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FN M1900

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The FN Browning M1900 (known at the time in Europe just as Browning pistol) is a single action semi-automatic pistol designed c. 1896 by John Browning for Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) and produced in Belgium at the turn of the 20th century. It was the first production handgun to use a slide.

M1900/Browning No.1
Browning 1900 .32 ACP
TypeSemi-automatic pistol
Place of origin
  • United States (designed)
  • Belgium (manufactured)
Production history
DesignerJohn Browning[1]
Designed1896
Produced1898-1909
No. builtc. 700,000[1]
VariantsModele 1899, Mle. 1900
Specifications
Mass625 g (1.378 lb)[1]
Length17.2 cm (6.8 in)[1]
Barrel length10.2 cm (4.0 in)[1]
Cartridge.32 ACP (7.65×17mm Browning SR)[1]
ActionBlowback operated
Feed system7+1[1]
SightsFixed

History

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Development

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Browning's earliest 1895 pistol prototype

John Browning started his work on semi-automatic pistols in 1894, when he mostly finalized the M1895 Colt–Browning machine gun.[2] He initially tried to use the same gas action with a swinging piston, with a prototype ready to be shown to Colt in July 1895,[3] and applied for a patent[4] in September 1895.[5]

 
Browning's .38 blowback pistol prototype, which was scaled down to create the FN M1899

Although this experimental pistol did not progress further, its general layout and fire control group design were reused in three other designs he developed in the following year. Patents for them were filed in October 1896, and two out of three later became Colt M1900 and FN M1900.[5] All four prototypes were chambered in .38 caliber and are currently exhibited at the Browning Firearms Museum in Ogden, Utah.[6] Browning licensed the rights to produce and sell them to Colt within the US and Canada in July 1896, but it's believed at the time Colt was mainly protecting its revolver market.[5] In 1896[7] or 1897[8] Browning also scaled the .38 blowback pistol down to .32 caliber to use as a pocket pistol.

 
US patent for the Browning .32 pistol, issued in 1899

According to a widespread legend,[2] in April 1897[9] FN sent their sales manager Hart O. Berg to Hartford, where he had previously worked, to investigate advances in bicycle design introduced by the Pope Manufacturing Company.[7] There, he supposedly accidentally met John Browning[7] and persuaded him to have his pistol manufactured at FN by telling him the story of a modern factory with nothing to produce.[10]

Despite state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, by the end of 1895 FN was in poor financial shape due to a lack of orders on their M1889 rifles and a lost legal battle with Mauser over the rights to produce improved M1893s.[11] In 1896, most of their primary shareholders left and a major competitor, DWM, took over a controlling stake, excluding the company from the export market for military firearms and forcing it to diversify into sporting firearms, their parts, and even bicycles.[11]

 
Receipt for $2,000 downpayment received by Browning brothers from FN in July 1897

However, documents from Browning's later legal dispute with Georg Luger tell a different story. In 1896-1897 Berg, who was acquainted with Browning due to their joint work on the Colt machine gun in 1893-1894, persuaded him in correspondence to visit Liège with his pistol designs, which he did in April 1897. FN managers were impressed by the design's reliability and simplicity (it's unclear from secondary sources if it was already in .32 or still in .38) which were uncommon in those early days of semi-automatic guns. Afterward, Berg and Browning traveled to Berlin and showed a locked-breech and a blowback pistol to Hugo Borchardt to obtain approval from DWM.[2]

Berg presented a draft of the license agreement to the FN board in June 1897[9] and then traveled to Hartford to finalize it with John and Matt Brownings in July 1897.[2] The agreement granted FN the rights to manufacture and sell what became the M1899 in France, Belgium, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Spain.[2] In 1898 Berg was unsuccessful in attempting to persuade Browning to supervise the pistol’s production in Belgium, but its manufacture by FN transformed the fortunes of that company and laid the foundation for its long-term relationship with Browning (who died on FN’s premises in 1924).[10]

 
Browning's .32 blowback pistol prototype
 
Serial Browning 1900 pistol produced ca. 1909

Production

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Serial production started in January 1899, but the M1899 nomenclature postdates it. FN originally called M1899 “modele de présérie”,[12] approximately 14,400 of them were made in total.[13]

In 1900, driven by feedback from the Belgian military, FN introduced what was later called M1900, an improved design based on the M1899. These designations were applied retroactively after FN began manufacture of other Browning pistol designs; initially the M1900 was marketed as simply the "Pistolet Browning" (Browning Pistol).

A shorter barrel reduced the overall length by less than a millimeter while maintaining the same caliber and magazine capacity. The grip plates were made 1 mm wider, offering a more comfortable and secure hold for shooters with larger hands.[13]

In addition to these external changes, M1900 incorporated several internal improvements. The reinforced area of the frame above the trigger guard was enlarged and thickened, enhancing the pistol's durability (cf. the image comparison above). The diameter of the breech block screws was increased, further strengthening the action. A cocking indicator, visible as an extension of the internal cocking lever, was added, providing a visual confirmation of the pistol's cocked status. Finally, M1900 introduced a slide lock, activated by turning the safety lever upward when the slide was retracted in order to facilitate easier cleaning and maintenance.[13]

Production ceased only 11 years later, with a total of about 725,000 units having been produced by FN only (excluding all the numerous copies).

Usage

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The same pistol shown from the other side

United States President Theodore Roosevelt owned a mother of pearl-gripped Modele 1899, which he regularly kept on his person and in his bedside drawer. It now resides in the NRA Firearms Museum.[14]

Eugen Schauman, a Finnish nationalist activist, assassinated the Governor-General Nikolay Bobrikov (the highest Russian authority in the Grand Duchy of Finland) with a Browning pistol in Helsinki on June 16, 1904. The act was followed by spontaneous anti-Russian celebrations in the streets of Helsinki and after the 1917 independence Schauman was considered to be a national hero of Finland.[15]

An Jung-geun, a Korean-independence activist, assassinated the 1st Prime Minister of Japan and Resident-General of Korea Itō Hirobumi with this type of gun on October 26, 1909 in Harbin railway station.[16][17]

Socialist revolutionary Fanny Kaplan also used a FN M1900 in her attempted assassination of Lenin on August 30, 1918.[18]

Abelardo Mendoza Leyva, a militant of the Peruvian left-wing APRA party, is also reported to have used an FN1900 to assassinate President Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro in Lima, on April 30, 1933.[19]

The pistol was popular in China from its introduction through World War II and was often copied and used as the basis for other designs.[20] State-run arsenals produced serialized production runs for warlord militias, and local craftsmen produced one-off handmade versions.[21]

 
Cutaway view

The North Korean Type 64 pistol [ja] is a copy of the M1900. Specimens examined by western authorities were marked with the date of 1964. A silenced variant was produced that featured a shortened slide to allow the threaded barrel to protrude far enough to attach the silencer.[22]

 
North Korean Type 64 pistol

Ammunition

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The weapon is chambered for .32 ACP, also known as 7.65×17mm Browning SR ("SR" denotes semi-rimmed).

Users

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Conflicts

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Herero Wars[32]

Mexican Revolution[40][41]

Balkan Wars[42]

World War I[34]

Russian Civil War[18]

Finnish Civil War[29]

Warlord Era[43]

Constitutionalist Revolution[44]

Chaco War[37]

Chinese Civil War[18]

World War II

Synonyms

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This model is known by several names, including:

  • FN M1900
  • FN Mle.1900
  • Browning M1900
  • Browning No.1

See also

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Underbarrel pistols

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "FN / Browning M.1900 (Browning No.1) pistol (Belgium)". Modern Firearms. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e Gorenstein, Nathan (17 May 2022). The Guns of John Moses Browning: The Remarkable Story of the Inventor Whose Firearms Changed the World. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-2922-4.
  3. ^ "Historical Firearms - John Browning's Gas-Operated Pistol On the 20th..." www.historicalfirearms.info. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  4. ^ U.S. patent 580,923
  5. ^ a b c Grumpy (23 November 2018). "The 1899/1900 FN Browning Pistol". You Will Shoot Your Eye Out. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  6. ^ F, Nathaniel (31 January 2015). "TFB Field Trip: The John M. Browning Firearms Museum". thefirearmblog.com. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b c John Browning and Curt Gentry, John M. Browning, American Gunmaker, An Illustrated Biography of the Man and His Guns, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, 1964, p. 181; Anthony Vanderlinden, “1899: Year of the Browning Pistol”, American Rifleman, Vol. 168, No. 9 (October 2020), p. 40.
  8. ^ According to the Browning Firearms Museum, see https://i.imgur.com/X6Pn4BX.jpeg; U.S. patent 621,747 was only applied for in December 1897
  9. ^ a b "JOHN M. BROWNING". johnmbrowningcollection.com. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  10. ^ a b Browning and Gentry, p. 183.
  11. ^ a b Vanderlinden, Anthony (2016). FN Mauser Rifles - Arming Belgium and the World. Wet Dog Publications. pp. 30–31. ISBN 978-0-9981397-0-8.
  12. ^ "Nouvelle page 0". littlegun.be. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  13. ^ a b c "Comparing the 1899 and 1900 Browning". unblinkingeye.com. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  14. ^ Jim Supica; Doug Wicklund; Philip Schreier (2012). The Illustrated History of Firearms. BOOKSALES Incorporated. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7858-2989-8.
  15. ^ Zetterberg, Seppo (1988). Viisi laukausta senaatissa – Eugen Schaumanin elämä ja teko. Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. pp. 246–247, 268, 281. ISBN 951-1-09266-9.
  16. ^ Lee, Sung Joo (2019). 우라웍스 (ed.). 안중근, 사라진 총의 비밀 : 이토 히로부미를 저격하고 빼앗긴 M1900을 찾아서. 청림출판. ISBN 9791155401569.
  17. ^ Lee, Jeong Hyun (24 October 2019). "안중근은 이토 히로부미를 어떻게 완벽히 저격했나". YTN. Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d Vlander, John (20 March 2015). "Pistols in the land of ten thousand guns: China was awash in firearms of all kinds in the 1920s and '30s, but these six pistols were coveted above all others as Communists, Nationalists and warlords squared off". Shotgun News. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. A mainstream Soviet movie from the 1940s, once famous in China, called Lenin in 1918 shows Lenin's bodyguard Wassily using an FN 1900. Also interestingly, in the same movie, the female agent from the Kerensky government named Fanny Kaplan tried to kill Lenin using the same pistol
  19. ^ Compendio histórico del Perú. La República (siglo XX). Vol. VI. Lima, Perú: Milla Batres. 1993. p. 254.
  20. ^ "Browning 1900". Forgotten Weapons. 3 October 2014. Archived from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  21. ^ McCollum, Ian (2021). "FN 1900 Copies". Pistols of the Warlords: Chinese Domestic Handguns, 1911 - 1949. Headstamp Publishing. pp. 334–461. ISBN 9781733424639.
  22. ^ a b Hobart, Frank (1974). Jane's Infantry Weapons: 1975 (First Year of Issue). Jane's Information Group. p. 37. ISBN 0-3540-0516-2.
  23. ^ a b Association, National Rifle. "An Official Journal Of The NRA | This Old Gun: FN Browning Model 1900". An Official Journal Of The NRA. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  24. ^ Urrisk, Rolf M. (1990). Die Bewaffnung des österreichischen Bundesheeres, 1918-1990 (1. Aufl ed.). Graz: H. Weishaupt Verlag. ISBN 978-3-900310-53-0.
  25. ^ "The military and police handgun cartridges of Belgium: from 9.4mm to 5.7mm. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  26. ^ "Military and police handgun cartridges of Brazil. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  27. ^ Ian McCollum (2021) Pistols of the Warlords: Chinese Domestic Handguns, 1911 - 1949, Chapter 1: Domestic Chinese Designs, pp. 30-39
  28. ^ C&Rsenal (17 September 2024). History of WWI Primer 013*: Belgian FN 1900 Pistol Documentary | C&Rsenal. Retrieved 20 September 2024 – via YouTube.
  29. ^ a b "FINNISH ARMY 1918 - 1945: REVOLVERS & PISTOLS PART 4". www.jaegerplatoon.net. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
  30. ^ "Polices : armes de service. Quelques repères historiques". IHEMI (in French). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  31. ^ Small Arms of WWI Primer 004*: Ruby 1915, 8 August 2023, retrieved 17 November 2023
  32. ^ a b "Pistols of the Schutztruppe and Overseas Forces". www.germancolonialuniforms.co.uk. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  33. ^ "Oddball German 7.65mm pistols of WWI and WWII: Taschenpistolen/Behelfspistolen im militarischen dienst: Part 1. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  34. ^ a b Small Arms of WWI Primer 013: Belgian FN Model 1900 Pistol, 24 November 2015, archived from the original on 12 June 2023, retrieved 16 December 2022
  35. ^ Small Arms Primer 186: Norwegian 1914, 17 October 2023, retrieved 26 November 2023
  36. ^ "Norwegian POLITI Pistols – Collectible or Defaced?". RJK Ventures LLC. 16 March 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
  37. ^ a b "La guerra del Chaco: the bloodiest Latin American war of the 20th century: Part I. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  38. ^ "Russian/Soviet: military handguns part 1 from Lefaucheux to Luger. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
  39. ^ Small Arms of WWI Primer 185: Foreign 1911s, 3 October 2023, retrieved 22 January 2024
  40. ^ "Guns of the Mexican revolution: revolutions devour their own, and nowhere was that more true than in Mexico. Being a leader tended to be very bad for your health. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2022. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  41. ^ Jowett, Philip S. (2006). The Mexican Revolution, 1910-20. A. M. De Quesada, Stephen Walsh. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4728-0718-2. OCLC 881164009.
  42. ^ Jowett, Philip (2012). Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13 : the priming charge for the Great War. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-299-58155-5. OCLC 842879929.
  43. ^ Ian McCollum (2021) Pistols of the Warlords: Chinese Domestic Handguns, 1911 - 1949, Chapter 1: Domestic Chinese Designs, pp. 82-111
  44. ^ "O Museu de Polícia Militar de São Paulo". Armas On-Line (in Brazilian Portuguese). 25 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
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