When it comes to Browning's name, I believe even people who don't care about the military will feel very familiar. Many people may not know Browning's life, nor can they tell many models of weapons designed by Browning, but for them, Browning's name is still deeply associated with pistols. In many people’s minds, Browning is synonymous with small pistols. What this article is going to talk about is the first small pistol designed by Browning-the M1900 semi-automatic pistol.
The development process was full of twists and turns
On January 23, 1855, Moses Browning was born in a small town called Ogden, Utah, USA. His father was from a local family. The owner of the gun shop. Browning, who grew up in a gun shop, showed his talent in firearm design very early. As early as the age of 24, he designed a rifle with a trigger guard as the charging handle and a lever-type bolt action. "Break-loading single-shot rifle" and patented. Browning's talent attracted the attention of the Winchester Company, a famous American weapons company at the time, which gave him the opportunity to leave this small western town and come to a big city, which increased his knowledge and broadened his horizons. This laid the foundation for him to later become a leading figure in the small arms world.
While working at Winchester, Browning realized that automatic weapons were the way of the future. In an attempt to develop an automatic weapon design. He noticed that when the weapon was fired some gunpowder gases erupted from the muzzle. Only part of the gunpowder gas is used to propel the projectile forward, and the rest is wasted. This caused him to think: If these gunpowder gases can be used to promote the movement of mechanical parts, automatic loading and firing of weapons can be achieved. Based on this principle, in 1890 Browning applied for a patent for an automatic rifle that used gunpowder gas to complete the shooting cycle. Colt Company designed and finalized the M1895 machine gun based on this principle (i.e., the gas-operated principle) and equipped it with the US military.
After the successful design of the machine gun. Browning began to consider miniaturizing its structure. So this principle was applied to pistols, and a self-loading pistol was designed and developed. In 1894, Browning miniaturized the gas-operated automatic structure he designed and tried to design an automatic pistol, but he had to give up because the structure was too complex.
At that time, the development of automatic pistols was just beginning. In 1896, the famous M1896 Mauser semi-automatic pistol was born. This was the world's first practical self-loading pistol. However, the first generation of automatic pistols represented by Mauser pistols had complex structures and large volumes and masses. This is mainly because the overall design of the automatic pistol at that time borrowed from the rifle. The ammunition supply was in front of the trigger, similar to the magazine of the rifle. The entire gun length was a simple superposition of the barrel, ammunition supply, bolt assembly and firing mechanism. Even if the design No matter how compact it is, this length cannot be reduced. In addition, taking the Mauser automatic pistol as an example, its automatic mode is a short-recoil barrel type. Although this automatic principle has the advantages of reliable locking and the use of high-power bullets, its structure is still a bit complicated for a pistol. Therefore, to design a more compact automatic pistol, it is necessary to break through the limitations of this design.
In 1896, Browning finally came up with the simplest design plan: First, instead of using automatic principles such as gas-guided and short-barrel recoil, it used the recoil of the bullet to directly push the gun. The machine retreats. After the bullet is fired, the bolt part will not recoil immediately due to its own mass, the pressure of the spring and the friction between the parts. It will not start to recoil until the warhead flies out of the muzzle and the chamber pressure drops to a safe value. Sit back. There is no rigid locking mechanism between the bolt and the barrel. It only uses inertia, spring pressure and friction to achieve the "closed but not locked" effect. This is today's free bolt principle. The structure of this automatic method is extremely simple. Although it cannot be used on weapons that use high-power bullets, as a self-defense pistol, this automatic method is fully capable. The second is the creative use of sleeve design. Prior to this, the barrel, bolt, and firing mechanism of automatic pistols were all set independently. If they were not superimposed on each other, the total volume of the weapon would not be reduced. Browning designed the bolt assembly in a sleeve with a certain mass. The rear of the sleeve functions as the bolt, and the front space is placed on the barrel. In this way, the length of the barrel is accommodated in the sleeve, and the entire length of the gun can be greatly reduced. Moreover, the sleeve and the bolt recoil together, which increases the mass of the bolt part and ensures that the bolt part has enough inertia to reduce the chamber pressure to a safe value before starting to recoil.
The slide structure influenced the design of almost all subsequent automatic pistols. After that, the slide structure became the iconic structure of automatic pistols. Therefore, the sleeve structure can be said to be an epoch-making creation of Browning.
After determining the automatic principle, it is necessary to select the ammunition for the new gun. The free bolt-action structure cannot use bullets that are too powerful, but if the bullets are too weak, it will directly affect the performance of the gun. After weighing the pros and cons, Browning finally selected the moderately powerful 0.32-inch ACP bullet. On April 20, 1897, the new gun was patented. Compared with the M1900 pistol that will be officially finalized in the future, this prototype gun is a little thicker, but the basic structure of the two is almost the same. A weapon that is still in the experimental prototype stage is extremely close to the final weapon, which shows that Browning's design is very forward-looking and scientific. After a period of improvement, on March 21, 1899, the newly improved prototype gun was patented. This gun is different from the finalized M1900 except for the magazine catch position, trigger arc shape, and no cocking. Except for the standard pole, there is no difference.
Although the patent was obtained, what I didn’t expect was that it encountered obstacles in marketing: Although the United States has a huge civilian gun market and the demand for self-defense pistols is huge, there are still some people in the United States who use revolvers. Traditionally, most people prefer revolvers. At that time, revolvers were undoubtedly the main force even in regular armed forces such as the U.S. military and police. Therefore, although the automatic pistol designed by Browning has a novel concept and excellent performance, it has never opened up the US market. Seeing that the new gun was about to be buried by the times, in 1899, an accidental opportunity turned Browning's automatic pistol into a realistic product in Belgium. In the spring of 1897, Browning visited the Colt Company, where he accidentally met Berg, the sales director of the Belgian FN Company. Berg learned that Browning had designed a small automatic pistol and was very interested. I borrowed one and took it back to FN Company for evaluation.
In the field of pistols, Europe was more enthusiastic about automatic pistols than the United States at that time. The sample gun was highly valued when it was sent to the FN headquarters, which completely changed the fate of Browning's automatic pistols. . In 1897, FN Company signed a contract with Browning and bought out the production rights of Browning's automatic pistols in Europe. Mass production began in 1899, and the new gun was officially named the M1900 semi-automatic pistol.
Due to its small size, light weight, and avant-garde appearance, the M1900 pistol became a best-selling product and became popular in Europe not long after it was put into production. The outstanding advantage of this gun is that it is very thin and can be easily hidden in a coat pocket without being discovered. Therefore, it has become a favorite of plainclothes police detectives in various European countries. In 1910, the M1910 pistol, also designed by Browning, began production, and the M1900 was immediately discontinued. Within ten years, 724,490 M1900 pistols were produced, which shows its great influence.
After the M1900, the Belgian FN company became Browning's main cooperative manufacturer. After the M1900, Browning provided the company with more new designs, such as the M1910 pistol, the M1935 Browning High Power pistol, etc. These classic weapons have made the Belgian FN company a world-renowned firearms manufacturer.
The structural design is quite innovative
The Browning M1900 pistol is a semi-automatic pistol powered by gunpowder gas and with a free-action structure. As mentioned before, the most representative feature of this gun is its sleeve structure. This is the world's first automatic pistol with a sleeve. However, because the gun was designed earlier, its slide structure is different from that of later automatic pistols. Today's automatic pistols almost all use a slide structure with the barrel at the top and the recoil spring at the bottom. The M1900 is just the opposite. It uses a structure with the recoil spring at the top and the barrel at the bottom. This seems a bit weird today. In the firing system, the M1900 adopts the firing pin firing principle. The sear directly blocks the firing slot on the firing pin body. Pull the trigger and the sear releases the firing pin. The firing pin fires the bullet directly under the action of the spring. There is no hammer mechanism. , this structure is relatively simple. And there is no exposed hammer, so it is not easy to catch on clothes when taking out the gun, making it suitable for use on small self-defense pistols.
Speaking of this firing pin, the M1900 also has its own characteristics. Unlike other striker-type pistols, the firing pin of this gun does not have a firing pin spring, but is pushed by a lever using the elastic force of the recoil spring. The firing pin, which is very rare in the design of automatic pistols, is also the most distinctive feature of this gun. When shooting, install a real magazine and pull the slide backward. The recoil spring guide rod in the recoil spring tube on the upper part of the slide moves backward together. The recoil spring is compressed to store elastic force. The firing pin is stuck by the sear. Release the slide. Finally, the gun is loaded, because the firing pin is fixed by the sear. At this time, the recoil spring guide rod is still in the rear position, and the recoil spring remains in a compressed state. Pulling down the trigger sear releases the firing pin, the recoil spring rebounds, and the firing pin is moved forward through the lever to fire the primer of the rifle. Because the recoil spring is relatively thick and has strong elasticity, the firing force of the firing pin is also very strong, and the firing reliability is very good.
In use, the Browning M1900 pistol has almost no failure to fire, largely due to its recoil spring-driven firing pin structure. In addition to transmitting the force of the spring, the upper end of the lever that moves the firing pin protrudes in front of the rear sight. When the pistol is in a non-cocking state, because the firing pin is in the forward position, the rear end protrusion of the lever is tilted, which just blocks the rear sight. In front of the door, the shooter's aiming field of view is blocked, and you can know that the pistol is not loaded: when the slide is pulled and the pistol is in the cocking state, the firing pin is hung by the sear in the rear position, the lever is pulled back by the firing pin, and the rear end protrudes By tilting the pistol forward and away from the aiming baseline, the shooter will know that the pistol is in the cocking position and can fire by pulling the trigger. In addition to observing the rear end protrusion of the lever in front of the rear sight, the status of the pistol can also be judged by observing the position of the recoil spring guide rod from the muzzle. In the non-cocking state, the recoil spring guide rod is in the forward position and in front of the slide. The head of the guide rod can be seen; when the pistol is in the cocking position, the recoil spring guide rod retracts, and the head of the guide rod cannot be seen in front of the slide, exposing the round hole of the recoil spring tube.
The trigger of the M1900 pistol is a push trigger. There is a frame push rod behind the trigger, and the magazine passes through the frame of the push rod. The push rod is installed with a low front and a high back. When the trigger is pulled, the push rod pushes the sear backward and upward to rotate. The sear teeth come out of the firing pin release slot, which releases the firing pin. The rear end of the push rod has an upward protrusion, which is just accommodated in the groove below the sleeve. When the bullet is fired, the sleeve recoils, and the groove below the sleeve is staggered with the protrusion on the push rod, and the push rod is pressed downward. It separates from the resistor to form a single shot. In addition, the protrusion at the rear of the push rod cooperates with the groove below the sleeve to prevent the sleeve from reaching the position. If the sleeve is not returned to the position, the protrusion at the rear of the push rod cannot enter the groove below the sleeve, and the push rod will not be pushed back into place. The rod cannot push the sear, and the pistol cannot be fired. In addition to the safety that is not in place, the M1900 pistol also has a manual safety, which is located above the rear grip of the slide base. When the safety is in the lower position, the word "FEU" appears above it, indicating that the safety is released. At this time, there is a gap in the manual safety shaft. With the sear out of the way, you can pull the slide, push the bullet into the chamber, and pull the trigger to fire; when the safety is moved to the upper position, the word "SUF" appears below it, indicating that the pistol is in the safe state, and the sear is stuck by the safety shaft. It cannot rotate, the slide cannot be pulled, and the trigger cannot be pulled.
The M1900 pistol uses a 7-round single-row single-feed detachable magazine. There is a gap in the lower rear part of the magazine. After inserting the grip, the magazine latch in the grip snaps into the gap, and the magazine is Be fixed. When ejecting the magazine, press the magazine lock lever at the bottom of the handle, the latch stuck in the magazine gap will be released, and the magazine can be withdrawn. Setting the magazine lock at the bottom of the grip was a traditional design for European pistols at the time. This design had a relatively simple structure, but it required both hands to remove the magazine, which was inconvenient. It is also worth noting that although the M1900 pistol and Browning's other small self-defense pistols M1903 and M1910 both use 7-round magazines with a caliber of 7.65 mm, the M1900 magazine cannot be used with the magazines of the other two pistols. Box universal. Because the M1900 magazine uses a notch at the rear of the magazine to fix it, while the other two Browning pistols use a spring hook at the bottom of the grip to directly block the bottom of the magazine. If used incorrectly. Will not be able to secure the magazine.
The firing action of the M1900 pistol is as follows: Load the real magazine and pull the slide backward. The recoil spring guide rod and the slide compress the recoil spring backward to store the elastic force. Connect the recoil spring guide rod and the firing action. The lever of the needle rotates, and the protrusion at the rear end of the lever falls forward to give way to the aiming sight. The firing pin retreats with the sleeve until the lower release card slot is caught by the sear: after the sleeve is released, the pusher behind the sleeve The bullet surface will push the bullet from the magazine into the eight chambers. When the slide is retracted in place, the recoil spring guide rod is still in the rear position, the recoil spring is compressed, the firing pin is in the ready position, and the trigger is pushed The rod is lifted up under the action of the trigger spring, and the upper protrusion enters the gap in the lower part of the sleeve. The trigger push rod contacts the sear: when the trigger is pulled, the trigger push rod pushes the sear backward and upward to rotate, and the teeth on the sear move from the trigger. The firing pin is released from the firing slot below the needle. The recoil spring rod rebounds forward under the action of the recoil spring, driving the lever to rotate. The lower part of the lever moves the firing pin forward to strike the primer of the rifle. After the bullet is fired, Under the action of the recoil force, the slider recoils against the force of the recoil spring. At this time, the protrusion above the trigger push rod comes out of the groove below the sleeve. The trigger push rod is pressed down by the sleeve and breaks away from the sear. The sear is in the sear. It rotates under the action of the spring, and the retreating sleeve pulls out the empty cartridge case and throws it out from the ejection port on the right side; when the firing pin retreats to the sear position, the sear teeth again engage the eight firing pin release slots, catching the firing pin. , and after the slide is seated back in place, it moves back under the force of the recoil spring, pushing the next round eight chambers, and once again forming a ready-to-fire state.
All over the country, wide influence
The M1900 pistol received widespread attention and popularity as soon as it was put on the market. Many countries have introduced this pistol for military and police use, and a considerable number of civilians have purchased this gun as a self-defense weapon. Because the gun is very thin and can be concealed in clothes, we can also see this gun in some famous assassinations.
On August 30, 1918, a workers’ rally was held at the Mikhailson Factory in the Zamoskretsky District of Moscow. Lenin, as the leader of the Bolshevik Party, attended the rally and delivered a speech. At the end of the rally, a female gunman suddenly shot Lenin three times with a pistol, and Lenin was seriously injured. The gunman's name was Kaplan. He was arrested on the spot during the stabbing. The pistol she used to shoot Lenin was a Browning M1900 pistol.
Another assassination related to the M1900 pistol was the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi by An Jung-geun in 1909. At 9 a.m. on October 26, 1909, Ito Hirobumi, who was the then Japanese Commissioner in Korea, had just gotten off the train at Harbin Railway Station. An Jung-geun, a Korean anti-Japanese comrade who had been lurking in the crowd, suddenly rushed out and fired three shots at Ito Hirobumi. . Ito Hirobumi was seriously injured and died on the same day. The pistol used by An Jung-gen to assassinate Ito Hirobumi was also an M1900 pistol.
In addition to the M1900 pistols produced in Belgium, some countries have copied and produced this gun. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, North Korea imitated the M1900 pistol and named it the Type 64 pistol. The appearance of the Type 64 pistol is the same as the original M1900 pistol, and the internal structure is also the same. On the left side of the slide of the Type 64 pistol, the words "7.62" are engraved, but in fact it still uses 7.65x17ACP ammunition. In addition to the standard type, there is also a silent type 64 pistol with a shorter slide, the mouth of the barrel protrudes from the slide, and is threaded so that a silencer can be screwed on. Since the barrel of the prototype M1900 pistol is below the slide and has a recoil spring above it, after the silencer is installed, the upper edge of the silencer is not higher than the aiming baseline, and the original front sight can still be used for aiming. In addition, according to some information, Spain and India have also imitated M1900 pistols.
The country that uses the largest number of M1900 pistols, the largest number of derivative models, and the greatest influence is undoubtedly China. In old China, due to years of war, local factions were in urgent need of various weapons to equip themselves. Because there is no stable social order and social security is chaotic, many "respectable people" also have the need to buy self-defense weapons. Therefore, the old China where warlords fought has become a dumping ground for the products of European and American weapons manufacturers. All kinds of weapons with widely varying performance have flowed into China, including the M1900 Browning automatic pistol. In China, the M1900 pistol is highly praised for its excellent and reliable performance, as well as its short and compact appearance. The most famous one is the saying "one gun, two horses and three slick mouths". The so-called "one gun" refers to the M1900 pistol, so named because of the pistol pattern on the side of the gun body.
"Erma" and "Sanhuakou" also refer to Browning pistols, respectively referring to the Colt M1903 pistol and the FN Company's M1910 pistol. The former has a horse pattern on the grip, and the latter has knurling on the muzzle cap, hence its name. The compact, beautiful, and reliable M1900 pistol is not only loved by senior military officers, policemen, and upper-class people in society, but is also used by many secret workers because of its ease of concealment. The self-defense weapon of the underground workers of the Chinese Communist Party is often the M1900 pistol, and the plainclothes agents of the Kuomintang and Japanese puppets also often carry this gun. Because of its popularity, the M1900 pistol has even appeared in movies and TV series. For example, in the movie "Little Soldier Zhang Ga", Ga Zi went on a makeup reconnaissance with the Eighth Route Army scouts for the first time, and captured the fat translator of the Japanese army with a wooden gun. The pistol captured was a "gun brand Luzi", that is, an M1900 pistol. Back at the station, Gazi excitedly showed off to his companions. Gazi's sentence "This is a Luzi, one gun and two horses" reflected people's love for the M1900 pistol at that time.
In addition to the original imported M1900 pistols, various arsenals in old China also produced many imitation "gun brand guns". In 1913, Jinling Arsenal first began to produce the "6-inch Brownlin pistol", a replica of the M1900 pistol. The appearance is basically the same as the original M1900, but the left side of the gun body is engraved with the words "Made by the Manufacturing Bureau". In addition, the position of the FN factory mark engraved on the original M1900 on the grip patch has been replaced by the word "Jinling". In 1915, the Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Arsenal also began to produce imitation Browning M1900 pistols. However, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau did not imitate the original Belgian M1900, but made major changes to its appearance. The most significant change is The barrel and grip have been lengthened, the magazine capacity has been increased from 7 rounds to 10 rounds, and two heat dissipation gaps have been opened under the slide. The fixed rear sight has been changed to an adjustable rear sight, and a rear sight has been added under the grip. Gun belt hanging loop. In addition, in order to keep up with the fashion around the world at that time, the gun had a groove on the back of the grip so that a simple butt could be mounted on the shoulder for shooting. However, the practical value of this design was questionable.
Not only Jinling Arsenal and Shanghai Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, but also regular arsenals, small gun workshops and even individual gun-making craftsmen in old China have made "copycat versions" of M1900 pistols. There are many types of products with different styles: there are straight grips like the original M1900, and there are also various curved grips. The inscriptions on the guns are also various. Some copy the inscriptions of the original guns exactly, including the serial number, while others have a random paragraph engraved on them that makes no sense. What's more, Mauser's trademark is engraved on the imitation M1900 pistol, which makes people laugh and cry. The structural principles of these "fake version of gun brand luzi" are consistent with the prototypes, but the appearance and craftsmanship vary significantly due to the different levels of each manufacturer. Generally, the products produced by large factories are relatively refined and can be compared with the original products produced by the Belgian FN company, but the products produced by small factories and individual workshops are mostly rough and clumsy. During the Anti-Japanese War, some of these "copycat gun brand guns" of various shapes were captured by the Japanese army. After Japan was defeated, they were captured by the US military and moved to the United States. Therefore, they can occasionally be seen in the American firearms market.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the M1900 pistol's association with China was not over yet. Many original or imitation "gun brand pistols" seized during the war years continued to be used by the public security departments until the late 1970s and early 1980s. Only to be replaced by domestic pistols. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to distribute a beautiful-looking small self-defense pistol to senior cadres of the party, government and military, the country designed a "August 1st Pistol" imitating the M1900, but in the end the gun was not produced and distributed due to various reasons.
From today's perspective, the Browning M1900 pistol already seems to be lagging behind. Many modern small self-defense pistols far surpass the M1900 in terms of ergonomics, safety and bullet power. Even in the M1903, M1906 and M1910 pistols designed after Browning, we can also find many that surpass the M1900. place. Beginning with the M1903 pistol, Browning installed a grip safety behind the pistol grip. Only by firmly holding the grip can the trigger be pulled to shoot. The M1906 and M1910 pistols also added a magazine safety, and only the magazine could be inserted. , to shoot, and the trigger cannot be pressed after taking out the magazine, which increases the safety factor when disassembling the weapon. These designs are not available on the M1900.
But we have to see that when it was born, the Browning M1900 pistol had a superior design that was obviously superior to other automatic pistols. Because of the use of a slide, the size of the entire gun was greatly reduced, making it a true "pocket pistol" ”, its originality and leading edge of the times are beyond doubt. And in the specific details, we can also find many sparks of Browning's ideas, such as the firing pin lever that also serves as a cocking indicator, the recoil spring that also serves as the firing pin spring, etc. Someone once said that it is easy to design simple things to be complex, but it is difficult to design complex things to be simple. The M1900 pistol fully embodies the essence of this sentence. As a modern slide-type automatic pistol, As a pioneer, the status of the Browning M1900 pistol is unquestionable.