Browning 7.65mm pistol
I have a Browning 7.65mm semi-automatic pistol, Serial number 653199 which my grandfather picked up on a battlefield in the Boer war (1899-1902. Is there any information as to what troops would have carried such a pistol, and any information about the pistol itself available?
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The only Browning 7.65mm pistol that was commercially available during the time of the Boer War, was the Model 1900. This was the first of John Brownings pistols that F N in Belgium put into production. Here is a link to a picture of the pistol.
http://norbert.kraft.free.fr/grafiken/sammlung/FN_1900_285033.jpg
As the serial number of your pistol is quite high, It's questionable in my mind that F N actually produced that number by 1902, if they went into production in 1900?
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John Browning was granted four consecuutive patents in 1897, for an unprecedented four pistol designs. Patent No. 580,926 led to the simplified 7.65 X 17mm caliber blowback version of his first patented pistol, which at the time had been a 9mm, 7 shot gas operated design. The 7.65mm catridge, which became known variously as the .32 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) or the 7.65mm Browning, was perfected by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company over the winter of 1897-98. Colt was at that time deeply embroiled in perfecting the Browning .38 cal "parallel ruler" locked breech pistol in 1897, with an eye to a lucrative contract with the US Army. They did not appear too excited about the blowback model.
A fortuitous encounter with FN's traveling representative, Hart O. Berg, who met Mr Browning at Colt's in 1897, led to the historic introduction of John Moses Browning to Fabrique Nationale d'Armes de Guerre. The weapons-wise Belgians instantly recognized the potential which this exceedingly logical and reliable pistol offered to the European market, and after an intial 18-month tooling-up period, resolutely staked a large part of their fortune on the "FN Browning model 1899". The turn of the century saw some slight improvements made and the model 1900, as it was renamed, became a phenomonal success. FN sold over 100,000 of these pistols in the first three years of production. By contrast Colt's had in the same period produced less than five thousand of the rather cranky, tempormental .38 ACP "parallel ruler" pistols.
From "The Browning High Power Automatic Pistol" by R. Blake Stevens0 -
Thank you for your help, it is much appreciated 0
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