(Pistola automatica "Ruby" 7.65 mm)

PICTURE: Spanish pistol M/19. This individual pistol was manufactured by Beistegui Hermanos (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (43 KB).

During World War 1 both French and Italian armed forces had shortage of pistols and were buying this quite heavy 7,65 mm blow-back pistol manufactured around Eibar in Spain. Demand was so large that a large number of small companies in Eibar and Guernica started making their own versions of this pistol during World War 1. This pistol unofficially called "Ruby" was produced in large numbers, but as practically all manufacturers did it with slight variations parts of different weapons were not interchangeable and getting exactly right kind of spare-parts was close to zero. When 7,65 mm x 17 ammunition used was also quite weak it was no surprise that both Italian and French Armies were eager to get rid of them as soon as possible after World War 1. Serbia had received 5,000 of these pistols, and for some reason Yugoslavia bought more of them between 1931 - 1933 and named them "Pistolj 7,65 mm/VTZ 1933".

Trade names that can be found in M/19 pistols:

At 1919 Finland was shopping new weapons for its newly born Army in France. Finnish Ministry of War was foolish enough to be tempted by these cheap pistols and bought 10,000 pistols worth of these maintenance nightmares. Pistols were shipped to Finland in July of 1919 and were distributed to Finnish military units. It didn't take long for those military units and weapons depots to find out just how problematic pistols M/19 were. While not having interchangeable parts between individual weapons in small small arms still was not exactly unheard during World War 1 in case of these pistols the level of imcompatability borderlined ridiculous. Pistols M/19 manufactured by different manufactures simply did not necessarily have any part incompatible pistols manufactured by other manufacturers - and this included even magazines. As Finnish Armed Forces had a serious shortage of pistols these caricatures of pistols had to be kept in use for decades. During WW2 even some unfortunate battle-units got issued with these dubious pistols, even if intention was not to issue them to non-home-front units. Year 1943 some 4,500 pistols M/19 remained, but by year 1951 their number had dropped to 2,581. After World War 2 they remained warehoused until most of them were sold to military personnel and collectors around 1965 - 1971. From collectors point of view the value of M/19 pistols can be best considered as contradictory - they were poor pistols, but also the first official military pistols of Finnish Armed Forces.

(Pistole Automatique, Mle 1910)

(Pistole Automatique, Mle 1910/22)

PICTURE: FN M/1910 pistol (Photo taken in Ilmatorjuntamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (59 KB).

PICTURE: FN M/1910-22 pistol (Photo taken in Ilmatorjuntamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (60 KB).

M/1910 was simple and functional blowback pistol designed by John Moses Browning. FN (Fabrique Nationale located in Herstal, Belgium) manufactured this pistol from 1910 till 1940 in very large numbers. And after World War 2 its production was restarted and continued until 1983. The pistol was manufactured in two calibre: 7,65 x 17 and 9 mm x 17, which were both cartridges designed by Browning. The 7,65-mm version was much more usual of the two - over 770,000 were manufactured by end of World War 2, while only about 138,000 pistols in 9-mm calibre were manufactured in that same period. This pistol type enjoyed popularity among Police departments in several countries (among them Finnish Police). However the pistol was not popular among German military, which lead its production basically ending for rest of the war once the Germans had captured the factories in 1940. Copies of this pistol were made in large numbers in numerous countries. The pistol was quite modern when introduced and proved good among pistols of its size class, but by end of WW2 new double-action pistols of the same calibre made its design look out-fashioned. Structurally the pistol is typical blow-back with recoil spring located around barrel. The pistol has three safeties: Grip safety, which disengages when grip is squeezed, magazine safety and typical thumb-operated safety switch in left side of grip. The basic appearance of M/1910 is very sleek without any sharp edges and sights machined on top of the slide.

M/1910-22 was specially developed for order of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (also known as Yugoslavia) in 1923. That order of 60,000 pistols specified a pistol with at least 8-round magazine capacity and 114-mm barrel. Fabrique Nationale (FN) had no such pistol in production at that moment so lengthened version of M/1910 pistol (with longer grip and barrel) was developed. Pistol proved to be quite good as such an emergency version and sold well in commercial markets. Among pre World War 2 customers were Dutch Army, Police and Military Police, which called the pistol "M25 n:o 1". During Belgian occupation of WW2 Germans called M/1910-22 in production for their Armed Forces. The Germans had preferred 7.65 mm x 17 calibre version (Pistole 626(b) in German inventory) so they stopped production of 9 mm x 17 version (Pistole 641(b)) as soon as the factory run out of readily available parts (presumably already in 1940). During WW2 German military acquired some 363,000 "Pistole 626(b)". Ending of WW2 didn't end production of M/1910-22, which continued well to 1960's. Total production of M/1910-22 is estimated have been around 760,000 - 800,000 (depending source).

At February of 1940 Finnish Armed Forces bought 2,500 M/1910 and 2,500 M/1910-22 pistols from Belgium. During Continuation War M/1910 pistols were used by Finnish troops stationed in home front, while M/1910-22 were used both by Finnish frontline troops and home-front troops. Just about all M/1910 were transferred to Finnish Police during and soon after WW2. M/1910-22 pistols were also given to police, sold abroad and scrapped soon after World War 2. Both pistol types did very short career in Finnish military and disappeared from its weaponry by 1950. However their career with Finnish Police proved much longer - some M/1910 remained in use of Finnish Police until 1990's. According what is known all M/1910 and M/1910-22 pistol delivered to Finland were in 7.65 mm x 17 calibre.

(Pistole automatique Browning, modele 1903)

(9 mm pistol m/07)

PICTURE: Belgian FN pistol M/03 with 10 round magazine and holster-stock (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (22 KB).

PICTURE: Swedish Husqvarna pistol M/07 (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (65 KB).

This pistol developed by John Moses Browning was unusual in being blowback weapon using such a powerful cartridge (9 mm x 20 Browning Long cartridge is almost as powerful as 9 mm x 19 Parabellum). Several countries (including Russia, Netherlands, Turkey and Sweden) bought these pistols as sidearms for their military before World War 1. Production in FN (Fabrique National in Herstal Belgium) continued from 1903 to 1927 and even German occupation of Belgium during WW1 just pause the production for couple of years. However, this pause in FN production stopped deliveries to Sweden and made Swedish Husqvarna factory to start its own production of the pistol. Husqvarna produced M/07 pistol (as the Swedes called it) from 1917 till 1942 (production was not constant) and made some 94,700 pistols of this type. Some 88,600 of these Husqvarna manufactured pistols were delivered to the main client - Swedish Armed Forces. The pistol remained in Swedish use even long after World War 2. Total production of model 1903 pistol in FN factories was about 58,000. Year 1904 Russia had ordered from FN 5,000 pistols, which it issued mostly to Gendarme. The pistol had two safeties: grip-safety and thumb-operated safety switch in left side of the weapon. Additional equipment available for these pistols to those customers willing to purchase included 10-round magazines and holster-stock, which could be attached to this extended magazine. However the 10-round magazine and stock holster were not the most ideal combination, as when they were attached replacing magazine (part of normal reloading process) meant also removing the stock holster with it. Post World War 1 FN model 1903 customers included at least Paraguay and Turkey.

The tests that the Swedes organised for selecting service pistol to their military in year 1903 were broad. The tested pistols included: 7.65-mm Parabellum model 1900 with 12-cm barrel, 7.65-mm FN model 1900, .38 Colt calibre Colt-Browning, 7.63-mm Mannlicher model 1901, 7.65-mm Mannlicher carbine-pistol model 1903, 6.5-mm Hamilton, 9-mm Browning (model 1903) and 8-mm Frommer. These pistols also tested against old Nagant revolvers - Swedish Nagant model 1887 and Russian Nagant model 1895. From these weapons Parabellum proved best accuracy-wise, but otherwise the FN model 1903, which was still called experimental-model at that time, ruled the tests. So, the Swedes selected 9-mm Browning "experimental" as their new military pistol and it got named model 1903.

During Finnish Civil War of 1918 small number of these pistols used by Russian military and Gendarme were captured and small number arrived from various sources, but the total number didn't reach even 100. So at that time they got just counted among "pistol miscellaneous" and warehoused until Winter War. Swedish Volunteer Force (SFK) of Winter War left its weaponry to Finland after the war, among them some 860 Swedish Husqvarna pistols M/07. This increased the combined amount of M/03 and M/07 pistols owned by Finnish military to well over 900, which was substantial amount enough for them to be issued to front-line troops during Continuation War. Spring of 1944 about 772 pistols of these types still remained, but when the most worn out were scrapped by 1951 the number dropped to mere 331. The remaining pistols M/03 and M/07 were sold (mostly to military personnel) between 1965 - 1971.

(Modele 1935 pistole automatique, Grand Puissance)

PICTURE: FN High-Power M/35 pistol with holster-stock. This was the standard holster type with FN M/35 pistol in Finnish use. (Photo taken in Sotamuseo). CLICK THUMBNAIL TO SEE LARGER PIC (49 KB).

Better known in English speaking word as High-Power this pistols design was started by John Moses Browning and after his death (1926) finished by D.J. Saive. Name "Grand puissance" (= high power) came from magazine capacity, which was larger then other pistols of 1930's. In this magazine cartridges were in interlocking array, which made magazine quite short but allowed it to carry large amount of cartridges at the same time. Otherwise the basic structure of pistol used basically same "tilting barrel" concept, that Browning had used earlier in Colt M1911, but the concept had been somewhat modified. The pistol had two safeties: Magazine-safety (which unfortunately often have rather unpleasant effect to trigger feel) and thumb-operated safety switch in left side of the grip. Unusual for European pre-WW2 pistols was also location of the magazine release switch - typically it was located below grip in European pistols of that time, but in FN GP it was located next to trigger arc. The pistol was immediate success, during the few years before WW2 some 70,000 (or 56,500 depending sources) were made and sold to Armed Forces of Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, China and Peru. During WW2 this pistol was used by both sides and manufactured both in occupied Belgium for the Germans and in Canada for the Allies and China. During WW2 some 319,000 were made in Belgium and some 150,000 in Canada. The Germans knew the pistol as "Pistole 640(b)" and Allies mostly called it "Browning High Power". After WW2 high-power pistols were purchased by dozens of countries (among them Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Netherlands, Austria and West Germany) for their Armed Forces and/or Police. Copies have also been manufactured with or without license in several countries like Argentina (FM), Hungary (FEG), Indonesia (Pindad), Canada, Nigeria, Venezuela, United States and Israel (Kareen). Later versions of this pistol are still used by authorities in many countries even today. FN GP was also one of the participants in Finnish pistol tests of 1939 (which domestic L-35 pistol won).

During WW2 Finland bought some 2,400 M/35 pistols from Belgium, 900 of them arrived in February of 1940 and 1,500 in March of 1940. Large amount of these pistols were issued to Finnish pilots during Continuation War (with their stock-holster they were considered almost as good as SMG). The ones used in ground troops were issued mostly to frontline-troops. Pistol proved to be not only very reliable and accurate, but also very structurally strong (known as only pistol type that could used Suomi SMG ammunition without breaking). The pistols delivered to Finland had adjustable sights with settings up to very optimistic 500 meters. The holster-type Finnish military used with FN M/35 during WW2 had holster attached to wood holster stock.

Hard use was visible in survivability rate of this pistol in Finnish use. Year 1951 only 1,378 remained. These pistols remained in use until 1985 - 1986, at which time they were decommissioned and sold away. Early 1980's Finnish Defence Forces selected a further development of High-power pistol called FN HP DA (better knows as "Pistol 80" in Finland) as its new service pistol.