New toy, FN-1910

[robertrwalsh]

I just scored a new toy, a FN 1910 in .380. One of these little jewels started WW I. It was apparently a sock drawer gun with virtually zero wear marking on the rails. As usual on a gun of this type the sights are tiny and not real helpful, but it is a beautifully made striker-fired pistol with a thumb safety and grip safety and six-round magazine. I even managed to score three apparently original nickel-plated magazines for $20 each off of Ebay. Hope to take it out tomorrow and run a box or two of rounds thru it just for giggles.

Don't know quite why but I just felt like crowing a bit on this one.

 

[6actual]

They are nice pistols, like the 1903 Colt hammerless. Post some pics

 

[H Richard]

You will enjoy it. I bought one in an auction a couple years ago. The magazine was bent out of spec, but I found two brand new original FN magazines, and it functions flawlessly. As you mentioned the sights are literally non-existent, but it points very naturally and within 10 yards you will have no trouble keeping them in center mass.

 

[Absalom]

Very elegant little pistols. And Colt's major goof. Browning had agreements with Colt and FN, to build his designs for the American and European markets respectively. So the Colt 1903 Hammerless had the FN 1903 equivalent. But on Browning's follow-up design, the 1910, more compact due to the positioning of the recoil spring, Colt decided to take a pass; so Browning took it to Herstal, and FN proceeded to turn the design into a gun that kept selling for most of the century, the longest-serving compact pistol in .32/.380. You can argue whether it or the Walther PP/PPK deserve the title "most successful", the FN 1910 certainly served longer. First sold in 1912, it was in service with some European police through the 1980s.

I use every excuse to show off my "historic" 1910. First year of production 1912/13, recognizable by the negative overlap of the slide at the front end of the frame. This one came off the assembly line about half a year before the one that killed the Archduke and his wife.

 

[HARDWARE]

Great score. I love these pre war pocket pistols.

 

[KEN L]

I just scored a new toy, a FN 1910 in .380. One of these little jewels started WW I. It was apparently a sock drawer gun with virtually zero wear marking on the rails. As usual on a gun of this type the sights are tiny and not real helpful, but it is a beautifully made striker-fired pistol with a thumb safety and grip safety and six-round magazine. I even managed to score three apparently original nickel-plated magazines for $20 each off of Ebay. Hope to take it out tomorrow and run a box or two of rounds thru it just for giggles.

Don't know quite why but I just felt like crowing a bit on this one.

No pics? Didn't happen!

 

[robertrwalsh]

OK , here it is. The photo isn't very good I am afraid, and I have not in the past had a lot of luck attaching photos here, but if I did it right here it is.

 

[bruce5781]

I see you got the blued model

Regards,
Bruce

 

[MCorps0311]

You will enjoy it. I bought one in an auction a couple years ago. The magazine was bent out of spec, but I found two brand new original FN magazines, and it functions flawlessly. As you mentioned the sights are literally non-existent, but it points very naturally and within 10 yards you will have no trouble keeping them in center mass.

Cool very nice!!!

 

[jmace57]

I had an early first year of production one with a period holster. I have no idea why I sold it a few years ago. Really cool.

 

[DWalt]

For a long time, many references stated that the pistol used in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie was the earlier FN-Browning Model 1900 (which was made only in .32 ACP). Maybe 10 years ago, there were several news stories printed stating that it was really a FN Model 1910 in .380, as supplied to the various members of the Sarajevo assassination team by the Black Hand, the secret Serbian unification society. And as I remember, the actual assassination pistol is said to be on display in some museum. Can you imagine what price that pistol would bring at auction?

 

[alwslate]

The 1910 truely is a great design and said to be JMB's favorite carry
pistol. I have two nearly mint 1910s from near the end of their
importation in 1968 as Brownings. I also have two in .32 ACP from
20s or 30s I assume marked as FNs. One of my 1968 .380
Brownings.

 

[Absalom]

For a long time, many references stated that the pistol used in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie was the earlier FN-Browning Model 1900 (which was made only in .32 ACP). Maybe 10 years ago, there were several news stories printed stating that it was really a FN Model 1910 in .380, as supplied to the various members of the Sarajevo assassination team by the Black Hand, the secret Serbian unification society. And as I remember, the actual assassination pistol is said to be on display in some museum. Can you imagine what price that pistol would bring at auction?

And here it is; or rather here they are. Three of the four identical FN 1910 pistols shipped to Belgrade in December 1913, bought by the Serbian secret service and passed on to the bumbling attackers are on display at the Museum of Military History (Heeresgeschichtliches Museum) in Vienna. Gavrilo Princip's gun is believed to be 19074, but there are doubts. The Archduke's car is also on display there; the last photo shows one of my students (tastelessly) reenacting the fateful moments; I have (tastefully) removed her head .

 

[HARDWARE]

I'm feelin like I gotta have one of these

 

[wbraswell]

Cool little guns. I have a FN .32 that I have posted more than once. I wouldn't say Colt goofed, since they had bought the design of the 1903/1908 pistols from JMB just a few years before and were selling well. It wouldn't have been good business to produce a completely new design that is the same market, when your current design is just a decade old.

 

[les.b]

One of the great mistakes of my life was trading off the 1955 Beowning version of the 1910 that was given to me when I was a fledgling shooter by my parents. I regret it all the time, not just because it was a great little gun, but because they gave it too me when I was just a youngster. So I don't have a picture, but it was identical to H Richard's shown above.

Best Regards, Les

 

[max]

Years ago I bought a FN 1922 for my FIL and it was a fine shooting .380.

 

[Darkenfast]

The 1910/22 is a success story that too many American shooters aren't aware of. A police department that acquired a mix of these for uniformed and plainclothes carry was pretty well equipped for the day, especially with the longer-barreled 22 model. We may sneer at the calibers, but compared to .38 RNL, I doubt many criminals would notice the difference, especially with the .380 version.

 

[robertrwalsh]

Those pistols were a standard police weapon in much of Europe and Asia for many years.

 

[italiansport]

Here's my Poor Mans Renaissance Set. The pistol in the middle is a Model 10 of 1955 vintage.
Jim