FN Model 1910#Variants

{{Infobox weapon

|name=FN Model 1910

|image=File:Browning 1910 (6971783833).jpg

|caption=FN Model 1910

|origin=Belgium

|type=Semi-automatic pistol

|is_ranged=yes

|wars= World War I{{Citation |title=Small Arms of WWI Primer 058: Belgian FN1910 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxCwMSG9xjg |access-date=2023-03-14 |language=en}}
Chaco War
Spanish Civil War
World War II{{Cite web |title=FINNISH ARMY 1918-1945: REVOLVERS & PISTOLS PART 3 |url=https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/PISTOLS3.htm |access-date=2023-03-14 |publisher=www.jaegerplatoon.net}}
1958 Lebanon crisis
Lebanese Civil War

|designer=John Browning

|design_date=

|manufacturer=Fabrique Nationale (FN)

|production_date=1910–1983

|number=

|variants=See Variants

|weight={{Plain list|

  • Model 1910: c. 590 g
  • Model 1922: c. 700 g (unloaded)

}}

|length={{Plain list|

  • Model 1910: 153 mm
  • Model 1922: 178 mm

}}

|part_length={{Plain list|

  • Model 1910: 80 mm
  • Model 1922: 113 mm

}}

|cartridge={{Plain list|

|action=Blowback

|feed={{Plain list|

  • Model 1910: 6-round (.380) or 7-round (.32) detachable box magazine
  • Model 1922: 8-round (.380) or 9-round (.32) detachable box magazine}}

|sights=Notch and post iron sights

}}

The FN Model 1910 is a blowback-operated, semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale of Belgium.

Development

File:FN Model 1910 IMG 3065.jpg, on display at Morges castle museum]]

File:Browning 1910 demontiert.jpg

The FN Model 1910, also known as the Browning model 1910, was a departure for Browning. Before, his designs were produced by both FN in Europe and Colt Firearms in the United States. Since Colt did not want to produce it, Browning chose to patent and produce this design in Europe only. Introduced in 1910, this pistol used a novel operating spring location surrounding the barrel. This location became the standard in such future weapons as the Walther PPK and Russian Makarov.

It incorporated the standard Browning striker-firing mechanism and a grip safety along with a magazine safety and an external safety lever (known as the "triple safety") in a compact package. Offered in both .380 ACP (6-round magazine) and .32 ACP (7-round magazine) calibres, it remained in production until 1983. It is possible to switch calibres by changing only the barrel. However, FN never offered packages containing a single pistol with both calibre barrels.

Variants

File:FN1922.jpg]]

The FN Model 1922 was also used by the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (60,000 Automatski pistolj (Brauning) 9mm M.22) between 1923 and 1930.{{cite magazine|title=Yugoslav Part II: World War II small arms: an assortment of small arms from friends and foe alike|first=Paul|last=Scarlata|magazine=Firearms News|date=1 October 2017|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/YUGOSLAV+PART+II%3A+WORLD+WAR+II+SMALL+ARMS%3A+AN+ASSORTMENT+OF+SMALL...-a0510936519}}

Use in assassinations

File:Gabrillo Princip's pistol (3444725633).jpg

File:Pistool van Hannie Schaft.jpg

An FN M1910, serial number 19074, chambered in .380 ACP{{cite book|last=Belfield|first=Richard|title=A Brief History of Hitmen and Assassinations|year=2011|publisher=Constable & Robinson, Ltd.|page=241}} was the handgun used by Gavrilo Princip to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, the act that precipitated the First World War.{{cite news |title= Found: the gun that shook the world |author= Kate Connolly |date= 2004-06-22 |work= The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/austria/1465206/Found-the-gun-that-shook-the-world.html}} Numerous previous sources erroneously cited the FN Model 1900 in .32 calibre as being the weapon Princip used.{{Cite book|title = Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact|url = https://archive.org/details/pistolsillustrat00kina_652|url-access = limited|last = Kinard|first = Jeff|publisher = ABC-CLIO|year = 2004|isbn = 1851094709|pages = [https://archive.org/details/pistolsillustrat00kina_652/page/n227 215]}} This has led to confusion over the calibre of the pistol actually used.

Paul Doumer, President of France, was assassinated by Russian emigre Paul Gorguloff on 6 May 1932 with a Model 1910 in .32 ACP.{{cite book|author=Chibli Mallat|title=Philosophy of Nonviolence: Revolution, Constitutionalism, and Justice beyond the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NA-7BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA325|date=6 December 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-939421-0|page=325}} The pistol is now in the Musée des Collections Historiques de la Préfecture de Police.[http://www.prefecturedepolice.interieur.gouv.fr/Nous-connaitre/Services-et-missions/Service-de-la-memoire-et-des-affaires-culturelles/Le-musee-de-la-prefecture-de-police Le Musée de la Préfecture de Police] (The webpage photo of the pistol misidentifies it as a revolver.)

A Model 1910 was also allegedly used to assassinate Huey Long, governor of Louisiana, on 5 September 1935.{{Cite web|url=http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/12410|title=Huey Long Death Gun, Speechifying Statue, Baton Rouge, Louisiana}} Physician Carl Weiss, the alleged assassin, bought the FN M1910 now on display Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge, in Europe for $25 in 1930.{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Lamar Jr. |title=Holes in the Story: Huey P. Long, Carl Weiss, and the American Spectacle of Conspiracy |url=https://www.bayoubrief.com/2021/09/26/holes-in-the-story-huey-p-long-carl-weiss-and-the-american-spectacle-of-conspiracy/4/ |website=BayouBrief |access-date=25 February 2023}}

Hannie Schaft used a model M1922 during her assassinations as part of the Dutch communist resistance against German occupation of the Netherlands.{{Cite web |url=https://alanmalcher.com/2019/08/21/hannie-schaft-of-the-dutch-resistance-the-girl-with-the-red-hair/|title = Hannie Schaft of the Dutch Resistance (The girl with the red hair)|date = 21 August 2019}}

Users

  • {{flag|Belgium}}{{Cite web |title=The military and police handgun cartridges of Belgium: from 9.4mm to 5.7mm. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+military+and+police+handgun+cartridges+of+Belgium:+from+9.4mm+to...-a0274791465 |access-date=2023-03-14 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}}
  • {{flag|Bolivia}}{{cite magazine |last=Huon |first=Jean |date=September 2013 |title=The Chaco War |url=http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1976 |url-status=dead |magazine=Small Arms Review |volume=17 |issue=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331231735/http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display.article.cfm?idarticles=1976 |archive-date=March 31, 2019}}
  • {{flag|Denmark}}
  • {{flag|France}}
  • {{flag|Finland}}: In February 1940, 2,500 M1910 and 2,500 M1922 pistols were bought from Belgium and used in the Continuation War{{Cite web |title=FINNISH ARMY 1918-1945: REVOLVERS & PISTOLS PART 3 |url=https://www.jaegerplatoon.net/PISTOLS3.htm |access-date=2023-03-14 |website=www.jaegerplatoon.net}}
  • {{flag|Nazi Germany}}: M1910/M1922s were produced at FN after the fall of Belgium for police use
  • {{flag|West Germany}}
  • {{flag|Kingdom of Greece}}
  • {{flag|Empire of Japan}}: Purchased by some officers{{Cite web |title=Japanese handguns of World War II: were they as bad as they looked? Pretty much, says Kokalis, who argues that the greatly increased recent interest in collecting them doesn't mean they still weren't ineffective guns. |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Japanese+handguns+of+World+War+II%3A+were+they+as+bad+as+they+looked%3F...-a0198849498|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218142515/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Japanese+handguns+of+World+War+II%3A+were+they+as+bad+as+they+looked%3F...-a0198849498|archive-date=December 18, 2022}}{{cite book|last=McCollum|first=Ian|author-link=Forgotten Weapons|title=Pistols of the Warlords: Chinese Domestic Handguns, 1911 - 1949|chapter=Other Chinese Copies|pages=480–487|isbn=9781733424639|date=2021|publisher=Headstamp Publishing}}
  • {{flag|Netherlands}}
  • {{flag|Peru}}
  • {{flag|Poland}}
  • {{flag|Romania}}
  • {{flag|Spanish Republic}}:200 M1922 pistols imported for the air force{{Cite web |title=República - Armas de Infantería |url=http://www.sbhac.net/Republica/Fuerzas/Armas/Infanteria/Infanteria.htm#Pistolas |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=www.sbhac.net}}
  • {{flag|Turkey}}
  • {{flag|Venezuela}}
  • {{flag|Yugoslavia}}

Citations

{{reflist}}

General and cited references

{{refbegin}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20100914212152/http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg95-e.htm Modern Firearms - Handguns - Browning 1910, 1922 and 380]
  • Vojta, Jira T. in AutoMag, Volume XXXII, Issue 10, January 2000, pp. 231–233.
  • Henrotin, Gerard. FN Browning pistols 1910 & 1922. HLebooks.com, 2006.
  • [http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/1910FN/1910fn.html Unblinking Eye - FN Model 1910]

{{refend}}