FN M1900

M1900/Browning No.1
Type	Semi-automatic pistol
Place of origin	Belgium
Production history
Designer	John Browning[1]
Designed	1896
Number built	ca. 700,000[1]
Variants	Modele 1899, Mle. 1900
Specifications
Weight	625 g (1.378 lb)[1]
Length	17.2 cm (6.8 in)[1]
Barrel length	10.2 cm (4.0 in)[1]
Cartridge	.32 ACP [1]
Action	Blowback operated
Feed system	7+1[1]
Sights	Fixed

The FN Browning M1900 is a single action, semi-automatic pistol designed ca. 1896 by John Browning for Fabrique Nationale de Herstal (FN) and produced in Belgium at the turn of the century. It was the first production handgun to use a slide.

History

The design was presented to arms manufacturer FN Herstal in 1898, with production commencing the following year (then under the designation Modele 1899). In 1900, an improved design featuring primarily a shorter barrel was introduced as the M1900. Production ceased only 11 years later, with a total of about 700,000 units having been produced.

United States President Theodore Roosevelt owned a mother of pearl-gripped M1900, which he regularly kept on his person and in his bedside drawer.^[2] Eugen Schauman used an M1900 (serial number unknown) in his 1904 assassination of the Russian Governor-General of Finland at the time, Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov. Contrary to many reports from various sources, an M1900 was not used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914; the handgun used by Gavrilo Princip in that notorious incident was instead a FN 1910. An Jung-geun used an M1900 in his 1909 assassination of the Japanese Resident-General of Korea, Itō Hirobumi. A Chinese copy of the gun saw usage during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War.

The North Korean Type 64 pistol is a copy of the M1900. Specimens examined by western authorities were marked with the date of 1964. A silenced variant was produced that featured a shortened slide to allow the threaded barrel to protrude far enough to attach the silencer.^[3]

Ammunition

The weapon is chambered for the .32 ACP, also known as 7.65×17mm Browning SR, "SR" denotes semi-rimmed.

Synonyms

This model is known by several names, including:

• FN M1900
• FN Mle.1900
• Browning M1900
• Browning No.1

See also

• Colt M1900
• FN Model 1903

References

v t e John Browning Semi-automatic pistols FN M1900 Colt M1900 Colt M1902 FN Model 1903 M1903 Pocket Hammer M1903 Pocket Hammerless FN M1905 M1908 Vest Pocket FN Model 1910 M1911 Colt Woodsman Baby Browning Hi-Power Rifles Winchester Model 1885 Winchester Model 1886 Winchester 1892 Winchester Model 1894 Winchester Model 1895 Remington Model 8 Remington Model 24 FN Trombone Shotguns Winchester Model 1887 Winchester Model 1897 Browning Auto-5/Remington Model 11 Remington Model 17 Stevens Model 520 Browning Superposed Ithaca 37 Machine guns Colt-Browning M1895 Browning M1917 Browning Automatic Rifle Browning M1919 M2 Machine Gun Cartridges .25 ACP .32 ACP .38 ACP .380 ACP 9mm Browning Long .45 ACP .50 BMG

v t e FN Herstal firearms and cartridges Handguns Baby Browning Barracuda Five-seven FNP FNX FNS Forty-Nine Hi-Power HP-DA M1900 M1903 M1905 M1910 Rifles Semi-automatic and Select-fire CAL F2000/FS2000 FAL FNAR FNC M1949 PS90 SCAR-L/SCAR-H Bolt-action Ballista M1950 Model 30-11 PBR SPR TSR Shotguns P-12 SLP TPS SC 1 Submachine guns P90 Machine guns BRG-15 M2 MAG Minimi Mle 1930 Miscellaneous 5.56×45mm SS109 5.7×28mm EGLM FN 303 FN 303 P