FN 1922- New Thread

[smoothebore]

I saw the discussion of these on the Century thread and didn't want to add to the hijack, so here is a new one. I bought a FN 1922 on GB a year ago for $345 including shipping. I think it was made in '44. The price was low because the seller said it was re-blued. I don't know what the evidence is, for that.

Anyone with any interest or knowledge of the Browning FN 1922 please add to this thread.

 

[zoostation]

I have one of those. Mine is a reblue but you can easily see it. The serial #'s on mine show a lot more evidence of being worn down by the rebluing. I don't see much if any wear on the stamps or serials on yours. Does look like it might be a reblue just from the pics but hard to see. There's an area on the left side of the slide that looks like it might be pitting with blue over it, that could be a sign. If it was reblued at least whoever did it looked like they were careful about it. Those were continued in production under nazi occupation and a lot of them also bear Waffenampts. Made in '44 not sure if it was before or after the Germans were driven out.

I also put a box of S&B .32 through mine just to see how it shot. It ran and fed fine. A little weird to shoot, but seemed pretty reliable.

 

[jkeiler]

I saw the discussion of these on the Century thread and didn't want to add to the hijack, so here is a new one. I bought a FN 1922 on GB a year ago for $345 including shipping. I think it was made in '44. The price was low because the seller said it was re-blued. I don't know what the evidence is, for that.

Anyone with any interest or knowledge of the Browning FN 1922 please add to this thread.

Thanks for starting this thread, since the pistol interests me. Now the Century thread will only be hijacked by Jeep enthusiasts.

Anyway, can you answer the question I posted back on the Century thread? Your pistol has the plain wooden grips which seem to be the most common, but the poster on the other thread had polymer grips with the FN logo. FN clearly produced both, but is there any rhyme or reason to it, or just they did some one way, some the other?

 

[Squaregrouper]

Thanks for starting this thread, since the pistol interests me. Now the Century thread will only be hijacked by Jeep enthusiasts.

Anyway, can you answer the question I posted back on the Century thread? Your pistol has the plain wooden grips which seem to be the most common, but the poster on the other thread had polymer grips with the FN logo. FN clearly produced both, but is there any rhyme or reason to it, or just they did some one way, some the other?

I'm getting a 2" suspension lift on my '88 Wagoneer.

 

[AssMan]

Anyway, can you answer the question I posted back on the Century thread? Your pistol has the plain wooden grips which seem to be the most common, but the poster on the other thread had polymer grips with the FN logo. FN clearly produced both, but is there any rhyme or reason to it, or just they did some one way, some the other?

I'm not sure, but the only ones with wooden grips I've seen were made during the Nazi occupation of the FN factory.

Edit: here's a very faint marking I discovered while cleaning the gun. Looks to be someone's initials (O.R.)? If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears.

 

[somd_mustangs]

Thanks for starting this thread, since the pistol interests me. Now the Century thread will only be hijacked by Jeep enthusiasts.

Anyway, can you answer the question I posted back on the Century thread? Your pistol has the plain wooden grips which seem to be the most common, but the poster on the other thread had polymer grips with the FN logo. FN clearly produced both, but is there any rhyme or reason to it, or just they did some one way, some the other?

The one in the Century thread was pre-WWII (1930) and has horn grips with the logo. The wood ones came into play during Zee German occupation once they used up the stock of pre-war grips. At the end they were also using resin/plastic grips with logo (same with the High Powers).

Note that the final acceptance Waffenamts (WaA140 in this case) are stamped through the finish so should be sharp and with raised edges. <edit> that appears to only be true for the early war guns but not late war </edit> That's a quick and dirty way to see if it's reblued. The gun in the OP has some "blurry edges" on the bottom of the slide so it bears a closer look. This one is in the "b" block so absolutely correct in it being 1944 mfg. It's also in the narrow band where they went from the full S/N to 3-digit shortened S/N on the nose-cap, etc - they soon went to 4 digits to avoid confusion. Not a big deal but interesting.

Also note that the final finishing of the "b" and "c" block guns got cruder and cruder, so seeing a lot of milling marks, etc under the blue is correct. Not to be confused with Bubba's sandpaper of course.

 

[AssMan]

Any idea what a "C Hook" stamp means? I'll try to get a picture of it.

 

[KH195]

They are neat little guns, and reasonably priced in my opinion. I have a WaA140 marked one, it was one of my first purchases with my C&R. Important note for these..... don't dry fire! The firing pins can break very easily and I learned the hard way with mine. Dry fired it only once the day I got it and the tip of the pin shot out about 10 feet across the room.

Lots of info on the variations/production numbers here:
http://www.tague.at/pistolen/en_index.htm?/pistolen/pages/en_fn1922.htm

 

[somd_mustangs]

The WaA613 and WaA103 marked guns => prices skyrocket. WaA613 guns are pretty hard to come by. The commercial guns (war-era with E/N and/or E/S) are pretty rare but still don't pull much more than the WaA140's for some reason. Sleepers !

There's all sorts of pre- and post- war variations to fiddle with too.

Good advice on the dry-fire thing.

 

[smoothebore]

The one in the Century thread was pre-WWII (1930) and has horn grips with the logo. The wood ones came into play during Zee German occupation once they used up the stock of pre-war grips. At the end they were also using resin/plastic grips with logo (same with the High Powers).

Note that the final acceptance Waffenamts (WaA140 in this case) are stamped through the finish so should be sharp and with raised edges. <edit> that appears to only be true for the early war guns but not late war </edit> That's a quick and dirty way to see if it's reblued. The gun in the OP has some "blurry edges" on the bottom of the slide so it bears a closer look. This one is in the "b" block so absolutely correct in it being 1944 mfg. It's also in the narrow band where they went from the full S/N to 3-digit shortened S/N on the nose-cap, etc - they soon went to 4 digits to avoid confusion. Not a big deal but interesting.

Also note that the final finishing of the "b" and "c" block guns got cruder and cruder, so seeing a lot of milling marks, etc under the blue is correct. Not to be confused with Bubba's sandpaper of course.

Thanks for the reply. Here is an attempt at close-ups.

 

[somd_mustangs]

Here's two comparison guns in the same S/N range (B block). First two are same gun w/ WaA140 proofs, third is a commercial with E/N proofs. By coincidence both have the late-war synthetic grips vice wooden. Note how sharp the edges of the slide and frame are, and the milling marks under the finish, which in real life is very close to black. Good example too of the 3-digit vs. 4-digit abbreviated S/N on the B-blocks... the full S/N is on the slide only.

btw - The bottom of the loop on the "b" broke off the die for the commercial gun. All 4 S/N's look like an "h" instead. Kind of cool.

 

[smoothebore]

So, it's probably a re-blue. That's okay. That's how it was sold, and bought, with price to match. They are neat little guns. The late war guns are definitely more crude in manufacture. It takes me forever to find the sweet spot between the barrel and slide on reassembly. The inside of the slide looks like it was machined in one pass. It's very rough. Thanks again for all the interesting info.

 

[somd_mustangs]

The Colt 1903/08 Model M's are the same way (not surprising since they'r both JMB design), it's a little juggling act to get that barrel to turn and lock in ...

 

[chooks9]

I love these little guys! I have a C-series WaA140 gun that's in the last 10,000 or so under occupation. It's definitely last ditch in appearance but it works well. I also have a commercial FN 1910 that I'd love to place a spare threaded 1922 barrel into and buy a suppressor for!

 

[Melnic]

I was in a shop while out of town.
Saw a Browning 1922, the WA140 version, 4 digit serial with a script at end.
It looked like it was once pitted on the top left of the slide and was cleaned then re-blue'd.
It seemed in working order and the owner said he shot it. Came with holster that looked appropriate to my recollection of another much more browning 1922 I had looked at on gunbroker and so I trusted my gut and purchased it for $300. Since getting my Mauser Pocket pistol in 32 auto I've been looking hard at other 32 auto caliber pistols.

Funny thing is the owner asked for my HQL and we got in a discussion about C&R not needing it. I did not want to stay there all day so we used my HQL for the paperwork even though we all know I did not need it.

 

[somd_mustangs]

holster something like this?
if so you almost got the gun for free.

It probably isn't 4-digit, they went to using just 4 digits on most parts late in the "b" block but the full 5-digit will be on the slide.

 

[Melnic]

No, it did not look like that, I did not see a sn on the slide on the right like the other photos. I wonder if the slide is suspect. If it was replaced, it must have been done early on cause the wear on the bluing from the holster wear seemed to be consistent from the slide to the nose cap where most of the bluing was gone. Here is one pic I took.

 

[Melnic]

Holster & right side.
Feet provided as required.

 

[somd_mustangs]

yeah, normally there would have been an S/N there at the front right of slide.
When you get it in hand post pics of both sides of the slide...
I wouldn't sweat it, the S/N should also be on the underside of slide on the firing pin tunnel.
Vanderlinden's book shows a couple of examples w/o the S/N on the slide.

 

[somd_mustangs]

Very sneaky feet.