The trigger and manual safety lever were given a brilliant fire blue. The guns were heat blued and polished with oil-soaked leather. The quality of workmanship and finish on theĮarly versions of this gun were the finest in the world at the time. The sear,ĭisconnector, hammer, and all springs were mounted in the receiver behind the magazine well, as was the grip safety. The barrel was firmly secured to the receiver by a series of lugs on the underside which mated with slots in the receiver. The Model 1903 had the recoil spring beneath the barrel. The gun could also be disassembled without tools, which was another military preference. Must eventually have realized that it was not so for everyone and he needed to make his pistols as safe as possible. Having grown up in a gun shop, firearms safety required little thought for him, but he 38 caliber pocket model, Colt also referred to it as t on the 1900 Colt Automatic Pistol had influenced Browning’s design philosophy. version.Ĭolt’s did not wait for the patent to be granted, but began tooling up late in 1902, and began production of what they called the “Colt Automatic Pistol, Pocket Model” in June 1903.Ĭommercial sales began in August.

patent, which was filed on 3 April 1902 and granted on 22 December 1903 (№747,585), but that was the only design change he made for the U.S. Make at least 100 guns per day and sell them at a price that would be competitive with revolvers in the U.S., as well as give him a 40 cent royalty on every gun produced.

FN designed a 9mm cartridge which became k Browning had had, and despite its blowback action they asked Browning to patent his FN design in the U.S. By contrast, the original 1900 Colt Automatic Pistol had a total production run of less than 5000.Īs early as 1901 FN was anxious to put a larger military pistol on the market. The FN was a stunning commercial success, with a production record of 100,000 pistols within three years and a total production of 724,450 over twelve years. 32 caliber, and the following year Colt’s began to manufacture the Colt Automatic Pistol in. So it was that FN manufactured the 1899/1900 FN Browning in. According to Donald Bady, tacit in theseĪgreements was the understanding that Colt’s would manufacture Browning’s locked-breech recoil-operated designs and FN would manufacture the unlocked-breech “blowback” designs. Browning and Fabrique Nationale (FN) signed a similarĪgreement giving FN the right to sell Browning-designed weapons in much of Europe, and specifically excluding them from markets in the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland. Browning’s pistol designs in the United States and market them in the United States, Great Britain, and Ireland. The agreement gave Colt’s the exclusive right to Browning entered into an agreement with The Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company. On 24 July 1896 John Moses Browning and Matthew S.

M1903 serial numbers