It has all matching serial numbers. I have personally fired it on two occas for sale by RTB on GunsAmerica - 980505291. Fabrique Nationale Browning Hi Power Nazi.

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The Browning automatic pistol was patented in the U.S. on April 20, 1897, by John M. Browning, several patents being issued to him on that date. Soon thereafter the Fabrique

The codes on the barrels are Q98786 for Serial # A69040 and R47646 for Serial # A69143. You are correct about the stock. Serial # A69143 has a recoil pad installed and reinforcing pins of dowel rod at the wrist. It is a bit of a game with my very old Luigi Franchi for stock repairs.
The gun was never patented or manufactured in the U.S. Manufacture of the New Model in 7.65mm by Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Belgium began late in 1912. Manufacture in 9mm Browning Short (.380 caliber) probably began a few months later.

Nationale D'Armes dc Guerre in Herstal, Belgium, secured a license to use the patents and to conduct its own development of a pistol based on the features covered by these patents. At the same time development work was proceeding at the Colt factory in the U.S.

By 1898, F.N. had achieved an original design based on the Browning patents. The members of this first series of F.N. pistols are characterized by having the recoil spring mounted above the barrel and a firing pin which is loaded by a link arrangement housed in an extended projection on the top of the slide at the rear. The 1898 Type was chambered for a 7.65 mm. cartridge which Browning himself had designed with the help of Winchester engineers. This pistol was presented to the Swiss Government for trial at Berne in the summer of 1898. The exact details of this first prototype pistol are not known.

By 1899 a distinct commercial form had been developed and was offered as the Modele 1899. This 1899 commercial pistol is characterized by checkered, molded hard rubber grip pieces and by having a smooth frame and receiver, with a straight grip frame. A number of transitional 1898-1899 Browning F.N. types have been observed to have the Mauser insignia. Though produced in some quantity, they were not offered commercially but were used for sales and promotional purposes in Germany in the hope of stimulating enough interest to justify their possible production at the Mauser plant. This hope was not realized.

In March 1900 the 1899 pistol was adopted into the Belgian service and full production began. This 1900 Model, as it is now called, appeared with F.N. crests or trade marks on the grip pieces (Figs. 127, 128).

A few of the 1900 type were manufactured in the 9 mm. Short caliber sometime after 1905. None were offered commercially.

Fabrique Nationale Browning Serial Numbers For Sale

When major production began in the spring of 1900, the basic serial number series was started. Numbers from 1 to about 10,000 may be found with letter prefixes or suffixes. At 10,000 a lanyard loop was added, together with several other external modifications. The design on the grip pieces was also changed at that point. Early in the 100,000 series the pistol reached its common form. The head of the safety lever was serrated, and the F.N. script insignia was introduced on the grip pieces. It is stated that 250,000 were made in the first six years. Production of the 1900 type ceased sometime around 1911-1913.

The 1900 type has been extensively copied in oriental countries. Most of these pistols have markings which are imitations of the F.N. markings, often coupled with Mauser markings on the same specimen. These imitations need never be confused with the' genuine F.N. product as the markings are never exactly as they should be and, furthermore, the workmanship is obviously very inferior. The author has examined many specimens, many having the same serial number, incidentally, and none has ever been found to have even fairly good rifling.

These oriental copies, generally. considered to be mostly Chinese, are to be found in both 7.65 mm. and 7.63 mm. Mauser caliber. Occasionally one is found in 9 mm. Parabellum. The 1898 and 1899 types have also been copied, but apparently not so frequently. Some authorities are of the opinion that many automatic pistol imitations generally accredited to the Chinese were probably made in India.

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John Moses Browning probably completed the prototype for his “New Model” pistol in 1908. This can be deduced from the fact that it was patented in Belgium on 20 February 1909, though it is often reported that the prototype was made in 1909 or even 1910. The gun was never patented or manufactured in the U.S. Manufacture of the New Model in 7.65mm by Fabrique Nationale (FN) of Belgium began late in 1912. Manufacture in 9mm Browning Short (.380 caliber) probably began a few months later. FN deliberately delayed release of the new design for nearly three years because sales of the Old Model were still brisk. Once released, the Browning Automatic Pistol, New Model, quickly supplanted the Old Model. However the Old Model (Model 1900) continued in production right up to the beginning of the Great War in 1914, in order to fulfill Belgian military contracts.

The year model designations 1900 and 1910 apparently did not come into use until sometime after World War I, though the guns were both always known as the Browning Automatic Pistol. By 1910, the word “Browning” was virtually synonymous with “automatic pistol” in much of Europe. FN’s instruction manuals in the 1920’s continued to refer to the gun as the “Browning Automatic Pistol, New Model,” but this gradually gave way to “Browning Automatic Pistol, Model 1910,” and after World War II to “Browning Automatic Pistol, Model 10.”

The New Model was lighter and less complicated than its predecessor, while retaining the remarkable reliability and accuracy of the Old Model. Pollard notes that the New Model is “...smaller and handier, but has a much more appreciable recoil.” Both guns are blowback operated. The 1910 model follows the Savage Automatic Pistol in placing the recoil spring around the barrel, rather than over the barrel as in the 1900 model. The recoil spring is secured by a bushing with bayonnette-style lugs on the front of the slide. The Model 1910 also incorporates a grip safety like the 1903 Colt and 1903 FN Grand Modele. The patent drawing shown in Anthony Vanderlinden’s book FN Browning Pistols: Side-Arms that Shaped World History shows a lanyard ring in the lower rear corner of the left grip, but in actual production the lanyard was an option and was rarely seen except for police and military purchases.

Unlike the Model 1900, which was only available in 7.65mm Browning (.32 ACP), the Model 1910 was offered in both 7.65mm Browning and 9mm Browning Short (.380 ACP). John Moses Browning had asked “UMC” Thomas of the Union Metallic Cartridge Company to design the .380 ACP in 1907 because Colt wanted a larger, heavier bullet for the 1903 Colt Pocket “Hammerless”. Browning specified that the case length for the new cartridge must be identical to that of the .32 ACP. The idea was that the only modification necessary for the gun to use the new cartridge would be a new barrel and magazine. The .380 barrel for what became the 1908 Colt Pocket “Hammerless” had the same external diameter as the .32 barrel for the 1903 Colt, but a slightly larger bore. When Browning set out to design the Model 1910 FN Browning, he designed it so that only the barrel need be changed to convert from one caliber to the other. The 1910 magazines for the two calibers were identical, even though they were marked 7.65mm or 9mm to match the respective barrels. The magazine holds seven rounds of 7.65mm (.32) or six rounds of 9mm Short (.380).

The relatively small size and sleek lines of the Model 1910 made it easily concealed, and the the lack of protrusions such as large sights or a slide release lever made the gun easy to draw quickly from a pocket. A 9mm (.380 ACP) Browning Model 1910 was used to assassinate the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife the Duchess Sophie Chotek, thus igniting World War I. (For many years it was thought the gun used was the “Old Model” 1900 Browning, primarily because the press at the time simply re