Mother in law passed away and my brother-in-law found this in her closet, can anyone point me towards a web site to ID this pistol, even having a hard time figuring out how to field strip it to look at the barrel for caliber. For a tiny pistol it weighs a ton, it’s an FN made in Belgium, after that I’m lost
Might be a baby browning, probably .25 acp or 6.35mm as the foreigners call it
It does have browning patent stamped on it.
I’m not 100% but my guess is a 1906 in .25 ACP.
Yup, off of baby browning I was able to come up with, 1905/1906 model in 25acp, also found a YouTube video on field stripping it. Pretty strange, you rotate the barrel to release the slide.
All I need now is a serial number look up, might get lucky and be able to date the pistol.
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I showed Grok a picture of it, and this is what G had to say.
This pistol is an FN Baby Browning, a compact semi-automatic chambered in .25 ACP (also known as 6.35mm Browning). It was manufactured by Fabrique Nationale (FN) Herstal in Belgium, with production of this model starting in 1931 and continuing until around 1969. The design is a scaled-down evolution of earlier Browning pocket pistols, featuring a blowback operation, striker-fired mechanism, fixed sights, and a 6-round detachable magazine. It’s known for its small size (about 4 inches long and under 10 ounces unloaded), making it a popular choice for concealed carry or as a backup gun in its era.
The markings on the slide—“FABRIQUE NATIONALE D’ARMES DE GUERRE HERSTAL BELGIQUE” and “BROWNING’S PATENT DEPOSE”—are standard for this model, referencing FN’s full name and John Browning’s patents. The oval “FN” logo on the grip panels is also characteristic of earlier examples with thermal-hardened plastic grips.
It’s not a baby browning….
It’s a m1905 or 06. The baby browning eliminated the safety on the back strap. That pistol has a safety….
Here is a few that sold recently. A couple look just like yours. Still need the serial to date.
https://truegunvalue.com/pistol/fn-1905/price-historical-value
Is there a web site I can input the serial to date it?
And yes, it is definitely a 1905/1906, not a baby browning.
Cool little pistol, have two boxes of ammo on the way. Forget a pinky rest for this pistol, all you get is your trigger finger and your middle finger wrapped around the grip, ring finger and pinky dangle in the wind.
Haven’t found a list but 741,000 was built in 1925 so you can at least know if you are lower or higher than 1925
Interesting, that would put this pistol manufacturing date around 1917-1918
Thanks for all the help gents.