates in the 1920s. The first signs of replacing or adding to the pistol inventory dates from 1930. This was further spurred on (among a general modernization) in 1933 when Hitler gained power. The first broad army evaluations for the 9mm x 19 High Efficiency (not High Power) date from 1933. The confusion with the 1922 comes from the fact that the Belgian military did end up buying the pistol in 1945. This was done because the model was readily available from FN right after the war. The Belgian government bought A-prefix pistols as well as newly produced pistols in those years. It also used wartime-produced pistols that were left by the Germans. Almost immediately there were issues / complaints about the magazine safety being present on some pistols and not on others making it difficult to train military personnel on a new pistol procedure as not all pistols were alike.
The FN Browning 1910 was made during WWII and supplied to German officers?!
Only two pistol models were produced; the 1922 model as well as the High Power.
The first High Power pistols date from before 1935?!
A frustration that advanced collectors share is the fact that the High Power and High Efficiency are rarely credited correctly. The forerunner of the High Power was the High-Efficiency, so named by FN in 1929. The High –Efficiency model was catalogued and made available in the 1929-1930 period. I suspect that the High Efficiency was made in very limited numbers just like FN did with the 1903 model before securing a large military contract. Just like distinguishing the 1899 and 1900 models, it is important to call a pistol by its correct designation.
FN Military Mausers
All prewar military Mausers were 24/30 models!?
Fn Herstal Serial Numbers
The confusion with FN Mauser models originated with the 1930s FN Catalogs, which often showed the 24/30 nomenclature. This was done as customers could select either model, as both models were available in the early 1930s.
This nomenclature should never be used today in order to identify rifles as customers did either select a 24 or a 30 model. There is no such model as a 24/30 as there is no hybrid between the two. There are distinct differences between the 1922, 1924, 1930, and 1950 models.
FN produced Mauser rifles for the German military during WWII!?
Unlike stated in many places, FN never produced any Mauser rifles during the occupation. Only a select few parts were made, most notable barrels and bolts. Those were exported to other plants and FN’s role was only to supplement parts production.
FN had a FN 1935 Mauser!?
Another great misconception is that many claim that FN had a 1935 Mauser model. FN never adopted this as a factory designation; it was solely the model designation of their customer. As such, the Peruvian rifle is not a FN Model 1935 but rather a Peruvian 1935, the same is valid for the Belgian military 1935 (both rifles are totally different from one another). Both designations are military designations and are not FN designations. FN did indeed print literature and manuals in Spanish for their Peruvian customer. The Peruvian Mauser is referred to as ‘Modelo 1935’, just as it is on the rifle. These designations are references to the Peruvian designation. FN often printed up literature for their customers and included the customer’s requests as happened in this case.
This Nazi marked FN Browning model M1922 is a self loading, semi-automatic pistol that utilizes the blowback system of operation. The pistol is made from carbon steel and has a blued finish. It has been chambered for the 7.65mm Browning(.32 ACP) cartridge. It is fed by a single stack 8 round detachable box magazine. This pistol is striker fired and incorporates a front blade sight and a V notch rear sight that is drift adjustable for windage only. The barrel length is 4 1/2 inches and contains 6 grooves with a right hand twist. The total length of the pistol is 7.01 inches and it has an unloaded weight of at 25.7 ounces. On the pistol's butt there is a European style heel magazine release. This firearm does not incorporate any type of slide hold open mechanism to inform the operator that the last round has been fired. Although the manual safety lever can be pushed upward and engaged with a notch in the slide which will lock it open for general cleaning. The checkered grip panels are made from Walnut.
Gun Serial Numbers
The Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre or National Factory of Weapons of War Herstal Belgium or simply FN for short, was established in 1889 when the Belgium government decided to build 150,000 Mauser model 1888 rifles for the Belgium military. Eleven years later, FN entered into a long lasting relationship with the firearms designer John Moses Browning. The M1922 was designed after John Brownings M1910 pistol.
In 1922, Browning modified the M1910 pistol to suit the requirements of the military of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes which today is known as Yugoslavia after being renamed in 1929. Browning and the FN Bureau d'Etudes or Research and Development Office took the M1910 and lengthened the slide by adding a removable frontal portion, added a lanyard ring, they also lengthened the barrel and elongated the grip frame which gave the magazine more capacity. This newly designed pistol would come to be known as the FN M1922 and was just what the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had wanted and on February 28, 1923 they ordered 60,000 pistols. This also gives the M1922 the distinction of being developed solely at the request of a customer rather then being targeted for a particular market.
In 1940, Nazi Germany occupied Belgium and took over production of the M1922 at the FN plant. The Germans had two different designations for the M1922 pistol. Depending on the caliber, these pistols were designated as either the Pistole 626(b) for the 7.65mm version or Pistole 641(b) for the 9mm Short version. The (b) was an abbreviation for belgisch indicating Belgium. Another Heereswaffenamt name for the M1922 was Die Lange Browning Pistole or The Long Browning Pistol. The pistol has also been called the 1910/22 or 10/22 which is short for 1910/1922. An interesting note is that the Browning model M1922 was produced in larger numbers than any other firearm at the Fabrique Nationale plant during the Nazi occupation of Belgium. In 1944, Belgium was liberated by the Allies and production of the M1922 continued with most of these post war pistols going to fill military and government contracts.
Up until around 1942, the M1922 was made available as a commercial pistol being offered as a sidearm for factory security personnel and police. The model M1922 pistol was very popular with the German officer's and many took this pistol as their official sidearm. The primary user however of the M1922, was the German Luftwaffe(air force). The M1922 pistols that were accepted by the German military will have one of three Waffenamt stampings or Weapons Office inspectors stamps. These would be WaA 103, WaA 140, and/or WaA 613 which indicate the following..
WaA 103 = Fabrique Nationale d'armes de guerre, Lüttich (Liège) Belgium (January 1941 - May 1942).
WaA 140 = Fabrique Nationale d'armes de guerre, Lüttich (Liège), Belgium (Late 1941 - to liberation in 1944).
WaA 613 = Fabrique Nationale d'armes de guerre, Lüttich (Liège), Belgium (May 1940 - early 1941).
The Waffenamt stamping, WaA140 on the pistol featured on this page was used from the 1941 to the liberation of Belgium in 1944 with approximately 325,000 of these 7.65mm pistols being produced. The serial numbers for these pistols started around the 67,000 to 68,000 range and proceeded to approximately serial number 155,000.
At the end of 1943, serialization of these pistols was changed so that it limited serial numbers to five digits and a one letter suffix. The letter indicated a block of 100,000 pistols. So for example, a serial number of 55555c is actually the 355,555th pistol that was produced. The first block of 100,000 had no suffix, then pistols numbered 100,000 through 199,999 were suffixed with the letter a, pistols in the range of 200,000 through 299,999 were suffixed with a b and so on.
Due to the increase in demand for arms during the war, the serial number markings were simplified in 1944 to include just the full serial number on the slide and the last four digits of the serial number on the frame. The pistol pictured above has a six digit serial number with no letter suffix.
Browning Fn 1922 Pistol Value
The FN M1922 pistol has been used by numerous countries including: Yugoslavia, Holland, Greece, Turkey, Romania, France, Denmark, Nazi Germany and later West Germany. It is an smoothly elegant and graceful pistol design that became immensely popular with both the military and the commercial markets.
Fn Rifle Serial Numbers
The Fabrique Nationale firm is still in business today and is a subsidiary of the Herstal Group. The company now owns the Winchester U.S. Repeating Arms Company as well as the Browning Arms Company which was founded by the family of John Moses Browning. They are now located in Columbia, South Carolina in the U.S.A. The FN Manufacturing LLC company is responsible for the development of U.S. government contracted military and law-enforcement weapons.
