mawkie
C&R Whisperer
-I realize this thread won't be of much interest to most of you here but wanted to share something with somd_mustangs and kh195 that I think they might find worth perusing. I found this rare German Occupation built commercial FN1922 while waiting to bid on the Winchester 54 in my earlier thread. Another win for using spare time to good effect! I had taken a pass on this lot when originally scanning the online catalog. But went back for a closer inspection and glad that I did. I quickly saw that the usual German inspection marks were missing but that the SN showed that it wasn't an early post liberation build. That put it into another rare category: a late-war, occupation built commercial pistol with a Eagle/N marks (mostly, more on that later). Bidding was so tepid as the photos were wretched and it was easy to understand why most bidders would shy away considering the crude late-war finish. So I was all-in and when the hammer dropped so did my jaw: $270 with the vig.
-This example has a distinct mark that IDs it as a commercial example: a triangle shaped mark at the back of the frame. Those built for the German military will not have this mark. This very late occupation example also has an Eagle/N mark missing the "N". In 1944 the Eagle/N die at FN worn out and wasn't replaced. So the result is an Eagle only mark on the slide and an E/N mark on the frame on mine. The rest of the features are classic late war: rough finish, trigger without flange, no magazine safety. All done to expedite the rate of production. The SN of mine is only 17 away from one of the roughly 20 recorded in Vanderlinden's 3rd edition of FN Browning Pistols. Gotta say that I love this book and that it's more than paid for itself over and over again.
-This example has a distinct mark that IDs it as a commercial example: a triangle shaped mark at the back of the frame. Those built for the German military will not have this mark. This very late occupation example also has an Eagle/N mark missing the "N". In 1944 the Eagle/N die at FN worn out and wasn't replaced. So the result is an Eagle only mark on the slide and an E/N mark on the frame on mine. The rest of the features are classic late war: rough finish, trigger without flange, no magazine safety. All done to expedite the rate of production. The SN of mine is only 17 away from one of the roughly 20 recorded in Vanderlinden's 3rd edition of FN Browning Pistols. Gotta say that I love this book and that it's more than paid for itself over and over again.