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FN 1922 - my first!

3K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  Anthony Vanderlinden 
#1 ·
Hi everyone,

I just bought myself an FN 1922 in 7,65 and joined this forum after looking for information about it.
I think it's a post-war pistol from circa 1945-1946, if I read the info on this forum correctly. I must be a commercial sale, as it doesn't match the series of military batches.

Markings on the left side:
- a proofmark (PV with lion) and the inspector marking (N with a star) on the slide
- A in a (semi-) square and number 8 on the trigger guard

Markings on the right side :
- Serial number A105270
- Number 5 on trigger guard

What do you guys think?
It bought the FN 1922 as it fits my interest for belgian police weapons and war history.
 

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#2 ·
The 'A' serial guns were made after Sept. 1944, and in 1945.
The post-war FN new production serials restarted at 1 in 1946, and had the year code in a square on the trigger guard. 1946=6, 1947=7, etc.

'A' serials guns were used to re-arm Belgium and France before the end of the war, and some were sold to American GI's as they passed through Belgium. I think of 'A'-serial FN1922's as "liberation .32's".

I collect pre-war, and wartime 'commercial' .32's, but not German military marked .32's.
I have a variety made in liberated factories before the end of the war.
2 Sauer 38H's,
a Walther PP,
3 'A'-serial FN1922,
2 'French' Mauser HSc's,
and a Femaru Model 37 marked FEG Budapest (not jhv41 or jhv43).
 
#6 ·
Welcome to the forum! You have an interesting pistol to say the least. It does appear to fall outside the stated known contracts by Anthony Vanderlinden in his book "FN Browning Pistols" he lists the Post Liberation and Post War contracts as serial number A100,000 to A104,000 to the Belgian Military and A108,000 to A112,000 going to the Dutch Government. So, I would suspect its a private sale, however he also mentions that not only soldiers but also communities ordered pistols for law enforcement and civil servants because the central Government was in disarray.
 
#9 ·
Welcome to the world of FN. I do caution you that there is something called "FNitis", an addictive FN disease that has been out there since the 1910s and was well publicized in those days. I am not kidding, I am covering it in the new book...

Anthony
 
#11 ·
A dear friend of mine once remarked that one could dig in any back yard in America and eventually find a 1922 FN.
 
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