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Old August 21, 2012, 10:27 PM   #25
James K
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Join Date: March 17, 1999
Posts: 24,383
The FN 1903 was an attempt to produce a military pistol that would be more powerful than the 1900. Browning developed it and the Colt 1903 at about the same time (1901), and they are almost identical except for size. While the Colt pistol was never even considered as a military pistol, the FN 1903 was intended as a more powerful alternative to the Model 1900 for military purposes. It was offered with a stock slot and a wooden holster stock, as well as with a tangent rear sight; those features were later employed on the High Power pistol.

It has been written that the FN 1903 and its 9mm Browning Long cartridge was an attempt to compete against the German 9mm Luger, but the 9mm BL was developed before the German cartridge, and was of the old Browning semi-rimmed type. It has also been written that the 9mm BL was a lengthened version of the 9mm Browning Short (.380 ACP), but again the time line is reversed; the 9mm BL predated the 9mm BS by several years. The latter seems to have been developed as a more powerful alternative to the .32 ACP while being able to fit the Colt 1903 platform with only minor modifications.

While I restricted a previous post to the Swedish adoption and subsequent sale of Swedish surplus pistols in the U.S. Gyvel is correct that other nations adopted it, but AFAIK few, if any, of those have turned up on the U.S. surplus market.

Jim
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