The FN Browning M1900 is a single action, semi-automatic pistol

Semi-automatic self-loading pistol

A semi-automatic pistol is a type of handgun which uses a single chamber and barrel, with a mechanism powered by the previous shot to load a fresh cartridge into the chamber...

 designed ca. 1896 by John Browning

John Browning

John Moses Browning , born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of military and civilian firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world...

 for Fabrique Nationale de Herstal

Fabrique Nationale de Herstal

Fabrique Nationale d'Herstal — self identified as FN Herstal and often referred to as Fabrique Nationale or simply FN — is a firearms manufacturer located in Herstal, Belgium....

 (FN) and produced in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 at the turn of the century. It was the first production handgun to use a slide

Pistol slide

The slide is the part of the weapon on a majority of semi-automatic pistols that moves during the operating cycle and generally houses the firing pin or striker and the extractor, and serves as the bolt...

.

History

The design was presented to arms manufacturer FN Herstal in 1898, with production commencing the following year (then under the designation Modele 1899). In 1900, an improved design featuring primarily a shorter barrel was introduced as the M1900. Production ceased only 11 years later, with a total of about 700,000 units having been produced.

United States President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

 owned an M1900, which he regularly kept on his person and in his bedside drawer. Eugen Schauman

Eugen Schauman

Eugen Schauman was a Finnish nationalist and nobleman who assassinated the Governor-General Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov.- Schauman's life :...

 used an M1900 (serial number unknown) in his 1904 assassination

Assassination

To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 of the Russian Governor-General of Finland

Governor-General of Finland

Governor-General of Finland ; was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland between 1808 and 1917.-Swedish rule:...

 at the time, Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov

Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov

Nikolay Ivanovich Bobrikov ; born on in St. Petersburg – June 16, 1904 in Helsingfors, Grand Duchy of Finland) was a Russian soldier and politician....

. Contrary to many reports from various sources, an M1900 was not used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia...

 in Sarajevo

Sarajevo

Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....

 on June 28, 1914; the handgun used by Gavrilo Princip

Gavrilo Princip

Gavrilo Princip was the Bosnian Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914...

 in that notorious incident was instead a FN 1910

FN Model 1910

The FN Model 1910 was a blowback-operated, semi-automatic pistol designed by John Browning and manufactured by Fabrique Nationale of Belgium.-Development:...

. An Jung-geun

An Jung-geun

An Jung-geun or Ahn Jung-geun was a Korean independence activist, nationalist, and pan-Asianist....

 used an M1900 in his 1909 assassination of the Japanese Resident-General of Korea

Resident-General of Korea

When Korea was a protectorate of Japan, Japan was represented by the Resident-General.- List of Japanese Residents-General :#Itō Hirobumi#Sone Arasuke#Terauchi Masatake...

, Itō Hirobumi

Ito Hirobumi

Prince was a samurai of Chōshū domain, Japanese statesman, four time Prime Minister of Japan , genrō and Resident-General of Korea. Itō was assassinated by An Jung-geun, a Korean nationalist who was against the annexation of Korea by the Japanese Empire...

. A Chinese copy of the gun saw usage during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...

 and the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...

.

The North Korean Type 64 pistol is a copy of the M1900. Specimens examined by western authorities were marked with the date of 1964. A silenced

Suppressor

A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer, is a device attached to or part of the barrel of a firearm which reduces the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon....

 variant was produced that featured a shortened slide to allow the threaded barrel to protrude far enough to attach the silencer.

Ammunition

The weapon is chambered for the .32 ACP

.32 ACP

.32 ACP , also known as the .32 Automatic is a pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pistol...

, also known as 7.65×17mm Browning SR, "SR" denotes semi-rimmed.

Synonyms

This model is known by several names, including:

• FN M1900
• FN Mle.1900
• Browning M1900
• Browning No.1