Thread: Adopt a gun
View Single Post
Unread 11-27-2008, 09:20 PM   #13
alvin
User
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: US
Posts: 3,843
Thanks: 132
Thanked 729 Times in 438 Posts
Default

Regarding the year it was made, I did a little searching with the references in my hands at this moment.

Page 212 of the book "Handguns of the World" (Ezell, 1981) presents two Modele 1900 pictures, s/n 100,000 and 500,000, both have s/n stamped big on the left side of the frame (unusual). Both were presentation guns to John Browning by the manufactucer. Pistol 100,000 even had the date stamped below the s/n, "4 AOUT 1904". 500,000 had no date on the gun. The text on page 211 says: "By August 1904, 100,000 Modele 1900s had been built, 500,000 by 1909", obviously refered to those two presentation pistols of known provenance.

If above data is accurate, this one was made in 1909. I will celebrate it's 100th birthday very soon

====

Another piece of info is also interesting. Page 166 of Volume 1 of "The Machine Gun" (Chinn, 1951) says:

Twelve years from the time the first weapon was produced, the millionth pistol was made. After this fact was engraved on the receiver, the weapon was presented to John M. Browning during the ceremony of the title "Chevalier de l'Ordre de Leopold" by King Albert of Belgium.

Sounds like at least 1,000,000 were made..... no picture of the engraved pistol in the book. With all those numbers, FN's production pattern was very uneven, 1st half a million in 9 years, 2nd half a million in 3 years (isn't 500 pistols per day a very high production volume??)

Last edited by alvin; 11-27-2008 at 09:51 PM.
alvin is offline   Reply With Quote