Shhh, this is slightly altered from my B.A.B.,(big ass book), of Browning to protect the copyright.
This handgun was invented by Mr. B. in 1905 and was first patented in Belgium in that year.
Mr. B. was later granted U.S. Patent 947,478 in January, 1910.
The pistol is a hammerless, single action, semi-automatic design that operates on the blowback principal.
It employs the Browning grip safety as well as a manually operated thumb safety.
Cartridge capacity is seven rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber.
It features a two inch,(50.8mm), barrel and weights 13 ounces,(372 grams).
The pistols were first manufactured by Fabrique Nationale d' Armes de Guerre in .25acp/6.35mm caliber in 1905 and the guns became an immediate success.
Approximately 100,000 of these pistols were made and sold by F/N. within the first year.
Mr. B. licensed manufacturing rights to Colt Patent Firearms and Colt began manufacturing the pistols in the later part of the year 1908.
F.N. manufactured over one million of the pistols and Colt produced about 500,000 before the pistol was dfiscontinued in 1946.
The pistol was redesigned and production began again about 1949 with this late production also probably exceeding one million units.
This handgun design was also extensively copied in Spain, Italy, Asia, and the United States, both with, and without, the benefit of copyright protection.
Educated guesses on this production field exceeds three million additional handgun copies from all sources.
There is no mention that production was ever halted completely, even during the war years, though production of small vest pocket pistols probably took a back seat to the larger pocket and belt handguns.
This isn't a whole lot of new information and it is probably all you may find until somebody decidees to complete a detailed study of what archived material remains concerning these fine little handguns. HTH
