Random Article Summary #92

The FN Browning M1900, also known as the Modèle 1900 Pistolet Automatique Browning, is a semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning in 1898. It was made for Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) and produced in Belgium around the beginning of the 20th century. The pistol uses a single-action mechanism. A key feature of the M1900 is that it was the first production handgun to use a slide. This helped make it an important early design in modern pistol development. John Browning began developing semi-automatic pistols in 1894, reusing ideas from early prototypes until designs based on a .38-caliber layout led to two major successors: the Colt M1900 and the FN M1900. He licensed production rights to Colt in the US and Canada, and later adapted the design to a smaller .32 pocket-pistol. FN’s involvement is partly explained by a popular story about Hart O. Berg, but records suggest he pushed Browning through letters to bring his designs to Liège in April 1897. FN managers liked the pistol’s reliability and simplicity, then Berg secured licensing in 1897; once FN produced the pistol, it improved the company’s fortunes and strengthened its long partnership with Browning. Serial production began in January 1899, although it was originally called the M1899 pre-production model, with about 14,400 made. In 1900, FN created an improved version later known as the M1900 based on the M1899, adding small changes such as a shorter barrel, wider grip plates, and several internal reinforcements, plus features like a cocking indicator and a slide lock to help with cleaning. Production ended 11 years later, and FN made about 725,000 pistols in total. The FN M1900 pistol was carried and used by several important figures, including Theodore Roosevelt, and it was also used in high-profile assassinations such as those of Nikolay Bobrikov (1904), Itō Hirobumi (1909), Lenin (1918), and Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro (1933). The pistol became widely popular in China through World War II, where it was copied, produced for militias by state arsenals, and even made as custom one-off versions by local craftsmen. It is also believed to have been the gun used by Harold Lowe during the Titanic sinking, though it may have been a 1910 model instead. The M1899 Browning pistol was the first production version, with 3,900 made in 1899. It weighed about 765 g and measured 183 mm overall, using a 122 mm barrel. The Belgian Army’s M1900 version was a simplified, modified, lighter and more compact version of the M1899, with larger grip plates and a lanyard ring.