PSA Baby Browing

[ISCS Yoda]

PSA is Precision Small Arms. For some years now they have been making incredibly fine replicas of the famous .25 caliber Baby Browning. They are not inexpensive and if you want a really tricked out one the price is stratospheric - rich collectors only type of thing. But the normal guns are simply beautifully done and I coveted one for a very long time.

About a year ago, maybe a little more, I did acquire one, a gorgeous little piece that was nickel plated. Oh, my goodness, it was stunning. However, after every shot fired it would come apart. I wrote the company (GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!) and they explained that it was likely due to an after market guide rod that they had to obtain for some of their guns. So they sent me two!

Well, they gun fired without falling apart but I couldn't keep it from stove piping. They said send it back. Long story made short, they fixed that problem but - lo and behold - after all that work the nickel started to flake off. I get a call - we can't send you a gun like that - will you take a replacement? Sure, why not.....and they have a couple on hand.

(Repeat - GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!)

I get two choices. A lightweight version (it's 9 ounces; do I need a lightweight version?) or a cold blued, full weight specimen that happens to be marked Fabrique Nationale.

Well, what do you think I did?

Range report soon......

 

[italiansport]

Sorry:
But I think I'll stick with my original. Appears to be unfired.
Jim

 

[Texas Star]

Sorry:
But I think I'll stick with my original. Appears to be unfired.
Jim

The Colt .25 and this equivalent 1906 FN aren't the same as the later Baby Browning. But I understand why you like that gun. How reliable is it, and how well does it shoot? How far away can you place a shot in an opponent's eye? A snake's head?


I thought that PSA offered a stainless version. I may just be thinking of the Bauer/Fraser copy.


Yoda's experence has cured me of wanting a PSA.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

PSA makes them in stainless, blue, case colored, nickel, etc. They are all gorgeous.

I wouldn't judge them so negatively - they wouldn't sell them all over the world if they were trash. PSA has been making them since the early 1980s as I recall. The PSA Baby Brownings are finely tuned, a lot of hand work, mostly hand work, actually, and need to be properly cared for because, as the company name describes, they are precision instruments and they are small. Wait for my range report and then decide.

The Baby Brownings have a safety on the right side of the grip - I don't think the Colts or FN's earlier versions had that - the Colt had a grip safety. If you check the history you'll discover various differences, including a cocked hammer indicator on the rear of the slide. The Vest Pocket Colt didn't have that. The BB was based on the earlier Browning designs, and was designed by Dieudonné Saive, the same guy that worked on the Browning Hi-Power, among other guns.

Stay tuned!

 

[Grayfox]

I have a PSP-25 that I bought back in the early 80s. (The company used to be known as Precision Small Parts.) This is my gun for those times when I can't carry a gun. And it has been carried quite a bit.
Mine has been totally reliable. Its never missed a beat and is surprising accurate for a pocket .25.
No, its not a Browning. But don't turn your nose up at it. These little pistols are just as good, if not better, than any Browning Baby ever made. I mean that!

 

[Wyo]

Cool! I have a 1968 Belgian Baby Browning, made the last year they were imported. It's a wonderful little shooter, will easily stay on a 4" plate at 7 yds. and has been 100% reliable. Don't know what it is about those little, teeny pistols, but I do have a soft spot for them.

 

[Texas Star]

Cool! I have a 1968 Belgian Baby Browning, made the last year they were imported. It's a wonderful little shooter, will easily stay on a 4" plate at 7 yds. and has been 100% reliable. Don't know what it is about those little, teeny pistols, but I do have a soft spot for them.

Thanks. That's the best Online review that I've seen of a tiny auto. Always works; will group in four inches at seven yards. It's like pulling stubborn teeth to get that simple result/comment from gun owners. Of course, many are such poor shots that they aren't qualified to report on gun accuracy .


I know all the stuff that Yoda posted, but his gun came apart and the repairs and replacements didn't seem to me to be much of a satisfactory solution. I don't understand getting a nickel one if stainless is made.


I'll await range results with interest.


BTW, Ian Fleming carried a Baby Browning in WW II, as a British agent. But he equipped James Bond with a .25 Beretta. I wonder why. Maybe he had heard that the Beretta was more reliable? Aline, Countess of Ramonones, carried a Beretta .25 as an OSS agent in Spain and killed a knife-wielding gypsy with it. She was American, but married into the Spanish nobility.


The older, larger Colt and FN .25's had both thumb and grip safeties. You can see the thumb safety on the one pictured above. The smaller Saive-designed Baby has no grip safety and the thumb safety is different. I think it was designed to compete with the Walther Model 9.

 

[italiansport]

The Colt .25 and this equivalent 1906 FN aren't the same as the later Baby Browning. But I understand why you like that gun. How reliable is it, and how well does it shoot? How far away can you place a shot in an opponent's eye? A snake's head?


I thought that PSA offered a stainless version. I may just be thinking of the Bauer/Fraser copy.


Yoda's experence has cured me of wanting a PSA.

I really can't answer your questions as this pistol remains unfired and will continue to do so. I have fired other Colt and Browning 25 autos and they are reasonably accurate at the combat range of 7 yards. How effective they would be remains a moot point.
Jim

 

[Fishinfool]

Is PSA any relation to the now defunct Bauer? I used to own one of the stainless Bauer copies of the baby Browning, and it was a well made and reliable gun. I bought it for the "cool" factor, but eventually sold it. It even had the genuine imitation pearl grips...

Larry

 

[Grayfox]

No relation to Bauer that I know of. Most of the Bauer guns were just fine. However QC was somewhat spotty and enough lemons got threw that their reputation is a bit questionable. Most worked, some didn't.

IIRC, Precision Small Parts company was contracted by Kassnar Imports to make copies of the Baby Browning under license from FN. Mine is one of the late Kassnar guns. Although nowhere on the gun itself is it marked so. It did come in a Kassner box.
Anyway, PSP did such a wonderful job in these guns, that when the contract expired, they kept making them and sold them under their own name. Around 2005(?) the name was changed to Precision Small Arms.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

PSA is not related to Bauer. I do believe they use origianl FN machinery but I can't swear to it.

I bought the nickel gun because it was available - you don't find PSA Baby Brownings everywhere. I almost shot the steel one this weekend but I got distracted but the report will come soon.

 

[chief38]

The little .25 acp Brownings are well made guns and usually work flawlessly.

Many years ago I purchased a Bauer (predecessor to PSA) and the damned thing was INCAPABLE of firing a full magazine without it either jamming or literally having the magazine fall right out of the gun. After sending the gun back to the Factory many times, I sold it back to the gun store and bought a gorgeous Colt M1908 in 25 acp made in the 30's, if memory serves. Never looked back! I have shot many of the Baby Brownings and they have all worked well. The Colt however is slightly larger and is a bit easier to hang on to.

You did the right thing and the Baby Browning is a classic beauty!

 

[ISCS Yoda]

The PSA Baby Browning needs to be broken in or it needs some polishing. It does handle well when rounds are willing to enter the chamber.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/firear...-25-acp-roundup-range-test.html#post139401103

 

[italiansport]

Here is a picture of the baby Browning I have along with its two bigger brethren. I refer to this casing as my poor man's Renaissance set.
Jim

 

[Stevie]

I own a 'Bauer .25' and a friend of mine had a 'Fraiser' which is the same thing. His had pearl grips and my Bauer has checked walnut/plywood grips.

As far as genuine FN Browning .25acp/6.35mm pistols go...I own a well weathered and worn M1905/06 grip-safety version.